# snails in the breeding tank



## davyj0427 (Aug 1, 2010)

What are the best snails for your breeding tank. Do you keep them in the whole time or add them after fry are swimming?
Thanks


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## GreyHounD (May 11, 2012)

davyj0427 said:


> What are the best snails for your breeding tank. Do you keep them in the whole time or add them after fry are swimming?
> Thanks


Place them with the pair too, if using IAL its just to decompose those debris falling off or other dying leaves of live plants.


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## davyj0427 (Aug 1, 2010)

Thanks for your reply. What kind of snails do you think are best. I have always thought of snails as pests, but now I am seeing that they could be beneficial. I see that there are a variety to choose from. Is a snail a snail or are some suited better for certain jobs?


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

Some are better for certain jobs, for example Malaysian Trumpet Snails will aerate the soil in a tank with substrate and dig down into the sand to get at rotting bits of plant matter. And people like Nerite snails because they produce less poop compared to other snails. Ramshorn and Mystery snails are great for algae and dead plant cleanup. But overall, most snails are pretty similar in terms of what you can expect. Some people prefer to buy snails that require a mate of the opposite gender to breed as opposed to a hermaphroditic or asexually reproducing species to keep their snail population stable. Others (like me) really enjoy getting babies 

If I could pick any snail to go into a breeding tank, I'd probably pick a Nerite snail, since as I mentioned they aren't quite as notorious with their waste production  Nerites are also quite popular around here, so if you were to get a pair and they produced babies, you could probably sell them to other members.


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## davyj0427 (Aug 1, 2010)

Thanks Baby, I took your advice and picked up a lot of aquabid. I researched breeding them and it seems like no easy task. Probably why they cost so much. Thank you for your help, if by some chance I do get them to breed I'll cut you a sweet deal.


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

Great, glad I could help you out  Good luck getting them to breed!


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Since I use a natural method to spawn and rear fry using soil based heavy planted full to the top with water 5-10gal tanks. All my common snails have a job...I like to use the common snails-ramshorn, pond and trumpet snails.

The live plants and soil do produce lots of different microorganisms for the fry, however, its the snail poop that produce the infusoria. If you feed the snails lots of leafy greens-that will help to get a nice colony of infusoria for the fry.

Snails also help to clean up after the fry as well as eat any dead, dieing, weak fry and infertile/unhatched eggs- that can pollute the tank. True that common snails can over populate if not kept in check and add to the bioload-both are easy to take care of by manual removal and water changes.


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