# WHAT is this i dont even...



## ninjaofthe9seas (Jul 6, 2011)

There is a baby snail in my tank... I dont know where it came from... What do I do with it? How do I keep it safe? Is there more?  I only have one snail that I THOUGHT was a Nerite... but but...  ITS SO SMALL AND CUTE. XP If you guys know of any links about baby snails, i'm all for reading them. XD


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## Pitluvs (Jun 22, 2011)

I have no idea, I just left the first one I found, and made sure it was taken out every water change. I have him in my 29g now, he reproduces but my fish eat the babies. I have a ramshorn snail in Nixons tank, it's been there for ages. Just him, no others


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## ninjaofthe9seas (Jul 6, 2011)

XP Its so crazy. i went over to turn off the tank light and i was lookin and i realized i had to gravel vacuum and was like HOLY TOAST THERES A BABY SNAIL. XP I hope Xan doesnt eat it. XD


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## Fermin (Apr 18, 2010)

I've never seen "one" snail before...


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## Silverfang (Mar 25, 2011)

it likely hitched a ride on something, I had two snails hitch a ride with my new plant


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## bkelizabeth (Aug 18, 2011)

That's pretty hilarious!!  aww  I want a baby snail. Um, so, my grandfather had a fish tank once, and he bought a couple snails, and I guess he didn't think they'd reproduce, which they did....... and when he'd see baby snails all over the sides of the tank, he'd stick his arm in there and squish them!!!!!!!!!! D: lmao, anyway...............:shock:


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## ksage505 (Sep 19, 2011)

Do you have live plants in your tank? If so, the snail probably made its way in on them.


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## bettaluvies (Aug 21, 2011)

those snails were prob pests, thats why he squished them...


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## ninjaofthe9seas (Jul 6, 2011)

I have plants but i've had them for a few months before I saw babies. So unless they take awhile to hatch... also there are like, snail eggs on some of the decorations and the heater so I think maybe my nerite isnt really a nerite?  lol.


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## Pitluvs (Jun 22, 2011)

Can you get a picture of the 'nerite' snail??


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## ninjaofthe9seas (Jul 6, 2011)

DSC04115 by sburgett2010, on Flickr

^^


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## Kaoru (Jul 28, 2011)

The one in the picture is definately a nerite. Lucky you, those snails a kinda hard to come by where I live. However, those things lay eggs everywhere like adhesive and dont come off but you wont see it reproducing unless you have brackish water. So you will be stuck with just that one snails. Wish I was lucky enough to get nerites instead of pond snails lol


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## BettaGirl290 (Jul 29, 2010)

thats awesome! i wish i had one :<


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## Pitluvs (Jun 22, 2011)

Beautiful snail!


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## ninjaofthe9seas (Jul 6, 2011)

well i dunno where the little babies came from then... Though i dont know where they are... I think i may have crushed one in the gravel and I think Xan ate the other one.  we'll see what happens. Thanks for all your replies. XD
P.S. If you go to "That Fish Place" online they ship stuff I believe and thats where I got my snail from... Dunno how much it would cost though.


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## Okami (Oct 10, 2011)

I thought snails were a no-no for small tanks due to the bio load?


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## SmokeNLark (Jul 22, 2010)

Lucky! That's a nice hitch hiker to come by. I got a mess of pond snails, I think I took care of most of them now. And I thought I was lucky when I found 2 ramshorn snails. I like them, so they stayed


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## ninjaofthe9seas (Jul 6, 2011)

its a five gallon tank and i gravel vacuum every time i change the water. i had an apple snail before and they have an even worse bio load than a nerite. also i have four live plants, so the ammonia never goes up.  
and he wasnt a hitchhiker. I bought him.  or her... its laying snail eggs everywhere. XP


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## Pitluvs (Jun 22, 2011)

I wouldn't suggest a snail in anything under 5g but 5g and over is more suitable. I think anything under 10g shouldn't have fish mates, since most tropicals require 5+ groups. Nerite snails are much smaller, I wouldn't put an adult Apple in a 5g though LOL


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## ninjaofthe9seas (Jul 6, 2011)

I haven't had a problem with any snails. The only thing that ever was/is an issue for me is Cyanobacteria.


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## Okami (Oct 10, 2011)

ahhhh ok lol. I got a 5 gallon thats well planted and im looking for some house keepers for my betta


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## ninjaofthe9seas (Jul 6, 2011)

yeah one snail shouldnt give you an issue if you gravel vacuum. nerites are amazing at eating the algae if you have any.


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## Kaoru (Jul 28, 2011)

Yes, they are amazing when it comes to eating the algae, they even eat GSA and other hard algae and leave mosses alone. The only downside to these beautiful snails is the fact that they lay eggs almost freakin everywhere and are near impossible to remove immediately. The time and effort spent removing them vs the number of eggs and possible damage to nearby items is not even worth it.(If you have an effective method of removing them then, please, by all means post 'cause I would really like to know lol) An option could be to make the conditions right in your tank right and have them hatch, but I dont usually hear very many success stories.


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## MistersMom (Aug 9, 2011)

uhhh ohh..... i bought 2 snail yesterday.... 0.0 
i didn't know they over populated!!!
but! i also bought a pleco, will he/she eat the eggs? 
10 gal tank 1 betta 1 pleco 2 snails....
is thif okay????? im FRETTIN!!!!!!

BTW ur story is supppeerrrrr CUTE ;3
a baby snail...
DAWE  how cute!!!!
i want BABIES.... but not too many 0.0


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Two snails? depends what kind. Some are asexual, some do need a partner... In a 10 gallon the pleco won't last. It's too small for him >< otherwise trust me I would have gotten a couple =D Plecos get bigger, and need a lot more space. The fish and the snails are just fine however. I don't remember plecos eating snail eggs... so no idea about that.

If you ever run into a snail infestation, use a leafy green vegetable and they'll go on it, which then they can be removed. I had a fake plant the snails loved  bad plant for bettas (rough) but never caused a problem with any of my bettas... And the snails were easily removed since they crowded on that plant lol.


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## MistersMom (Aug 9, 2011)

kay, thats good advice thx!!


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

You're welcome


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## MistersMom (Aug 9, 2011)

is my pleco okay for now???


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

For now, yes, but I highly recommend one of two things... (I assume you have a small baby one?) either return him, or save up for at least a 30 gallon tank


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## MistersMom (Aug 9, 2011)

how much are those????? and my friends pleco (in a 35 gal) is only about 1 ft long, its 15 yrs old 0.0 .... im assuming mine will take about a yr or so to grow....


how ironic i just saw, that u had a fish named Mister??? lol, mine is Mister...


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Hehe yeah my Mister was 7 years old strong  he was an ancient man xDD

And yours, again like I said, is "fine" for now but take into account... like a goldfish, plecos can get stunted. Although most plecos I have personally seen take a while to grow, just remember the biolaod will increase as the pleco gets bigger


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## MistersMom (Aug 9, 2011)

Thats awesome lol. :3


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## ninjaofthe9seas (Jul 6, 2011)

snail hasnt been laying too many eggs, the most of what i saw were on my heater which i just pulled out and scraped them off with my fingernails. wasnt too bad. I've just been leaving them for the most part cause they haven proven to be an issue.


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## Kaoru (Jul 28, 2011)

Common plecos are really bad, if they don't get the food they need, they will resort to sucking off a fish's slime coat, so I say return it if you still can.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Hmmm I personally actually never knew that. So they basically resort to going after your fish? Good thing I told my friend NO when she wanted one for her ten gallon! (is the fish lady in this town, I know what fish are okay with bettas, if I know your betta I can find the fish  I know how to stock tanks... lol)


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## Ken007 (Oct 13, 2011)

The pet store I got my Clown Pleco from told me the same thing (that he would eat my bettas slime coat if not fed enough). So then I was all worried and fed him a quarter of an algae wafer, only to find out that Knight Rider thought the wafer was for him and would not stop eating it. I sucked the thing out since he looked like he was going to explode (and still eating!). But I guess my pleco is content eating my driftwood and rock algae as I have not fed him (or Knight Rider) a wafer since :/


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## Kaoru (Jul 28, 2011)

Many people usually have relatively small tanks with plastic/silk decorations(no driftwood or algae) and thats what generally starves the pleco. There are some plecos that won't do that and they also don't grow as large so getting those would be better in the long run.


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## MistersMom (Aug 9, 2011)

Are we talking about MY pleco?


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## Kaoru (Jul 28, 2011)

@ MistersMom, I advise you to return the pleco it is a common one because those in the long run are more likely to give you many problems. My common pleco that I got about 1.5 inches long is now 9 inches and that took only a year and some. Feeding them becomes a problem if you feed algae wafers because those are expensive when your pleco becomes huge and requires more food daily. I've also had it during last fall kill off some goldfish and koi that I had because it finished all the algae and vegetables. I would say exchange it at the petstore for a bristlenose or bulldog/rubberlip since those stay a relatively small and won't bother/kill your fish.


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## MistersMom (Aug 9, 2011)

i will as soon as i can, but for now im gonnhave to deal...


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## Kaoru (Jul 28, 2011)

Its okay, no hurries really. I'm just worried if you wait too long they might not take him back


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## pyro fiend (Oct 20, 2011)

i think you just had a wierd pleco actualy... iv raised many pleco.. from ones in goldfish/koy pond/tanks. to a 400g tank that had 5 plecos in it.. 1 stayed 7in long for like 10 yrs thn died [never found out why]. one became a wopping 22in. i sold him to a buddy cause he was in a goldie tank and ya the goldies 12in.. pleco 2x that lol never once have i had a problem with fslime sucking tho... now i wouldnt keep one any bigger then 10in with a betta just because.. well thats a big mouth XD but when i had the 400g they never sucked on anything i did have alot of driftwood and had a bunch of goldies in there befor to cycle it for a couple months maby thats y they lived? no idea.. never had that problem with commons tho but after a yr or 2 id say eathr give him a new home or get a 30-40g and make yourself a fun lil comunity tank w/o bettas  lol


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## Kaoru (Jul 28, 2011)

Its a matter of how well off they are. I've only had issues with plecos that I have had less than a year, the older ones are fine. There's also a huge problem with the naming of common plecos, not all are the same thing. Its not so much I had a weird pleco, it was mostly because he was starved at the store and I was stupid enough to think he would be fine with the koi and goldfish for a while. What ended up happening was all the algae disappeared overnight and a few of my fish were harassed, one in particular was harassed so much his slime coat and scales never came back and he didn't make it in the long run. I've had friends and accounts on forums tell me similiar stories of a pleco that they got at the store that finished up all the algae and then went on to the fish because they were simply starving. Not saying that all are like this but there is a chance and its better to be safe than sorry.


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## pyro fiend (Oct 20, 2011)

well usaly common would be sail fin i believe. but as for the harrassing sometimes just adding a new fish to this big tank with new ppl. hes gota show hes not gona be a push over.. iv seen goldies and guppies tear apart a pleco overnight cause he was too mellow =[ never had a slime coat sucked off. i personaly always give them a few tabbs in a foot tote befor putting them in. my luck i bought one that was eating when they cought it. 

but the one i recently got he was in a goldie tank and was freezing </3 hes in a 80deg goldie tank now and has only false charged yin my 1.5in goldie cause he thinks he owns this sunkin ship. now he dont care for the goldies coming in it and i feed him 2-3 tabs per day may be alot but my wafers r uber thin. 

but i agree if you dont see it eating the lil fizzy food thing they feed them. even tho it has no nutritional value. its bettr then nothing.


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## MistersMom (Aug 9, 2011)

mines healthy. u guys type too much!!!!


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## pyro fiend (Oct 20, 2011)

lol thanks momma. i do type alot but id rather type alot then not enough and have to explain myself 50 times n whatnot ^.^


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## MistersMom (Aug 9, 2011)

yeah lol...


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## pyro fiend (Oct 20, 2011)

welp unsubscribing here sence i voiced myself and have nothing more to realy say ^.^


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## MistersMom (Aug 9, 2011)

me too...


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I haven't heard of plecos sucking the slime coat off other fish but I HAVE heard that Chinese algae eaters do it.


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## SaraGarcia1701 (Nov 12, 2011)

Most snails are both male and female and thus reproduce without anyone else. If one of these snails goes unnoticed by your fish then he can get to a noticeable size.


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