FRESH WATER SNAILS ====strange====

[mlblover126]

hey guys i'm posting this here cause i'm to lazy to register for a freshwater site. but anyways maybe yall help i've had a freshwater 37 gallon set up for about 2 to 3 months well i added fish, gravel from a bag, plastic driftwood and fake plants and thats it well i was cleaning the tank this morning and i found three small snails and i have no clue to where they came from? can anyone shed light on this for me?

 

[tangyreefer05]

live plants were never introduced at all? anything from a live source? If the only thing 'live' added were the fish, i find it odd.

 

[mlblover126]

thats what freaked me out nothing live added just fish!!!!!!!!!!!!! and now i can see about 10 to 15 of them i asked my wife if see put anything in the tank and she said no!

 

[billsreef]

It's entirely possible the store you got your fish from has them in thier tanks and two found their way in with the fish.

 

[GS-Rock]

do you know if they are your common pond snails or are they MTS, if they are pond snails you can just crush them aginst the glass, of you can get a puffer they like to eat them, but if they are Malaysian Trumpet Snails i would keep they because they are good at keeping the substrate truned and the are mostly active at night, i am using them in my tank i am trying to breed fw clams

 

[jsrtist]

It is possible for them to hitchhike in your fish water from the store. I've seen it happen a few times. For the most part FW snails are not harmful. As long as you don't severely overfeed, their numbers will stay in check.

 

[The Kapenta Kid]

They almost certainly came in the water with the fish. There are three common kinds, pond snails which are ovoid in shape like little footballs, rams horns which look like, well rams horns, and MTS referred to above. The first two have a bad reputation as plant eaters but they won't eat plastic plants and are easy to control by squishing 'em and most fish like to eat them once you have unpacked them so to speak. Or you can get natural snail eaters like loaches or puffers which will take care of them.
A few snails are always nice to add variety in a FW tank.

 

[ILoveLlamas]

If you have an aggressive tank, puffers will love them. I used to purposely put snails in with my puffers as a treat. It is a lot of fun to watch. Like an urchin and a sheephead kind of thing...

 

[OrangeKoi]

Did you release the fish and the water into your tank?

That is a good reason why you never let the water they came in into your tank.