Dear gf lovers - need your opinions. Are snails good to have, or better not at all (if can help it?). I am having phobias about snails cos I read somewhere they can introduce diseases and stuff. But I was thinking to myself lately, won't it be good to have them, besides for cleaning up algea - to indicate the water levels? Can snails tell u how the water levels are (since they might be weaker than goldies), so I can also monitor the water conditions by the health/behaviour of the snail? For example, I used to see a snail trying to escape the water on the surface, doesn't that sound like bad water condition and it's trying to leave it?

Also, what is the life-span of a snail? (say ramhorn (?) ones). The snails I had in the past usually die suddenly, without any meat left inside (happens overnight)...what kind of indication is this (I used to think it's just old age, or eaten by the fishies)? What should I watch out for with snails?

Opps, I should have posted this in the snails section...so sorryyy

Snails can be your friend. However, I am weary of having them because I don't want my tank infested with snails... which is very easy to happen!

i've been thinking of getting some apple snails, to take care of algae naturally.

there's some on ebay, 6 baby apple snails for £6, postage to UK only.


is £1 each a good price for apple snails, i can't find a pet shop near me that ever has any in stock.

lGolden Supanova, have a look at the snails message board section, it seems that sometimes apple snails can introduce gill flukes (or something like that). Probably why I am like so unsure about introducing more live things into my precious tank

yeh that's my major concern, i wouldn't want them to introduce anything to harm my fish.

i probably won't get any anyway, i think i'll just stick to my magnetic algae scraper for now!

I got snails many, many years ago as freeloaders on plants. Since I have started keeping goldfish, the goldfish have polished off all of the pond snails and have kept the ramshorns down to very few left in the goldfish tanks. I think that eventually they will be gone totally in the goldfish tanks. I still have some in my tropical tank, though.

I actually like the little ramshorns , and they have totally cleared any tank of brown algae that I have put them in.

I have just recently found my love for snails, golden apples, black and ivory mystery snails in particular. The apple and black ones I bought rather big, and the goldfish leave them completely alone. They walz through the tanks with their shells and antennas, and its funny to watch.
The ivorys are a bit smaller, and I have those in the tropicals tank.
So far, I don't have any problems with the snails or the fish that are in them in the tanks....
And no massive overpopulation either. Just 4 tiny baby apples so far....

yep apple snails are awesome, but i wouldn't worry about them introducing any bizarre disease, unless you buy them from a dodgy dodgy place.

They are great to watch, sometimes i like to watch the snails more than the fish

Snails are good to have if you want a LITTLE algae help (they really don't do much help cleaning, you still have to use your algae scraper) but the thing you have to remember is that they poop out that algae when they digest it. So, it adds more ammonia to your tank. I have read that you should treat each average size snail like another fish in your tank when you consider waste buildup. I've also read the only way they can introduce disease is if your goldie eats a diseased snail, but with most commercial pet shops, i wouldn't worry about that.
When you mention about the indicating water params you are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! Snails are GREAT indicators that your butt needs to get in there and do a gravel vac and water change! I notice that my snail slows down and/or turns a deeper gray color in his flesh when i need to change the water. He gets kinda wrinkly. Almost immediately after the water change, he is back to normal. I don't use many chemicals in the water because of the snail, just water conditioner/stress coat. I also have a natural rock in there to keep up the calcium levels for the snail's shell. (it's working too, becuase the shell is growing fast, you can see little rings on it just like a tree) The natural rock has buffered my pH up to about 7.2 and my goldie has been fine with it.

When you saw the snail "escaping the water surface" he was probably just breathing. They have a tube that they stick out to get air from the surface. You should leave about an inch or two at the top for him to get up there and breathe.

I have heard that a snail's life span is about three years, but i think it can be more because i've seen them the size of baseballs. they get HUGE when they're in good water conditions. If you saw a snail shell without any meat, then it was eaten. You want to make sure you get a snail that is big enough for your goldies not to pick on because they will try to pick on them alot. I found that it took about a week for my goldie to leave him alone and now he only picks on him occassionally. Also they love lettuce, so buy a veggie clip and stick a piece of romaine lettuce in there for him (they can't live off of just algae) and he will chomp away. Be sure to remove it after a few hours so that it doesn't rot or anything overnight. Hope this helps you!!
I would start out with only one snail if you dont' want babies. You have about a 50% chance of getting a female and another 50% chance that she is already pregnant when you buy her lol so good luck!! Goldies also eat snail eggs, so if she does lay them, you can put them into the water and the goldies will have a nice lunch.

I swear... the snails I had were carpenters in their previous life. Every morning I'd wake up to find all my live plants floating in the water and their roots still in the gravel. GRRRRRR. This happened every night... they just seemed to surround their body around the base of the plant and munch away. I eventually got rid of them because they left a mess in my tank. Months later I found about a dozen little babies in my tank. I almost pulled my hair out when I noticed them doing the same thing at their size. I almost freaked out. :angry: Anyway.. I'm snail free... probably wont go that route again.

Snails make great pets
and not only that they clean up your tank.
They are so intresting to watch also.

Interesting to watch.... that's for sure. Even thought they seem to barely move, they are actually going pretty fast. It's also neet to see when their tenacles (sp?) or eyes? poke waaaaaaaay out like arms. Sometimes they'd reach for the top of the water and i'd have my finger there waiting. Ziiiip that eye/arm thing would flip back faster than anything.


But they aren't fun to watch when they destroy my plants.

Barbra44-

Hehe i know they look like the slowest thing ever and
they move actually pretty fast.
I have many live plants he never had a go at them
how wierd?

thanks for telling us all about how snails are indicators!! i noticed my snail was throwing a fit and locked in her shell and i wasnt sure why, sure enough as soon as i did a 25% water change she came right out and is moving around like normal!!

I love this forum, i learn new things everyday

Snails are very shy animals so are turtles lol.
So they always attend to go in there shell
this is one reason why they are so intresting ect and have
well i find they have so mutch personality!

They make great pets

I still remember a snail I caught off the river mouth when I was a little boy.. the water should be 50/50 freshwater/seawater..

well, I add that fellow into my brother's goldfish tank then.. it was a home made concrete tank that grows a lot of algae (fully naturally, no filter, no pump, and it is outdoor)... never I realise the snail was a she and she give birth to many many babies.. hahah I had so many that I saw so much things happening...

goldfishes got choked on snails, snail breaking all the water plants..

something surprised me many years later (7-8 yrs ago) after generation after generation of snails, that OLD one that was caught by me, was still surviving.. though very old, big and rather out of shape.. but the tank was destroyed and killed everything when our house was undergoing renovation..

well, what I am left now is jus the shell... that was like 20 over years ago when I got her... sad..

Thanks for sharing all this with us everyone Snails are really very interesting to watch - I forget about my gfishes whenever I add new snail(s) to my tank hehe I'll probably be snail free from now on though, as I've started putting salt in my tank for the goldies. Yes, this site is really cool indeed

Kat do you have a snail?

Not anymore Black oranda. The last two snails I had were bullied to death I think (or ate themselves to death back then I had lots of algea) My goldies are 3 inches, the ~2cm ramshorns I get usually do not make it longer than a few months. I do not get the large mystery snails they sell here as it's warm water snail (or so I was told) and I do not use a heater in my tank. Also with the salting issue, I will probably avoid snails for a while, although they do do a good job in polishing off algea

Are children good to have? Are vacations in New Orleans in August good to have? How about Great Danes that think they are lap dogs?

Snails are a matter of taste instead of a matter to be decided logically. I don't have them in my tank with the more expensive plants, but they are very welcome in the little tank with the 5 goldfish fry (from OrandaMan of Koko's fame) and bunches of anacharis. I recently added a yellow apple snail to that tank, which already had a ramshorn who probably hitched a ride on the anacharis.

I am not thinking that the snails will take care of the algae problems. Instead, I am thinking of ways to leave enough algae to keep them happy. They like peas too.

As far as I can find out, the parasites that use snails as intermediaries are not a threat to fish. The main threat from snails will be from increased bioload on the filter. If you are counting "inches of fish" you have to count snails too.

So, I'd say get snails if you want to have them as pets. But for algae control, a brush works better.

Oh,kat im sorry about your snails.
Did you ever think of getting a mid size apple snail
only about 1 to 2 inchs long? to put with the goldies?

I'll keep an eye out if I can find apple snails around here Black oranda The places I look only have ramshorns for coldwater. Snails can get quite pricey over here...up to AU$6 each for the large ones so I'd like to get a snail if I know it'll be able to fend for itself in my tank hehe

Oh,Kat lol i forgot you lived in Australia
That might be the reason why.Since i think Apple snails
are on the pests list in Australia.

Ah ok that could be it Funny....carps are considered a pest here as well...where I am at least. Thank goodness goldies are not

I bought two apple snails around the same size a couple of months ago to help with algae,etc. First of all, they really are alot faster moving then people really think! I was amazed of their speed. the one snail has been named "Chewbacka" because he has an appetite the size of an elephant!! I swear he's tripled in size compared to the other one. Mainly because for one thing not only does he take care of algae,he also takes care of eating entire algae wafers,shrimp pellets,tubiflex cubes,and every single live plant that I owned. I never saw a planted tank get stripped so fast in my life ! lol. Well last week,as much as I hated to do it,I gave them to my daughter to keep for a while--hehehe. No seriously,I really enjoyed them alot but I'm all about planted tanks right now and the snails were killing me on those dreams. I've missed them alot this last week. I think theyre great additions to your tanks as long as your not concerned with having live plants.

talking about pest list..
I remembered watching a Bart Simpson cartoon and the story goes like Bart flew to Aussie with his pet frog smuggled in..

he stayed at his uncle's farm and he lost his frog slightly before he left.. what happened was the frog got left behind or laid eggs (cant remember this part) but the scary part is how it spread throughout Aussie in a short period of time and Bart was the culprit for this..

anyway, aussie land is very paranoid of things like that.. their primary economy is agriculture thus pest, germs, virus and animals are very sensitive issues...

darn, I still can't get over my few BOXES of instant noodles that were confiscated at Aussie custom back then...

fi5hkiller-I saw that one,and at the end when they were going home
in the helercopter there was a koala on the helercoper's
landing foot. (lol that was funny)


Devs-I know when i got my first apple snail i noticed how fast they
go god! they go so fast i though they went alot slower.
How intresting?