# Ramshorn snails - advice please!



## wildmountainthyme (Jul 13, 2015)

Hi,

I have been looking into getting snails, ramshorn specifically, and figured one might be a nice companion to my bettas in a 10g tank (I have 2 10g with 2 bettas each), which has a lot of live plants and I do plan on adding more for a heavily planted tank.

I see that they do reproduce a lot, and they poop a lot. However I was not prepared for how much.

I ordered a snail - but received 5! I have them QT in separate tubs as I didn't want to add them straight to my tank.

My questions are as follows:

1. The poop doesn't seem like it would be filtered, but I'd have to vacuum up. I do vacuum my tanks, but the amount from 1 snail is ridiculous. Will I have to change my tank water much more frequently if I add the snail in?

2. I know the snails are hermaphrodites. I was planning on keeping the snails separated in their mini tanks (tupperwares actually) for at least 40 days before adding them into the main tanks. Would this be enough time to make sure they have not bred? Each tank would only get 1 snail - to make sure there is no chance of breeding in the future. I don't want to be overrun with snails.

If you already have a snail - how often do you do water changes? Do you have only 1 and has it bred? 

I'm not sure if I actually want to put these in my tank after seeing the amount of poop that they leave behind. I can always keep them in their own tank for a while, but I know if I do that I will have many snails shortly.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Hey fellow New Yorker! Where abouts are you?

There's a good chance they will still lay eggs even after 40 days, NYC water tend to be fairly soft, so snails are not as prolific in our water (providing you don't overfeed).

Maybe you can try nerite snails or assassin snails, Horned nerites are about the size of ramshorns and wont reproduce  You can get those from petco.


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## wildmountainthyme (Jul 13, 2015)

Thanks for your response! I live in South Brooklyn. 

Thanks for the nerite snail suggestion. I'll check that out. If you have experience with them, is the amount of poop similar? I really don't want to add any snails to my tanks without knowing for sure if I need to change up my water/tank cleaning schedule.


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## TenaciousB (Aug 11, 2015)

I have nerite and mystery snails. The mystery produce a lot of fecal matter and they smell awful even after less than a day when in an unfiltered tank (hospital tank because treatment for fish would kill him). My nerite does not produce a lot of fecal matter and she is constantly cleaning and eats a lot. My boyfriend and my mother both have horned nerites and they do not do anything to reduce algae (lazy little buggers) but his zebra and tiger nerites do a great job. I would stay away from any hermaphroditic snails. My boyfriend got some ramshorn and pond snails accidentally when he bought live plants and they laid eggs everywhere and took forever to get rid of (he did keep the largest ramshorn snail in its own little tank).


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## wildmountainthyme (Jul 13, 2015)

Thank you!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I guess we all have different experiences. I have heard people say that nerite snails do not poop a lot, others say that shrimps don't poop very much... in my experience, they can both be poop monsters! 

I have a fairly heavily planted tank with lots of mulm, so I can't tell how much waste my nerite produces, but he'a tiny, so he probably doesn't produce as much as larger nerites.


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## wildmountainthyme (Jul 13, 2015)

ao said:


> I guess we all have different experiences. I have heard people say that nerite snails do not poop a lot, others say that shrimps don't poop very much... in my experience, they can both be poop monsters!
> 
> I have a fairly heavily planted tank with lots of mulm, so I can't tell how much waste my nerite produces, but he'a tiny, so he probably doesn't produce as much as larger nerites.


If you don't mind me asking, how big is your tank and how often do you change the water/vacuum it?


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Hmm.. my tank has a lots of plants so i dont see nitrates/ites or ammonia. Currently I'm doing a 25% water change weekly. It's a 4.5 gallon, and currently houses a school of pygmy cories, around 20-30 shrimps and one horned nerite. There's a couple of ramshorns, and I'm starting to see babies... I have too many MTS to count.


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## wildmountainthyme (Jul 13, 2015)

ao said:


> Hmm.. my tank has a lots of plants so i dont see nitrates/ites or ammonia. Currently I'm doing a 25% water change weekly. It's a 4.5 gallon, and currently houses a school of pygmy cories, around 20-30 shrimps and one horned nerite. There's a couple of ramshorns, and I'm starting to see babies... I have too many MTS to count.


Thanks for replying. That makes me feel a little better, I found some ways to keep the snail population low. I think I'll give it a go with one of my ramshorns (after his QT period) and look into a nerite for my 2nd tank.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

wildmountainthyme said:


> Thanks for replying. That makes me feel a little better, I found some ways to keep the snail population low. I think I'll give it a go with one of my ramshorns (after his QT period) and look into a nerite for my 2nd tank.



Whatever you do make sure you test regularly  that way you can establish a water change schedule tailored to your tank!


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## wildmountainthyme (Jul 13, 2015)

Yep. I will most likely have to adjust my current schedule a bit, but it shouldn't be too bad. Hopefully, anyway!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

wildmountainthyme said:


> Yep. I will most likely have to adjust my current schedule a bit, but it shouldn't be too bad. Hopefully, anyway!



Good luck! 

I love snails  all kinds of snails!


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## Strawberry12 (Mar 6, 2015)

i have probably 20-30 ramshorn snails in each 10 gallon tank of mine and do 1 50% water change a week. they're also heavily planted, though.


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## wildmountainthyme (Jul 13, 2015)

Strawberry12 said:


> i have probably 20-30 ramshorn snails in each 10 gallon tank of mine and do 1 50% water change a week. they're also heavily planted, though.


Thank you!!


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## TenaciousB (Aug 11, 2015)

I have seen one thing consistently said about nerites and have noticed it myself-the larger they get the less they like to clean. If you get a nerite, get one that is smaller to medium size (size of a dime roughly).


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## Innerbeauty (Jul 31, 2014)

ao said:


> Good luck!
> 
> I love snails  all kinds of snails!


 Snails are totally awesome! ^^


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