# Invader!



## Kwomais (Dec 31, 2012)

So I setup my temporary bowl with a live plant about 3 or 4 weeks ago. At that time I thought I saw a little hitchhiker on the plant, but once in the bowl (with rocks) I never saw it again and so thought nothing of it. Skip ahead to today, one week after placing Alpha in his temporary bowl (until my boyfriend finds the 5gal that's in storage in his crawlspace). I was staring at the bowl and I noticed this spec on the far side of the glass... and it was moving, FAST. Upon closer inspection, it appears to be some sort of snail, about 1mm wide/round by about 1.5-2mm tall. It has a pointyish shell that is dark grey or brown with a broad white stripe around the middle and the snails body/flesh appears to by a pinkey-purpley red. As I type, it is currently attached to the glass, above the waterline of the bowl (thankfully I have a lid of sorts).

So here are my questions:
1) What the heck IS it!?
2) am I going to end up wit a bajillion of these things? I heard that snails can be asexual and, while I don't mind re-homing snails, I don't really want all that responsibility and I am not well equipped to deal with such a situation.
3) Is it going to be ok with my Alpha? He swam over to it while it was traveling across the glass (at a speed of about 1.5cm/sec) and poked at it, but it flared up a bit & he freaked out and swam off to his cave (Alpha, I am learning, is a bit of a wuss). 
4) Also, would it be ok if I got a ghost or cherry shrimp to go with Alpha when he moves into his 5gal or would a shrimp "clean" it away?

It's kinda of a cute little devil and I was thinking of calling it Gary... or Boo, Boo is also an option (from Monsters' Inc.).


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Like this?


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## Kwomais (Dec 31, 2012)

It could be... at the moments it's difficult to tell as it's so small. I'll see if I can get a good picture for you.


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## Kwomais (Dec 31, 2012)

Here are link to 2 shots I took with a metric ruler for reference of size. (the images are large)
http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b563/Danielle_Koobecafkcuf/Snail02_zpsb7724d15.jpg
http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b563/Danielle_Koobecafkcuf/Snail01_zps7b984e4c.jpg


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Phusella Acuita. Common Pondsnail.


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## Kwomais (Dec 31, 2012)

Thanks ChocolateBetta! Now I can figure out how to care for the little guy (although it would appear that it's been caring for itself thus far)


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

There are more likely more.


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## Kwomais (Dec 31, 2012)

So I'm likely to be soon overrun?


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Possibly.


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## Syriiven (Aug 15, 2012)

They are hermaphrodites, the best thing you can do is watch for more. But re-homing him would be best to avoid the worst of it. I'm not sure about a snail's life cycle and just when they begin to reproduce, but best to try and nip it in the bud. I had a couple hi-jackers on my plants too. 

The thing is if they die, it's a huge ammonia spike to your tank. So if you find them or not, it's a gamble. Keep an eye on ammonia levels and just watch for more. Can even try taking your plant and doing a thorough rinsing.


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## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

Yeah looks like a pond/bladder snail.
As long as you dont over-feed, you wont be over run with the snails though. They wont reproduce unless there is plenty of food available for them.
I've only ever seen like 4-5 in my 26 gallon that they happened to hitchhike into.
As long as your PH is above 7 and you provide some calcium supplement once in a while you should be okay.

AS for shrimp. I'd suggest getting ghost shrimp first just in case your betta eats them, that way you dont lose too much. I've got ghosties in 2 of my tanks and none have been eaten, they can get away pretty fast, but for the first few days the betta's do stalk them thinking about having a taste to see what they are.


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## homegrown terror (Aug 6, 2012)

Syriiven said:


> They are hermaphrodites, the best thing you can do is watch for more. But re-homing him would be best to avoid the worst of it. I'm not sure about a snail's life cycle and just when they begin to reproduce, but best to try and nip it in the bud. I had a couple hi-jackers on my plants too.
> 
> The thing is if they die, it's a huge ammonia spike to your tank. So if you find them or not, it's a gamble. Keep an eye on ammonia levels and just watch for more. Can even try taking your plant and doing a thorough rinsing.


haha unless your fish like to munch on em. our sorority doesn't have a snail problem anymore since the girls decided snails are a tasty snack.


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## Kwomais (Dec 31, 2012)

Alpha seems pretty mellow; he bumped the snail once or twice on the glass & then swam away and hid once it moved, haha! He was VERY interested when I reintroduced the snail to the bowl because I used his bloodworm spoon lol. 

I keep a very close eye on my ammonia because he's in a bowl right now but I'm guessing the plant and my every-other-day 25% water changes are helping to keep it down as it's never reached higher than 0.01ppm. 

How can I supplement calcium? Little pieces of cuttlefish? Or I have some real shells that I could boil; would adding one of those to the bowl for a day or so a week be enough?


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## LadyVictorian (Nov 23, 2011)

If you have more than one put them in a separate little temporary tank and you can easily rehome them on here. Some people LOVE snails (slowly moving from a shrimp to a snail person myself. Snails seem to clean better and are more fun to watch.) Though i love me some mystery snails and assassin snails ramhorns and other varieties are starting to catch my eye as well.

I am actually wondering if you can crush up and boil egg shells as well. We feed eggshell to our chicken so we collect them over time xD. They are good on calcium. We feed them to our hen so she has good eggs when she lays with strong shells.


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## Syriiven (Aug 15, 2012)

Pet Stores have cuttlebone for calcium supplements for snails, but I do believe seashells would dot he trick as well. Not entirely sure.


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## LadyVictorian (Nov 23, 2011)

Syriiven said:


> Pet Stores have cuttlebone for calcium supplements for snails, but I do believe seashells would dot he trick as well. Not entirely sure.


Gah when i went to petsmart today to get my baby snail boy his goodies I couldn't find any of this T.T. Do they only sell it at fish specific stores or something?


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## Syriiven (Aug 15, 2012)

Uhm~ not sure. It's a possibility. If they sell snails they should have cuttlebone...I think PetSmart has it....but I'm sure if worst comes to worst you can order some.


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## Kwomais (Dec 31, 2012)

Thanks for all your help everybody! Fingers crossed that I just have one Boo (which is the name I decided on, because Boo was a surprise!), but if I end up with many, you can count on seeing them available for adoption on the forums!


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## Syriiven (Aug 15, 2012)

=) Hope it's just the one too, they're kind of hard to get rid of if it's an infestation (which I highly doubt you have, lol!). Good luck!


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## ravenwinds (Feb 5, 2012)

I would imagine Petsmart carries cuttlebone....sometimes you just have to check other areas
I would look in the bird food/treat section!


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## Bluewind (Oct 24, 2012)

Cuddlebones are normally with the bird stuff.

First of all, check your water hardness. It can be soft (as low as 70) and it will be fine, but less than that and you get errosion. When it comes to feeding, you can give them algea waffers. Look for a good one with calcium. If you want to add calcium to food the cheap way, you can crush the cuddlebone into a powder, mix a bit of it with a few drops of water, and let the waffer soak it up. I found it was a bit less messy that way. They don't eat much and you can always underfeed and make him "work" for his food. I would go into varrying their diet with fresh veggies and sinking pellets and other stuff, but as this is a hitchiker, I will leave you with the basics. Best of luck hun ;-)
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Ponds snails are mainly scavengers but will eat live plants in a population overload.


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

I wouldn't worry... Free algae cleaner!


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

They create waste too. Plus they can overpopulate.


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## carbonxxkidd (Oct 30, 2012)

homegrown terror said:


> haha unless your fish like to munch on em. our sorority doesn't have a snail problem anymore since the girls decided snails are a tasty snack.


 
+1 to this, I had a few come in on one of my plants from Petco. I picked of the few big ones I could see and definitely saw my girls clearing out all the little ones once they were planted. Pretty happy about that!


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## Kwomais (Dec 31, 2012)

S/he should leave my plant alone if I provide algae wafers once s/he gets a little bigger though, right? Because I probably will keep him/her as a cleaner (I was contemplating getting one once I moved Alpha to the 5gal anyways).


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

He seems full grown. Unless they overpopulate they should leave your plants alone.


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## Kwomais (Dec 31, 2012)

Full grown at 2mm? Wow they're tiny!


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## Bluewind (Oct 24, 2012)

Underfeed him a bit. This will keep off the plants, but keep him from reproducing. It will also make him clean up scraps. I have Mysterys which get abou golfball size and I love um! They keep my plants healthy by munching up those dead leaves! ;-)
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

I had a few Pond snails and ramshorns (I think) that came in on my plant order, and there were A LOT of them in my 10 gallon within a couple weeks. I think, though, they reproduced so fast because a lot of the plants were dying off those first few weeks, and perhaps the snails were just eating a lot. Now, there are almost none and I've added 3 assassin snails to the tank as well to make sure it doesn't get overrun.

A few snails doesn't hurt, especially when they're that small. In fact, they are beneficial when it comes to cleaning.

If you find egg clusters you can easily remove them. I found tons on my anubias leaves and just scraped them off.


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## Nothingness (Oct 11, 2012)

squish them against the side of the tank and your betta will then have a nice tasty escargo treat. Arthur comes bolting across his tank when he sees me squishing an unwanted pond snail


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## ravenwinds (Feb 5, 2012)

Snails do seem to like anubias and java ferns as a place to stick their egg clusters...probably because they are slow growing and firmer than many other plant leaves and stems. When you have overpopulation or snails, their egg clusters can practically encase the leaves...just remember that this is a Major clue that you are overfeeding your tank! (see, it is all your fault!.Lol...that is what happened in one of mine...the anubias almost died before I controlled it by 1, rehoming some snails in other tanks, 2, decreased feeding by quite a bit;...3, and yes, squishing tons of snails on tank walls, decorations, branches....oh and of course, scraping off tons of egg clutches!

Bettas do like protein snacks of smushed snails, but the bigger gouramis like them even better!
If you decide to keep your hitch hiker, be prepared to do all 3 or 4 of these things...or some variation of these things (my mom pulls the snails out and let's them dry up in a dish over night, then throws them in garbage.)


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## Xaltd1 (Dec 9, 2012)

I'm a pond snail lover. I get them for free @ petco. 1st, they make great betta snacks! If they lay eggs- yummy treats again! (The pond snails lay their eggs above the waterline, so if you see a glob of eggs, just push them down into the tank.) If 1 or 2 survive, they munch on dead leaves & detritus. I have a few larger Ramshorns to help w/ tank cleaning. I surrendered my Apple snails b/c they were messy & the female bettas harassed them. My male betta is also a complete wuss about his apple snail, and will only build a bubble nest in a snail-free environment!


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