Its actually true about the ram's horn curl. Also, i like bladder snails for the same reason. The first snail i ever had was a bladder snail n i treated it as a pet even tough i got it as a hitchhiker. 2nd one i got was a couple of ramshorns n they multiplied like crazy and became a pest, my fault i was feeding heavy. I know how to control the population now. Snails are cool, the only thing i dont like is the bright white eggs of the nerites, they ruin a perfect scape.
Yeah I never knew what kind of snails I have I have the bladder snails I got them from my sister‘s friend she breeds them so I put them in my tank and I used to have a huge problem with them but now I only have like three or four big ones and I see like a baby sack of eggs so I might just wait for them to grow but I like having them and I also have a cat fish as well but they do not interact or cause any dispute for food because I feed them enough
I always heard about how bad bladder snails were until I found a few in my tank after adding some plants I had ordered. Was worried because of all the bad things ppl were saying. But honestly, I actually love them. Always a good deal when you buy something and get freebies. Lol.. I love how you pointed out that overfeeding increases the population, by cutting back on feeding, you can better control their population. Something like myself didn't even consider when first going into the hobby and I'm sure many out there also don't realize that trick. Very well done. 👍
I love bladder snails too coz they breed so fast and grow fast too. They are perfect for my clown loaches. My clown loaches are very healthy and beautiful and i think it is because I try my best to feed them fresh or live food as often as possible. My clown loaches have been in my care since the begining of 2008.... That is over a decade. Those guys are getting old but show no signs of aging besides their size. If anyone complains about their tanks being over populated by snails on any of my local fish keeping forums, i just tell them to jar them as many as they can and i will pick them up for my loaches.
I started with about 5 on some plants that I got 4 months ago and as of now there are maybe 10 of them at most. I guess the Cory’s just eat all of the food scraps leaving hardly any food for the snails
They aren’t bad as long as you don’t over feed and keep their population low. They can actually be very beneficial. Just be careful of some of the nonsense this guy says in his video.
For some reason my red weg, sunburst weg, and bumble bee platys eat the baby bladder snails. Didn't know they did that but it controls the population itself
I use bladder snails as an initial inhabitant for new tanks. They breed readily, are hardy, and don't need a lot of feeding, so they're useful for helping to get the filters cycled.
ive been keeping fish for decades, around 40 years at least. for me "pest snails" are like an indicator of your water quality. they will die if the ph is wrong or you will see their shells crack. having them means that the water quality is just about right. depending on the species they are rather sensitive creatures.
I have some trumpet snails and they work great as indicators, I agree! Can usually tell by what I call the "march of the snails." If I haven't seen them climb the glass in a while I usually know there's something off.
I don't mind them in my fish tank because the fish eat them, but in my shrimp tank they really annoy me because nothing eats them and I end up with dozens of tiny ones crawling up the glass.
I have pink and blue rams horn snails in one of my aquariums. Love them. They actually crossbred, I think, and I have some purple ones. They keep algae off my plants and decor. I keep sponges on my intake so have never had them clog my filter. They actually keep my sponge filter cleaner longer. Had a population explosion once. I was overfeeding. Once adjusted they adjusted. I understand some don’t like the look of them but I see nothing but friends with benefits.
At the start I would pick out every snail I saw, but I've found they never grow to an adult age and never become a pest as I don't overfeed the tank. Their population will only grow as long as there is available food, but controlling feeding I find controls their population and I quite like that all the baby ramshorn and trumpet snails are nocturnal so even less of a bother as they get to work while I'm asleep and in the day I don't see them
They go along in helping break down dead and dying plant matter in an aquarium. Not to mention consume the food that gets in between plants and wi rot otherwise. Finally they really help keeping a dirtied tanks substrate healthy by churning the capping material. They breed uncontrollably only when there is excess food. Which shows you might have other more serious issues than pest snails.
Hey Nick @KeepingFishSimple! I noticed in some of your tanks you have hydra… hopefully not in the fry tanks. I’ve lost small fish to hydra unfortunately. Easy enough to treat though! Great video on snails! I prefer MTS over ramshorns as they are easier to control the population and don’t destroy plants in my opinion.
I set up a new 37 gallon fish tank a week ago and this time decided I would try a more natural look so I added Sand, Stones, Driftwood and live plants. today I woke up with a little bladder snail sliding around the tank, which I assume came from the plants I bought from my local aquarium and frankly It kinda made me a little happy. I feel like I'm going in the right direction. Awesome video!
Awesome video! Just wanted to point out one thing: while these snails do have both reproductive organs, they need another snail to breed with (they don't self-fertilize as you suggested). Basically they kinda do the 69 where both members get pregnant. The reason every tank can get a population of these snails even with one snail added is that since they reach reproductive age so quickly, most of the ones that will end up in the tank are most likely already pregnant.
Not true if you are specifically referring to bladder snails, they will self replicate after 8 weeks of not encountering another snail. The eggs will have a very high mortality rate and it is not the preferred method. These guys are survivors and they will do what is necessary. My data is from multiple aquarium enthusiasts and scientific papers on the bladder snail specifically. So I encourage to be proven wrong but you called out the video owner with at least debatable points.
True for most snails but not Malaysian trumpet snails which are almost all female and can reproduce by parthenogenesis (a kind of self reproductive process that only female animals can do). They also give live birth. Mts males are super rare but they do exist in the wild and occasionally mts reproduce the normal way too.
I love ramshorn snails!!! They are all over my planted tanks and they clean the hell of my tanks. The plants dont have ANY algae on them and they look so healthy. I dont even need to clean the glass any more because of how hard working they are and i dont even dose with fert because of their poop. SOOO many people are missing out of how wonderful these pest snails are!!! I honestly think ramshorn snails are the best gardeners to have in your aquarium.
👏👏Really needed This,Thank You,I had Sooo many Bladder snails,it was Overwhelming,😁👍It's under control now, but,I still have A Lot.You're Awesome I learn so much,from You🤝❣
I love ramshorn snails! I got a freebie when I ordered some plants from you and he is the cutest little thing, he entertains me by zipping around the aquarium and tight rope walking on my hair grass!
I love snails, especially bladder snails coz they multiply and grow very fast. I am also a proud owner of clown loaches. I keep snails for my loaches. My loaches have been in my care since the begining of 2008, and they are still going strong. They are getting old by age, but you cant tell coz they are very active, very healthy and bright.
I like most snails. Corey from the Co-op has a lot of good to say about the bladder snails. While it is a slow process you can control the density of the population by not overfeeding. I really like Nerite snails but it would be better to just have males. You can buy snail traps that work but if you put some food in one spot, you can pick them out. If you have a puffer you can freeze them and feed them. My favorite snail is the Gold Mystery Snail. One in a 20 long is all you need. Rabbit snails are pricey but they are slow to reproduce. Someone near me is selling an assassin snail which can be a good tool to use. Snails are a part of any Clean up crew, always have been, they are the first step in breaking biowaste down. Good video, I'll subscribe!
The definition of "pest" says it all. The only snails I keep are Nerite Snails that do not reproduce in fresh water. GREAT algae control and no problem with them overrunning a tank with numbers.
@@mrblandin6179 *Their. And the eggs are easily removed with a scraper. Plus, mine don't seem to leave many anyway. YMMV but having a few tiny eggs about sure beats having a tank full of pest snails like the pond snails we get here in the US. Last, they keep my tanks completely algae free, even "scrubbing" wood surfaces.
My nerite snails only lay eggs on a specific spot I call it "Nerite Stone" which is a dragon stone lmao, besides it they don't lay on other areas besides on the dragon stone
I've had ramshorns and bladders in my tanks and ponds for decades. I never have too many because most get eaten by the fish while they are small. They live everywhere in the tanks and filters. The shells of deceased snails used to be annoying clogging up my syphon but I hardly ever clean my tanks anymore, mainly just top ups, so that's no longer an issue. The plants, fish and snails in good balance work well because apart from feeding twice a day I have almost no other work to do except getting rid of overgrown plants.
Ive got a tiny Native lrish pond snail colony in my mud pond eco tank. No filter. Got Water Slaters and worm things and live Native plants. Added 2 brown comet 'goldfish'.
I've only got Ramshorn now and I do love them, but I've always had bladder snails (we call them pond snails often in my area) and I love hoe personable they are! Especially them floating on the surface of the tank. Definitely an indication of a tanks health tho
This is the first time I've kept bladder snails on purpose and there so entertaining to look at as they zip back and forth across my tank. I've only had them about 2 weeks I think I have like seven of them and they already have several clutches of clear egg satchels. Also great video
Great video and for the most part 100% on spot. Unfortunately if there is not waste foods a available in the tank with fish, the Rams horn ( shape of shell) will in fact start to eat living plants and or fish if they can attach them self's to it. Snails are great in low population. Best way to remove over population of snails is putting in a Assassin snail ( Anentome helena ) to remove that extra population. Cheerz and thanks for the video.
I like having snails in my aquarium. I have a ton of algae growing in there and the separate species compete a lot, and they clean up any rotting biomatter. On that note its nice that they produce some extra biowaste because this increases how many plants I can keep fertilised in the tank. When I first added non algae plants to the tank, I had to manually tear down some algae because there wasn't enough natural fertiliser for them all, and new additions will always be at a disadvantage against already established growth. So yeah, you actually want a lot of things pooping in your tank if you're like me and you love having a lush green jungle. Of course make sure to not overdo it, if you don't have aggressive wild algae you could have more poop than plant demand for long enough to harm your fish I reckon.
I like snails. I have ramshorn, bladder/pond snails and mystery snails. I do have to 'manage' them due to their rapid growth. I have even set up some tanks just for them. Since they like to eat my beloved sword plants, I have just started feeding all snails some raw spinach which they love. When I get too many baby bladder snails, I reluctantly crush the younger ones as their shells are softer. The fish and other snails then eat them. I started making some green algae water for the snails which they LOVE. Thanks for the helpful video! USA
There’s a pond out by house that has thousands and thousands of bellmouth rams-horn snails, I have quite a few of them in my little aquarium where I have my creek chub fry as well.
So easy to get in i bought in vitro plants , adamant not to have them months later a tiny pond snail stuck to glass , it must have somehow been a stowaway with some shrimp . its cute and busy on the glass so i guess its meant to be lol
Oh my gosh the hydra you have. Got my tank infested once and I have shrimp. Did the goat dewormer by dose recommended online and worked like a charm, didn’t hurt the shrimp or snails. Killed the hydra and snail leaches. Yay!
Great video brother! Been keeping saltwater and freshwater fish for quite some time, and never really thought of these snails the way you explained it on this video. Thanks for sharing. Just subbed.
btw ramshorn got its name from the shell shape. if you ever seen a ram they dont have horns that stick right out, the horn curl each side of the head. . js , i got a little breeding culture going.
I myself actually paid to get blue ramshorn snails. Love them but i've always hated bladder snails tho I just recently ended up with a few more in my quarantine/hospital tank. I just pick them out whenever i happen to see one i don't stress about it. They are easy to spot because they move much faster than my ramshorns.
Surely they're known as rams horn snails because their shells resemble, well, ram's horns. Especially those crazy ones that live in the american Rockies that have completely nuts horns.
This is my first natural tank and I didn't know anything about washing off plants before adding them to my aquarium. Day number 3 after everything's been planted and I see a little white snail next thing I know I see about 10 of them. I was not expecting this I don't know if I love it or hate it. Thanks for posting this video because I was panicking.
You can always add assassin snails to control the other snail population if you are not a fan of them and don't want them getting out of control. Assassin's don't breed easy or fast in a tank but do eat other snails.
I had trumped snails for 3 years in my tank. They were always under the sand and cleaning around. And they were looking cute. I wasnt overfeeding so their numbers are fine. And it was looking like sand is always moving. Gives a nice organic look.
I see those Hydras in your Ram's head snail tank. Ugh. I am new at aquariums ( very new, but have always loved nature ) My new and pretty much first 3 gallon shrimp tank has detritus worms on the glass. Are Detritus worms good or bad ?, do shrimp and/or snails eat them ?? I started a natural substrate lil' tank with compost capped with 2" of sand and put in various plants before putting in my shrimp and lil' snails. I have what I hope is bio-film forming around the gravel and sand substrate. I have a magnifying glass and did see some tiny round life jetting around. ???
I love my trumpet snails. I have them in both of my planted community tanks. They’ve completely out competed the bladder snails that hitched a ride on some plants and they coexist nicely with the nerites, corydoras, and khuli loaches I’ve got lurking in the underbrush. I managed to get them from my local petsmart after 2 tries, as the first employee was following the store book and wouldn’t sell me a “pest” species, but fortunately the second one was the resident fish hobbyist and gladly scooped out a bunch for free. (unfortunately it’s the only fish store left in my town, all the small non-chain fish stores are gone and even the Petco took off, lol)
i remember getting plants that had snails in it at one point. of course i thought it was cute at first when i seen a few until there were a million of them! even if you clean the tank 100 times! they never die!!! lol great video tho!
Although I love snails and have raised several land and aquatic species, I'm becoming annoyed by bladder snails. The only problem I have with bladder snails, is they are the species that wants to adventure out, which leads to all their issues I have with them. . Bladder Snails get sucked into the intake of my filter, they crawl upstream of the water outflow from my filter and they climb the glass out of the water. Because of this, they end up clogging my water pump. Appearance wise, I think that really healthy bladder snails CAN be pretty, but they are very tiny and typically (or always) have incredible thin/fragile shells, so they aren't collectable and not easy to handle. However, because of this, crushing them intentionally is easy and painless to your finger, but doing that in your aquarium can cause an ammonia spike, so I don't recommend it unless you have something starving for food that loves to eat snails. If your tank is just water + airstone and/or sponge filter, then bladder snails are fine and you should probably have them. Their adventuring out can be good to find algae/detritus in places that other snails might ignore. . In contrast, Ramshorn snails, stay in the water and I've NEVER found them trying to get into my intake or outflow of water. I have hundreds of both Bladder and Ramshorn snails. Ramshorn snails get nicely sized and are easy to pick up when they are a decent sized. They also look cool when you put in a big piece of food and they are all over it, it reminds me of curly hair. The shells are also big enough, that if you decide to remove the dead Ramshorn snails or their empty shells, you can collect them. If you leave their empty shells in the tank, they can provide little hiding places for little things and also help keep the PH from dropping, by releasing calcium back into the water if it becomes acidic. . I have sort of a DIY canaster type filer and the Bladder snails are really frustrating me. I've started removing them by hand and putting them into a quarantine tank with scuds and copepods. . As far as snails eating plants go: The purpose of my aquarium is to grow floating plants like duckweed, water spangles and water lettuce, which need bioload for fertilizer and are so prolific, that it doesn't matter if anything is eating them or not, I still have to constantly remove excess plants on a regular basis to feed to my isopods, millipedes and black soldier fly larvae. However, it seems that most of the snails that hang out in the floating plants, are either tons of bladder snails of all sizes and just a few full sized Ramshorn snails (which are effortless to remove). . Although I am working to limit the bladder snail population and possibly eliminate them from my main tank, I am also working on modifying my designs to try to keep the bladder snails where I want them and out of my filters. I'm going to put a filter over the "return water" from my filter, to hopefully keep them from getting in and going into the filter directly. Although it would be impossible for me to keep newborn baby bladder snails (due to their size) out of my intake for the filter, I can however use this primary container as a sediment filter and put a filter on that intake that would prevent snails from being able to enter it, which goes to my polishing filter bucket and the return. I believe if I can successfully design this with the parts I have, I could potentially keep all the bladder snails out of my filter setup, which I then would have no reason to not have bladder snails anymore.
I mysterious got snails when I got my Corydora. Normally i will accidentally kill them, but they are reproducing. Really happy about that. Looks like also got a bladder snail from plants today
I kept a tank almost solely for snail. I had various cichlids that got them as a treat and loved them. Although the water amplified the crunching which was a pro for me, but a con for others.
I have a Pakistani loach (aka yoyo loach) in my tank and he really doesn't not eat enough of them to make a noticeable difference (mind you he's only about 4 inches big). I have some bought snail traps with dropping prongs to trap them which works well over night with an algae wafer but it does require it be taken out each morning and replaced each night. While it wont get rid of them it certainly does help to control them and keep them at manageable levels. Some will also include bars or another form of blocker to prevent fish from entering the trap. I'm now waiting for them to repopulate enough to clear some of the algae build up :) It's all about balance. If you are noticing bits of floating plants, it's likely due to snails eating rotting sections caused by lack of nutrients to support the plants. Add in some aqua soil between a gravel layer and a sand/surface layer.
I once had a angel fish kill all of my pest snails in a little over a month. Everything ignored them except for this one angel. It would be swimming back and forth, then stop and slowly zero in on a snail and ram into the glass until it crunched and a tiny bubble raised to the surface as the snail fell to the substrate. Best fish I ever owned.
Would love to hear your thoughts on assassin snails. I had Malaysian trumpets taking over my tank and out competing my shrimp for food so I added ten Malaysians. Six months later the Malaysian population is significantly reduced (I often don’t see any), but the assassins are not over breeding either. I’m very satisfied and so are my shrimp
I had bought 3 mystery snails. One had laid eggs and had about 150 babies, which led to high nitrate levels which I couldn't control, and was effecting the health of the fish. Time to swoop them out...
I see you have some snails crawling over the Hydra pests. When I bought my mystery nails and put them in a tank populated with Hydra that thrived off of the brine shrimp I was feeding, they seemed to receive very painful stings from the Hydra. I cleaned the tank but I’m interested to see your snails not flinching when crossing the tentacles.
I have red and peach ramshorn snails, I have always removed any other colors to the pond, give away or skud tank. I always hated bladder snails, but have found in the skud tank I have no algae in the tank with them. So I have them now in my shrimp tank but will keep them in limited.
As far as pest snails I’ve only ever had bladder snails 😅 I don’t think they’re ugly but they’re certainly not as pretty as ramshorns and not sellable (unless a puffer owner is willing to throw a couple bucks your way for some). Nice video! I do think “pest” snails get a bad rap when they’re so beneficial in many ways. It’s great not having to worry about over feeding much or missing dead leaves.
Rams horns can be active during the day. We have one with our betta and it's very active during the day, though I don't have light on my tank (i have natural light in mine) so that might be a factor.
Only issues ive had with snails is that ramshorn will eat soft leaf live plants if there is waaaayyyy too much. Ive had them eat java fern before. Nothing an assassin snail addition couldnt fix lol
I have a 125lt planted/scaped grow out tank just for snails (I have 13 other tanks) In the snail tank I grow out red, blue and leopard ramshorns (the blue I got from you, thanks) and I also have blue, purple and and jade mystery snails. Starting to mix breed the colours to see what happens. I think I have some really spoilt snails 🐌
Ramshorn snails do eat live plants I bought 40 dollars worth of staurogyne repens and the plants were doing perfectly fine for 3 months with no problems. Up until I ordered 3 ramshorn snails i started noticing my plants were having trouble to where 2 to 3 leafs were constantly floating up to the surface everyday and got curious that's when I found out there are 30 plus baby ramshorn snails crawling everywhere and every staurogyne repens had eggs laid on top. Nowadays my carpeting plants are all eaten up so I had to buy them they're own tank and sepreated it it turns out the headcount is now 60 in 2 months.
Pest Snails? There is no such thing. Control the excess food in the tank and they will be an important part of your cleanup crew without overwhelming the tank.
Ramshorn snails are called ramshorns because of the way their shell looks just like a rams horn Also, they do like some raw vegetation, and they LOVE to eat bladder snails (and sometimes other Ramshorns). I had a lot of bladder snails when I first bought my 10 little Ramshorns. With 2 days, I couldn't hardly even find a bladdersnail... Just some empty bladdersnail shells laying around. I try not to overfeed them so that they are able to keep the snail population under control, but I love them.
I'd never have pond snails again. The tiny ones clogged up everything, intakes, foams, pumps. I'd definitely steer clear of them if you use a weir filter or a sump.
I once bought a plant that apparently had both ramshorns and a Malaysian trumpet snail. I never had experience with the trumpet snail before and while I saw it for the first few days, eventually I stopped seeing it around. I had no idea it might have gone into the substrate and only come out at night. So maybe it is still alive in that tank after all? I never did find an empty trumpet snail shell, so I guess I will have to get out the flashlight tonight and find out if he's still in there!
@@BobbyPlane6252 No, I never saw it again :( I do have runaway numbers of ramshorns now, however. Since the start of this year, i.e. in two months time, I have delivered to my local fish store over 6000 ramshorns! I believe they mostly just use it to feed their puffers, although apparently some customer came in a few weeks ago asking for some as she keeps a colony of them for enjoyment, not as food stock. Well, no shortage of ramshorns for her to choose from! ;-)
About 2 weeks ago, I noticed 2 TINY snails in my Betta tank. I’m assuming that when I bought Corys for the tank, one must have come with the corys. Now, there’s like 100s of them and I was like WHAT?!! They are clearly multiplying. So, they are really tiny & I CANNOT work out what breed they are. Luckily, this video was extremely helpful, as I though that since they’re called “pest” snails, they’d be a problem. Thank you so much for this video!
I have a mystery snail, and he’s really, really, strange. Most mystery snails eat brown algae, but I’ve seen him eat green algae, duckweed, dwarf lettuce, and spiky taxiphyllum moss. He’s a funny little snail for sure, but I have had 4 mystery snails so far, and only two (including him) have ended up this strange, him being the strangest.
Love the advise. I look at my bladder snails differently now. I'm very new to the hobby and am learning loads about all my first tanks inhabitants (intentional or otherwise) through this channel. I have just one question about one of the many pieces of advise given in this video. Can you really throw the surplus snails in the garden? Due to harmful invasive species, local snail ecosystems, and all those concerns.
Maylasian trumpet snails will reproduce exponentially and will be impossible to eradicate without the nuclear option. Any benefits they may have regarding turning over the substrate is lost when there numbers become too much.
Should definitely look into Notopala Waterhouseii (waterhouse snail). It's native to Australia, its reproductive rate is very low, they filter feed on bacteria (not sure if they eat eggs) and they birth live young instead of laying eggs (that's why their repro. rate is so low). They also have an amazing spotty pattern on their foot which is really beautiful. Only thing is that they can be finicky. If they fall onto their backs they need help to right themselves or they die (only really happens if they fall off of things onto their backs due to exhaustion/malnutrition) and they don't like algae, they prefer high nitrogen foods. Breeding is also quite difficult compared to most other snails as they are dioecious, so you need to get both a male and a female.
Currently fighting a ramshorn boom. Thought keeping 3 that came on a plant would be fine... now I am seeing egg sacs all over along with a bunch of babies. I started with 3 nerites and 1 mystery so that I didn't have to deal with babies.
Snails are a constant food source, the babies have a soft shell that can be pressed with your finger against the glass and voila instant fish food, fish love them.
How do they add to bioload? It's not their fault if there's extra food in a tank that they eat (and poop when done). No extra food means no extra snails means no extra poop. They just help decompose something that is already there, they don't create bioload out of nothing, right?
It probably depends on your water conditions, temperature or something... I guess your water is slightly acidic and very soft, because of the condition of their shell... In my aquarium their shell always look good and they actually started to eat live healthy plants!! I don't feed my aquarium that much I guess when they don't have access to food just go after plants... hard to believe or not, they event ate anubias... Of course anubias and java fern where the last in being affected...
I have used snail rid that contained copper. With only a few water changes and no special cleaning the snails and shrimp now live happily in that tank. Yes I have also read about copper staying in a tank forever but in my case it’s was not true. Lots of hydra in your tanks?
