Do you have snails in your aquarium?

Hello PurpleParker, Yes I have some snails in my aquarium. They are actually a very useful and decorative creature. The fact that snails eat algae and decomposing flesh can be of great benefit to us aquarium keeper. Snails are very thorough cleaners of glass and rocks and can get into the nooks and crannies that catfish may miss. Some species of snail are renowned as decorative plant eaters, however, in my opinion, only the pond snail should be regarded with any real suspicion in this regard. Most healthy aquarium plants produce cyanides and other poisons that prevent animals such as snails from making meals of them. The myth that snails can destroy your plants probably originates from observations of snails eating the leaves of plants that are already highly deteriorated or close to dying. At this point, the plant was probably doomed and at least the snails are preventing the plant from decomposing, a process that can potentially unbalance aquarium water chemistry. Another great advantage of snails is that they are less likely to eat the eggs of fish. While eggs laid by fish in or around the substrate of the aquarium are vulnerable to attack by Bristlenoses and the like, snails are much less likely to embark on such raiding excursions. Consequently, if you are keeping egg-laying fish in a tank with alkaline water specifically for the purpose of breeding then snails are probably the solution. They will keep maintenance down by cleaning your glass but will not scoff the eggs at the first opportunity. Lastly, snails make interesting and hardy pets in themselves. They can be quite attractive, especially in the case of the Mystery Snail. They also have interesting habits and life cycles. The disadvantages of snails is they can get out of control. Unfortunately, given the right conditions of hard alkaline water and without natural predators, snails can multiply very rapidly. There are several ways to keep snails in check. First, there are several species of fish just love snails, for breakfast that is. The most common snail eater is the attractive Clown Loach, Botia macracanthus. The Clown Loach will grab the unprotected soft part of the snail and literally suck the poor gastropod out of the shell. Second, run some hot water over a lettuce leaf and just before you turn the lights out, tie a piece of cotton around it and drop it in the tank. It will sink to the bottom and in the morning you should find it covered in snails. Remove the lettuce, snails and all. Repeat until the snails are under control. Third, it is important to note that most snail blooms are caused by overfeeding. In these cases, the only reason that the snails are overpopulating is because they are feeding on the excess food that the fish leave behind. Watch your fish when feeding, if they do not eat all their food after 3-4 minutes or less then you are overfeeding. Lastly, There are some commercial snail killers available that local fish shop sells. If used as instructed these remedies may well kill your snails. However, these chemical based solutions should be avoided because they tend to kill the bacteria that keep ammonia and nitrite levels in check. In turn, this may also kill your fish. Prevention is usually better than the cure. If buying plants from a local fish shop and you don’t want to accommodate any hitchhikers then I suggest that you take the following action. Before introducing your plants into the aquarium, make the effort of soaking them in warm salty water. After ten minutes remove the plants and wash thoroughly. This should remove or kill any unwanted gastropod guests. It will also remove potentially harmful parasites such as White Spot (Ich). Its pretty interesting to see a few snails in my aquarium. When kept in check, they can form an integral part of a well balanced aquatic environment. ;-)

May also depend on the snails in question. We end up with these little pond snail like snails at times from buying plants, and they are a PAIN to deal with because they eat everything, and breed like mad, no matter how the tank is.

Depends if you like your plants! If you want your plants to live I would get rid of them. We had a huge infestation at one point (like 500 snails) and we bought 2 clown loaches, they had the tank clean in a few days. The clown loach is one of many fish that will eat snails and make an awesome addition to any tank.

I have 7 tanks set u that are planted and they all have snails in them. I also have a couple of tanks that are not planted but they also have snails in them. I have mystery snails, trumpet snails, rams horn snails, pond snails, Spinx snails and the plants are not being harmed by any of the snails. I make sure t not overfeed the tanks s that the snails do not have a population explosion.

We have snails in our saltwater aquarium. They are used primarily for the same as in freshwater -- we call them the cleanup crew.