# 'Pond Snails'



## Kriscj (May 18, 2018)

Hi. I'm fairly new and was hoping my first post would be about on of my many Betta fish. Fortunately all of my fishies are in tip top condition. However I have a small 1 Gallon tank that i have about 50 pond snails in. On purpose. They are not pests to me. They help with cleaning my tanks and they are also food for my many assassin snails. Recently (2 days or so) they have all been sitting above the water line. all tests coming back saying the water is in excellent condition. Any thoughts?


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

I have lots of them in my bigger/breeding tanks. Not sure how or why, but newly hatched fry seems to do better with snails in the tank. And if these snails die for some reason, they don't effect water chemistry too much to make a difference.


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## Kriscj (May 18, 2018)

Why would every last snail not be in the water? I did a 50% water change and they still are sitting above the water...I took them out when I did the water change and fed them a mix of powdered algae disks and pea baby food (snail jello without the jello) and they ate almost all of it. when I returned them to the tank they were in the water for 5 minutes and then they all crawled back out. I'm just curious as this is my first 'snailarium'.


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

I don't actually keep them - as pets. I let them go about their business naturally. So I don't know what parameters they thrive in.

My tanks are far from clean. Some haven't been scrubbed for years. Temp ranges around 28-29C during hot season and may drop to 25C during wet season. Water changes probably once a week if needed. Sometimes once a month - depending how many fry compared to tank size and how often I feed. I don't use water conditioners. I only age water for 24hrs or more. If topping off 30% or less, I just pour straight from my tap.

Yes, sometimes they do gather on water suface. But if a majority surfaces and stay there, it tells me I need to do water changing.


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## Rainbo (Nov 23, 2015)

Maybe they liked the dirtier water?

I don't have much experience with pond snails, I've only just acquired some and since I did not want them in any of my tanks I pulled them out and stuck them in my 1 gal tank. What I do have in my other tanks are ramshorns, malaysian trumpet snails, and 2 nerites in the 5 gal. I've never seen my ramshorns do as you describe in any of my tanks, nor have the nerites. It's the MTS that have done so on more then one occasion. I never did figure out why they do it, it's always after a water change, the betta and nerites that are in the tank with them are not acting strange and do not seem to be upset about the water change, it's just the MTS. The first time they did it I about panicked about it like you did, thinking I had nuked my tank someway somehow, and my betta was going to be the next to start feeling the effects. Now I just ignore them, if they want to crawl up the glass and hang at the top of the tank because I put clean water in the tank that's fine. They generally head back down to the substrate within an hour, and none have ever died from the water change.


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## Kriscj (May 18, 2018)

I managed to get a hold of a friend who has pond snails and its normal for them apparently. Thank you for all of your help.


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## GazHMPK (May 7, 2018)

Pest snails thrive in dirty water, how I get rid of them is by doing water changes. Hope this helps a little. 

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