ramhorn snail!

[finfan]

i have had my planted tank for about 6 weeks now, most of the plants were bought within the first week and i have not added anymore since then, i look at the tank everyday pretty closely - looking at all nooks for anything interesting or wierd, have not ever noticed any type of snails, when i put the plants in, i looked into the plants and roots for snails and i did throw away one small ramhorn at the time, i have cardinal and glowlight tetras, and ocats in the tank and at one point also had two nannacara anomala, today out of nowhere i noticed this huge (well relatively 3/4inch) ramhorn snail moving really fast up one of the airline tubes in the tank, i was in shock, i have not noticed one snail of anysort before, i have heard that they can become pests, should i do something to stop them now?  the one i saw was dark colored and s/he must be healthy to move that fast!

[eklikewhoa]

Re: ramhorn snail!

I have been noticing the large snails out of nowhere as well....I just leave them since they don't really bother anything and just siphon the babies when it comes time to do water changes.

[Mzungu]

Re: ramhorn snail!

It's really your preference. Like ek, I just leave them alone. It's almost impossible to have a planted tank without snails, and I've never even tried.  :)  I find it more trouble than it's worth to fret about them. And plus, they're helpers!

[finfan]

Re: ramhorn snail!

that makes sense, plus i don't want to use chemicals to eliminate them, if i start seeing too many i will just use some of the zicchini techniques i read on here :)

btw, just curious - how do they help?  excess food consumption etc? i guess also in that case it would be an indication i am feeding too much since i don't have any bottom dwellers

[eklikewhoa]

Re: ramhorn snail!

They will scavenge and possibly eat some algae.

[Mzungu]

Re: ramhorn snail!

btw, just curious - how do they help?  excess food consumption etc? i guess also in that case it would be an indication i am feeding too much since i don't have any bottom dwellers

Yes, they are a VERY good indication of feeding habits / water care and mainenance habits, all that stuff, as well! They will take over the tank overnight if you're feeding too much, especially since overfeeding releases so many nutrients for algae and things like that. (If you feed them, they will come...)

They'll definitely eat leftovers, just might take a little longer than, say, a cory. As for algae - ramshorns sure do look like they're working all the time, but since I've never had a tank without snails, I can't compare! But they really do seem to be eating all the time.

[Tiapan]

Re: ramhorn snail!

and ramshorn dont really hurt the plants, so they alright with me, i just dont like common pond snails they make me very angry.

[djmatthewblack]

Re: ramhorn snail!

I had a ramshorn in my tank and absolutely loved how it could put air in it's shell and move across the inverted surface of the water.  When if would fall down it would slowly surf down to the bottom.  It only lived about 6 months before dieing off.

[Tiapan]

Re: ramhorn snail!

if you want more i have probably close to qa hundred in the 3/4 to almost 1 inch size. or if anyone needs some food for a small to medium puffer, would be much for a large guy

[gt3guru]

Re: ramhorn snail!

Ram horns are suppose to do a good job of burrowing through the substrate and keeping things loose.

I had an outbreak of common pond snails a few weeks ago that gook care of alot of algae that popped up. now they are back in check (through no action of mine) and the tank looks great!

[eklikewhoa]

Re: ramhorn snail!

I think you have ramshorn mixed up with Malaysian Trumpet snails which burrow.

[finfan]

Re: ramhorn snail!

the one i saw has the same shape like the one in this pic (except, the one i saw was very dark - almost black)

http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_Planorbis_Ramshorn.php

[Mzungu]

Re: ramhorn snail!

Yup, that's a ramshorn.  :)
I think gt3guru meant, like ek said, Malaysian trumpet snails.