I have had snails in the past and unfortunately haven't had very much success with them. First of all, the pet stores where I get them from all seem to only sell the little tiny baby snails which my goldfish tend to munch up in one bite. I don't really have anywhere for them to go until they grow up a bit.

What would you say would be a good price and size for a snail if you were to purchase one?

Una

what kind of snail do you want? at my petstores they sell apple snails in individual containers(like bettas) and they are $2.50 they are about the size of a marble mine have grown pretty fast. if you are planning on ordering online that might be a problem if you only want one b/c they usually sell alot in a purchase.

I would go for a snail that is up and crawling about. Picking out an apple snail is just like picking out a fish. Make sure that the shell is in good shape as well. Actually hold the little guy/gal and look at the shell door, making sure that it is the same size as the shell opening. If the operculum (door) is smaller or missing it's a sign of poor nutrition.

Snails need a diet high in calcium for the maintenance of their shells and the water requirements are different as well. Check out this site for a really great forum and all o fthe info you ever wanted to know.

Sorry I haven't been around in a while to answer this earlier....Not much time to chat now with school back in.

If you are still looking at snails...I have olive nerites. I bought some on line from Arizona Gardens and really like them. They are good algae eaters, don't eat my live plants, and won't become pests by reproducing in fresh water. If anyone has any info on any other snails that won't take over a tank, I'd be interested in hearing about them.

The only thing I've noticed about the nerites and they mostly stay on the glass. They seem to have plenty of algae to eat there so it isn't often the work on cleaning the algae off my plants. They aren't very colorful, though, so if you are looking for something pretty, the olive nerite isn't what you want.

I have a large apple snail who I love. I really like their bright yellow colour and how gracefully they glide around the tank. Although these ones need to be fed and can't survive on algae alone. LFS's can sometimes order them if you ask.

Hi!
I see this is an old post, but I'll throw my .02 in anyway. When purchasing a snail you do want to look for active, fast-moving (yes, healthy ones do move fast) snails with good shells free of fissures. Look at the shell edge, if it's very thin you're asking for trouble. As for a good place to get quality snails at a decent size, I suggest going to applesnail.net and posting a want ad, the people there will gladly furnish you with a healthy snail in just about any color for a decent price. If it weren't winter I'd gladly send you a couple of good-sized ones, but I don't breed or ship during the winter.