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Good or bad


Angus

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These hitchhikers on the back of a trade me plant purchase are getting a grip on my planted tank. Can someone please advise me whether they might be good or bad for the tank/plants/fish? They are about 15mm long.

Any gastropod experts out there? :smln:

IMG_4559a.jpg

IMG_4554a.jpg

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Kinda bad

great for turning over substrate and preventing anaerobic pockets of mulm that can harm your tank

are a good indicator of appropriate feeding and water quality

very hard to get rid of

very hard to find fish to eat them so may need several doses of copper to kill them and babies-but that can hurt fish and plants and filter

very unsightly

oh and i think they are live bearers so eggs are not that big an issue

HTH

Navarre

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Thanks for the replies guys. :thup:

I'm a bit annoyed because I asked the trader before purchase if he had snails in his plants, and was told no, so didn't opt for a weak bleach treatment. More fool me i guess...

Navarre - when you mention good indicator of appropriate feeding and water quality, do you mean that their presence means good conditions, or poor conditions?

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Find out why and sell it :)

I've been wondering... I always have 1 or 2 and there's often a ton of babies on some plant or the glass but then after a few weeks they're gone. Maybe they've gone into the sand to give it a stir? Who knows. I don't see them anyway.

Of course now I'm about to reach critical mass because I've tempted fate and I'll have snails for Africa.

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Don't know why people hate snails so much. I personally think they're pretty neat as long as they're alive. The only annoyance I see is their shells accumulating in the gravel if they die. If i want to get rid of them, I just chuck in some vege, leave it until it's crawling with snails and putt it back out snails and all.

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  • 3 weeks later...

BAD BAD BAD! I dredge dozens out of one of my tanks daily and dump them in the clown tank. I'm not even making a dent in the population so I'm tearing the tank down and removing all the stones that they're breeding in. I swear there are more snails than stones at the moment :o Am replacing it with Daltons and Silica sand so hopefully the zebras will be able to control the little ones I don't manage to eradicate!

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I dont know why every one is so against snails, they are not that unsightly, trumpet snails at-least dont damage plants and you can use them as a extra food source for some fish when needed, which is good, my puferes love it when i add some snails to there tank, and it is so awesome to watch them hunting

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I've been wondering... I always have 1 or 2 and there's often a ton of babies on some plant or the glass but then after a few weeks they're gone. Maybe they've gone into the sand to give it a stir? Who knows. I don't see them anyway.

Of course now I'm about to reach critical mass because I've tempted fate and I'll have snails for Africa.

I'm the same - I find one or two empty MTS shells very now and then, but there's no other sign they are in my tank. My substrate is 5 cm of Sera Floraedepot covered with 5 cm of 4mm quartz. I don't have any snail eating fish.

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  • 1 year later...
Don't know why people hate snails so much. I personally think they're pretty neat as long as they're alive. The only annoyance I see is their shells accumulating in the gravel if they die. If i want to get rid of them, I just chuck in some vege, leave it until it's crawling with snails and putt it back out snails and all.

+ 1

They do a good Job and as for the visual aspect that's all in your head.

If you befriend them and intentionally take a liking to the little buggers they just become a part of the natural world imo

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