# will snails eat plants?



## myles (Jan 21, 2005)

Hi there i like to use live plants in my aquarium, and i herd that snails will eat the plants is this true? Because this is goin in a piranha tank and this specie i hear will rarely tolorate a pleco, and i would like soemthing to help with algie. thanx :lol:


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

Actually, the best way to prevent algae in the first place is to have healthy growing plants. Then they use up the nutrients before the algae gets to it.

To answer your question, some snails won't eat plants, and some snails might. The ones that won't are Malaysian trumpet snails and a type of apple snail called Pomacea bridgesii, maybe a few others. Other types of snail might. (Some people say that snails eat only dying plants. I have some pond snails in my tank, and they don't seems to have eaten any plants, but maybe there just aren't enough of them yet, or maybe they don't like the plants that I have.)

But how are you going to put plants in a piranah tank anyway? You sometimes have to put your hands in the water to plants them, to trim them, etc...


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## Lydia (Feb 6, 2005)

i have had snails eat my plants and really mess them up, but like myra said, it all depends on the kind that you get....i think i had common pond snails... :roll:


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

All snails will eat plants. Some are more prone to it than others (pond snails). I personally don't like snails in my planted tanks but others keep them successfully with no problems. MTS and Ramshorn are generally easy on plants and usually only eat decaying plant matter. The key is to control the snail population. Regular water changes and good feeding schedules will do this.


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

You can have your hands in a piranha tank, it'll be fine as long as you respect them, not corner them, and don't have an open wound... I work around my piranha all the time never got bitten, not even close. Its a common misconception.


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## myles (Jan 21, 2005)

great! thanx for all the info. and yes aslong as there well fed and u kno how to act around piranhas , you should be ok, but im getting a S. rhombeus so might be more tricky but il find away haha.


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## Vivid-Dawn (Jan 18, 2005)

*Finger food...ha!*

I've heard piranhas will actually swim _away_ from your hand, especially if they're particularly shy in personality. Unless, of course - as stated, you have an open wound. Then it's dinner time! LOL


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## Teelie (Feb 13, 2005)

Piranha are actually shy in nature and I doubt even an open wound in your hand would invite one to bite. Usually any sudden movements or signs of life will keep them from going at you. Of course there are exceptions and in the aquarium they can be unpredictable.

Still, it's a bad idea to have an open wound exposed to tank water anyways just for the bacterial infection potential.


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