Tell me about Pond Snails

[Cinderwolf]

Okay so I got some Java Fern and foudn a little Pond snail ( about a centimetre) and I didnt have the heart to kill it. I am thinking of setting up a mini kritter keeper and keeping him . I dont want pond snails taking over my Betta tank so I figure a little kritter keepr will work to keep the sucker but not affect my tank. I knwo he will breed lol but it wont matter cause he wont be in the big tank.

Do you think this si a good idea? he poops a lot I might need pretty frequent water changes.. and I will just feed him fish flakes and veggies.

Has anyone else set up a micro tank with just snails?

I really would like to keep it, would It be a bad idea to put him in my tank?

[MrVampire181]

I keep common pond and ramshorn in my tanks (not jars however). I love them. They don't take over easily unless you have a ton of fish and feed like crazy (like yours truly here...). I keep them in my spawning and growout tanks with fry to keep things clean.

[Cinderwolf]

So do you think that in a betta tank where I control feed the betta ( off my fingers) will they multiply? I have live plants and plan on getting shrimp so I dont want to over do the bio load with the snails

[MrVampire181]

I heard the bioload of snails is quite low. If it was an issue it would have killed off my young fry.

You will get more with time but they probably won't take over.

[Cinderwolf]

Originally Posted by MrVampire181

I heard the bioload of snails is quite low. If it was an issue it would have killed off my young fry.

You will get more with time but they probably won't take over.

Okay.. well I will think about it, seeing as I was aiming to get trumpet snails to disturb my sand for me. but I could do that myself

[Bombalurina]

I have pond snails in my tank. When you acheive a good balance of feeding, you shouldn't have a problem with overpopulation, though they will reproduce. You might see a slight population boom at first, but it should drop back.

[freemike]

Eh... if you want a snail, but don't care for the risk of them over populating...

I personally got an assassin snail for my tanks. He does a very good job of keeping them eliminated. I have got snails with several of my plants from big box stores. I don't understand why they don't just throw a loach in with the plants like my LFS. Anyways I've never had an incoming batch last more than a few days with "Turbo" on the job.

[RedFynn21]

I agree with freemike. But, it's all personal preference. I, myself, am not a huge fan of pond snails. While they are totally harmless, they do like to multiply...not an outragerous number. But, still...

I guess I am the odd one out here. I spent my whole day taking down my 10 gal tank and removing the pond snails...and rehoming them to my aunt who doesn't mind them in her tank. I would also go with an assasin snail--wish I'd thought of that before I took down entire tank. Had one full grown one, an 5 itty-bitty babies snails. Guess I didn't quarantine my plants long enough. But if you want to keep them in a Kritter keeper, don't see why that wouldn't work. ;)

[Bombalurina]

Eh, I'm not a fan of the things, but since they aren't really doing any harm I just let them be.

[Cinderwolf]

I really do think I am gonna get a small kritter keeper.. At least until my tank is cycled anyways. And I still really want a snial in ym tank.. jsut nto really a pond snail haha, I want one with actually will help me ( trumpet snail will help with sand maintainance)