I got some plants from petco about a month or so ago, Came with a Snail, Very small, Now he's a lot bigger & today I found 8 more very small snails EVERYWHERE! That is just the ones I can see. How did this happen? And is this a good thing or bad thing?

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10-gal,community tank
4 Neon-Tetras - 4 White-Clouds & 3 Albino Cory's
& 1 free-lodging snail plants; a Hydrocharitaceae that is floating and a Anubias attached to a rock

well some people can call some species of snails pests because one particular one, the ramshorn snail will definently have babys. mine have and i love to keep them! you just need to work out what sort of snail it is first, if you google it you can reconise it by pictures etc.

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21Litre 3 Goldfish, 3 red ramshorn snail, bio filter (i think).
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3Litre- 3-6 baby Ramshorn snails.


I love these Forums <3!

its probably a malaysian trumpet snail. Those are quite common on plants. If you keep your substrate clean, then they'll keep in check. You can pull them out too. Otherwise they will actually help clean your substrate, so they're a good thing to have.

Most snails will lay egg masses on the glass or plants periodically. You got the snails because the plants you bought had snails or egg masses on them.

Did some research, they are Pond snails, at lest the big one is.

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10-gal,community tank
4 Neon-Tetras - 4 White-Clouds & 3 Albino Cory's
& 1 free-lodging snail plants; a Hydrocharitaceae that is floating and a Anubias attached to a rock

Snails that come into your tank via live plants are usually pond snails, or other types of "pest" snails. They tend to breed quickly, (if over feed your tank, they will breed faster). Some people use pieces of lettuce in the bottom of the tank to lure the snails out, then take the lettuce (and the snails on it) out of the tank. Others will hand pick the snails out of the tank.

Some people recommend rinsing your new plants under the tap and inspecting the leaves for snails before putting them in your tank. (I completely forgot to do this the other day, and put some new plants in my tank. Not an hour later, I saw a baby pond snail. Out of the tank it came, and luckily I've seen no others so far!!)

Another option is the Assassin snail. It will take care of your snail woes. It will not become a pest in your tank because it is a very slow breeder! (It is also NOT a hermaphrodite like the pond snail and other pest snails that breed with themselves). So, you would need a male and a female to get babies, and even with both sexes, most people never see any eggs/babies after months/years of keeping these snails. (If you ever do see a baby and you don't want any more Assassin snails, just take it out of the tank.... yes, they really do breed that slowly, lol). I've had people tell me that they've had a couple Assassin snails in their tank for 6 months or longer and there have been no babies. Once it eats all your pest snails, you may have to supplement it's feedings. Your LFS guys can give you advice on what to feed it once all the pests are gone. (Not sure if you would need a flake or pellet or frozen food...)

Good luck with your snail troubles!!

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20g Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981
36g Bow Front Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981

i was heavily infested with pond snails, they came from plants i bought at petco.. the girl said they wouldnt be a problem... but i think they are the reason my mystery snail died... anyway.. i tried a skunk loach and he didnt help... so i got a clown loach. he didnt help either. so i resorted to crushing them. my mollies devoured them!! my tank had never looked better!! i tried the lettuce too and that didnt work. good luck.... i have read some ppl bad mouthing crushing them... but my fish love the opportunity to eat the pesky snails and i love seeing their numbers diminish. hope this helps you....[

My fish love them too!

personally i love snails. I have inca snails and blue mystery snail and I love the way they clean the bottom of my tanks. I am not about to put any of them in with my crayfish though so I went to a local pond and caught several fluke snails which eat algae and if my crays eat them which they often do no big deal. they are a great cleaning crew.

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20 gallon
12 apple (mystery) snails
1 Glofish
1 crown tail beta
1 japanes trapdoor snail I found in the farmington river
2 Emerald Cory Cats
1 large common pleco
1 rainbow shark
2 bamboo shrimp

20 gallon
1 young tiger oscar
1 chinese algae eater

10 gallon
Looking to get an apricot lobster

i used to have a gold mystery snail that i loved! his name was Larz. Sadly, i think he didnt have enough to feed because of the monstrous army of pond snails... i loved them at first because they were amazing cleaners, but then they became so unsightly lining my glass.... things are getting much more under control. i also found some empty shells, glad to see my loach is doing his job!