# snails for tank



## Ownager2004 (Apr 4, 2005)

Ok I was going to get a BN pleco to help clean my platy tank, but after doing some research im thinkin maybe he'll be to big for my tank and create more waste than he helps with. So i was thinking about getting some sort of snail, hopefully an apple snail. But i heard they are plant eaters? Will they eat my aponogetons? :shock:


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## osteoporoosi (Jan 27, 2005)

Hvaen't noticed any plant eating here, only dead leaves are eaten. amano shrimps eat algae also, but not plants.


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

Some apple snails will eat plants, some won't. See
http://www.applesnail.net/
for all you ever wanted to know about apple snails. They explain which species eat plants and which don't, and explain how to tell them apart (mainly, the shape of the shell).

Apple snails really aren't great algae eaters. If you're looking for a cure for algae, the apple snail definitely isn't it. Like the BN pleco they also poop alot, and they really don't eat much algae. They prefer fish food. Also, there's no guarantee that they'll get along with platies. Some of the fish in that family are quite nippy and will try to eat them, see the thread:
http://www.applesnail.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4515

If you want a snail that will eat algae and won't be bothered by your platies, try to find these guys:








They are technically called nerite snails, but usually even people who sell them don't know this! I've seen them in shops called humbug snails or simply striped snails. They stay within their shells so they are well protected against quite nippy fish (I have them in with rosy barbs and danios, which are very nippy with apple snails). They also very effective at eating algae -- they just wander over the tank, teeth constantly going, eating the algae in their paths. Since they are not very systematic about this, I often find little squiggly paths where the snail has been chewing his way through a big bed of algae, and then has moved on to (annoyingly) less greener pastures!


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## sumpthinfishy (Jan 21, 2005)

The really big apple snails - canas - will eat plants. The ones that get golfball size - bridgesii - won't eat them. And I had to find homes for my swordtail babies because they were nipping at my snails so much they didn't want to come out to eat. And they do munch on algae, but won't clean a tank. Maybe otocinclus?


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Nirite snails perfer much harder water than apple snails. They live predominatly in african rift lakes. Shellies use their snails as homes.


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

Simpte, I have found it very hard to find any information on these nerite snails! All I know is that they seem to live fine in my cool water tanks (temps about 20-22C) with carbonate hardness about 240ppm, pH 7.6-7.8. And they are good at eating algae. The shop I got them from says they do fine in tropical tanks too, but I haven't tried this.

Do you have any idea where I could find some more info on these snails? applesnail.net has tons of info on apple snails, but there seems to be very little anywhere on nerites.


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## atltk (Feb 16, 2005)

Ownager, as you can read on almost every other post re apple snails, they are hardy poopers. I got them for the reason of cleaning the tank, but after a few generations, they now make much more of a mess than they clean.


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## Ownager2004 (Apr 4, 2005)

Yeah i was aware of that. I mainly just wanted them to eat left over food off of the bottom so it didn't have time to decay. But im not sure if thats better or worse than them pooping. I found an awesome LFS today that i wasn't even aware of. The only snails they had in stock were mystery snails and i wasn't impressed, so i decided to get 2 Otos and see if im able to keep them alive.


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