Is it true what they say about snails?

Is it true that one snail will multiply like crazy?

Yes- but it depends on the species and the tank (brackish or plain fresh water).

I am attemping to breed nerite snails in my 10 gallon brackish tank for a steady supply of puffer food. Nerites will only hatch in the brackish tank. I have several egg sack and several have disappeared (not sure it they are getting eaten or if they have hatched and are microscopic)...

Most of the other varieties of snails (plain water species) can breed when they are very small- so the chances of bringing home just 1 and putting in your tank is next to zero (at least that is what I have read).

So if you only want 1 snail- get a nerite snail *** if you have a non brackish tank****.

Good luck,

Julie

Hmmm, I might look into them if/when algae starts to grow. I have no algae as of yet.

They also have horned nerites that are pretty spiffy looking and wont breed in fresh water.

Sweet. I will deff look into them. I like the not breeding in freshwater aspect, lol. I havent gotten snails because of the horror stories I have heard about them multiplying like crazy. I dont want a tank full of snails, lol. And, if I keep up with trying to breed livebearers, I wont have to worry about them hurting the babies. I like plecos (I think they are beautiful) but they get so big. Maybe one day I can have my dream tank and be able to get another pleco and not worry so much about the size.

What you are hearing about are the Malaysian Trumpet Snails or MTS and yes they breed like crazy...Shultz you should just raise these for your puffer....I was actually thinking about getting a puffer for my plant quaratine tank just to make sure no MTS get into my display tanks.

But if you do end up with a snail out break there are easy ways to thin them out...snail traps, most of your botias and loaches, assassin snails (ordered some I'll let you know if they work have a 20L looks like it has gravel but the gravel moves....just a few MTS off of some hornwort)

Heya Red dragon Girl ,
Bristol Nose Plecos ( Ancistrus ) only get to be about 3.5 inches for females and 4.5 to 5 inches for males as adults. And come in a variety of colors.
Another snail that breeds like crazy is the dreaded Ramshorn .

I have bunches of Assassin snails in some of my tanks , and it takes awhile , but they do get rid of ramshorns . Unfortunately , MTS breed too fast and although the Assassin's do eat them , not fast enough .

If you keep Betta's , they will hunt down and eat Baby snails , as will the Badid Badis and Scarlet Badis Badis .

Clown loaches are awesome snail eradication fishes also .

Just my 2 cents worth ,,, Ray

A rubber lipped pleco only gets 4" and are great for the smaller tanks.

I live the rubber Lip Plecos, I have two, and now I want the alfbn I think they are so amazing!

If you get an Apple snail female - she will be fertile for up to a month after being removed from a tank with a male. If you get a male Apple snail - obviously he won't be laying any eggs. So with them it depends on what sex you buy. (Hint, to find a male, buy a snail that is on TOP of another snail. Chances are - its the male)

I do keep the small pond snails in my moss planted tank. But I also keep two female bettas in there. Limits the reproduction of the snails and gives the females a protien boost. I keep trying to introduce the pond snails into my 29T planted tank - but I'm afraid the crayfish keep eating them.

I also keep five 'green mystery snails' in my quaranteen planted tank. I know I have at least two pairs in there from behavior - but they are either too young to breed, or they are laying in the water and the pair of very young Blue Dempseys are enjoying the snacks.

I also keep one mystery snail with each of my bettas. (Types of Apple snails) So far no egg cases have been laid above the water line. So they may have been too young to be sexually mature upon purchase. I'm actually hoping to see a few egg cases - I'll 'harvest' them and put them in my Apple snail-breeding tank at work.

I am looking for some healthy bristlenose plecos to put with my Mbunas and Bichirs, but they are hard to find - walmart carries them, but it would take me several weeks to nurse back to health in the quaranteen tank (still considering it). Did have a student's father donate a pleco to my Panfish tank. It had outgrown his tank and needed to be in a 55G. 'Baby' is a HUGE pleco! My classes noticed the monster within the first minutes of every class.

See, I heard snails werent either male or female, they were both. Obviously they need another to breed, but they can come home pregnant, and thus over populate quickly. Maybe I had wrong info?

Apple snails have males and females. As I pointed out, if you want to buy ONE and only end up with ONE - look for a snail that's sitting on TOP of another snail on the glass of the tank. Chances are that he is a horny male that is breeding the female underneith him. But a single male can't produce more.

Most 'mystery snails' are in fact Apple snails

I moved a pair of 3/4" ram horns (puffer food) into one of my tanks to see if they will take off. My Zebra Nerites eggs seem to be getting eaten by the Bumblebee Gobys. At least all of the egg sacks have disappeared and I witnessed the goby's eating them like ice cream ...

I actually stop into a few different pet stores to buy baby "nuisance" snails and my neighbor brings them to me every couple of weeks. I figured if the ram horns get out of control I will get some loaches to end it.