# snails in tank



## google (Jan 27, 2005)

hi 
i haff a tank with 3 gups and 2dai i saw 2 snails appear outta nowhere??

should i remove em?


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## shev (Jan 18, 2005)

Snails will do that, appear outta nowhere. they can be very small and come with a plant or anything you put in the tank. or some snail eggs will be attached to a plant. it starts off with a few and soon you got a booming population. since common pond snails are hermaphriditic they dont need a male and a female. they each have both sexual organs. they are probably pond snails. a few snails is good to have, they clean up excess food and stuff. just dont let them get out of hand, a pretty good sign of over-feeding is a population boom.


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

Those little guys can show up without much of anything. Even adding a new fish sometimes you can get a snail. The egg may be in the water that you get the new fish in. That is why it is best to always discard the water that is in the bag when you get new fish. In addition to snails there could be all sorts of other bad things.

I would leave them. If they multiply to fast it lets you know you are overfeeding your fish. Plus they help keep the glass and gravel clean. They are even food for many fish.


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## sumpthinfishy (Jan 21, 2005)

I have a question about snails. I actually want snails, malaysian trumpet snails in particular. I've added tons of plants to my tanks, but never got any. A friend has shipped me a good baker's dozen of them, but I cannot find much info online at all about them. Yes, I've googled! I have apple/mystery snails and find much info about them. But not the mts.

So, can anyone tell me if mts actually do eat waste? I don't mean excessive food that falls to the bottom, but fish poop that gets into the gravel? I gravel vac and am meticulous about my water parameters. I'm not looking for something to do the work for me, but my friend told me she thought they did and I've not been able to find anything about them with regards to this particular query.

Will a good many of them affect the bioload considerably? I'm just trying to keep a reasonable population, but want to find out what would be reasonable for my tank in relation to bioload.


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

No aquarium animal actually eats waste. It may look like they do but they survive off algae, leftover flake food, plants, other fish, etc.

That is why we use filters. External filters pull the waste out of the tank. If you have a sponge filter that will break the waste down to a less toxic material over time.


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## sumpthinfishy (Jan 21, 2005)

I was wondering about that. I have a hang on back filter and I gravel vac every water change. My friend said she thought they ate the waste and I had never heard of it and wasn't sure.

Thank you so much for the info!


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