Discover Snails

Ramshorn and Bladder snails both are beautiful, useful and down right entertaining. They cruise around the tank cleaning up uneaten fish food, organic waste material and some types algae. As they digest this food and waste it breaks down nutrients that then become more accessible to other organisms in the aquarium. These snails can handle a wide range of water parameters and breed prolifically. Their population can easily be controlled by their food source. If you're overfeeding a lot your snail population will grow significantly. If you feed much less the population will shrink over time. Most snails can easily be manually removed by placing a slice of cucumber in the tank overnight, to be removed by net the next day covered with snails. I would rarely recommend controlling a snail population with chemicals. These chemicals used to kill snails will also kill countless other organisms, microscopic and otherwise. This greatly affects the balance and long term stability of the aquarium ecosystem. 

 

Not only do these beautiful snails work hard to keep your tank looking good but also make a great food source for puffer fish and other creatures that eat snails. They can be raised in a separate tank as feeders.

 

In many aquariums ramshorn or bladder snails don’t need to be fed directly, especially in a tank with fish. They will munch along eating fish waste, dead plants, leaf litter and some types of algae on the glass. If you have a particularly large group or no fish food entering the system you might need to supplement their feeding. They do great on a variety of high quality foods like cucumbers, zucchini, banana, strawberries, fish food, and more. It helps to soften the fruits and veggies letting them way over ripen to the point of starting to break down. Experiment with different foods but remember a little goes a very long way! Start with thin slices of the fruit or veggie. If you throw a whole cucumber in your tank it will probably foul the water and kill the larger lifeforms.

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Water Parameters:

    - Temperature: 60 - 82°F (15.5 - 28°C)

    - pH: 7.0 - 8.0

    - GH: 5 - 15 deg

    - KH: 5 - 10 deg

 

- Tank Size: 0.5 gallon or larger

- Substrate: Sand, gravel, bare bottom

- Plants: Safe with plants

- Botanicals: Variety of wood, leaves, seed pods

 

Why would I want Bladder or Ramshorn Snails in my freshwater tank?

- Very peaceful and get along well with almost all peaceful fish and invertebrates.

- Awesome clean up crew by eating organic waste, leftover fish food.

- Will clean some types of algae off glass

- Very active and fun to watch for hours!

- Reproduce quickly and provide a nutritious snack for some fish.

- Tolerant of a wide range of water parameters.

-  Doesn't need a heated tank in many situations.

More to come! Thank you for your support!