# SNAILS REVEALED - MUST READ



## manyfacez (Dec 9, 2021)

Trying to find information on snails is a tricky one sometimes, people have conflicting info and opinions. Certain questions get certain responses over and over that are seriously not the answer. I by no means am a know it all, my path in the aquatic realm is its own and it twists and turns through its experiences as it does for us all. There are certain things I can bring to the table that I feel are past due and even certain things I do not have finite answers to that I can add substance to towards the clarity being sought. 
I have been in this hobby long enough now to know it is not a hobby but truly an obsession. It takes up more time, money, research, blood, sweat, tears, effort, diligence, loyalty, care then most things in my life. If you had told me this would happen when I first got into it I would have laughed in your face and thought you were trippin. Alas, time has passed, and it's an undeniable fact that it is an addiction just like any drug. Cannot get enough and will do anything to get more of it.
I have been conducting observational as well as hands on research regarding mystery snails (golden), ramshorn, bladder and Malaysian trumpet snails the past few months. My findings are worth a share for sure, I even have worthy questions with partial answers if that makes sense that would really aid in finding the ultimate answers, I got side notes and micro bits of observations and personal experiences that many would find interesting, disasters and epic fails as well as wins and miracles, etc etc and I think could shed a light a little farther down the mysterious tunnel that is the world of aquatic 🐌. 
I will be adding to this thread as I need to put together all links, pages, photos, etc together correctly first. I have taken some high end mega high quality video and photo of my snails and have gathered up some must see content for those who share interest in this area of the 'hobby'. Keep a eye out for additions to this thread will add ASAP as soon as able.


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## Eridanus (Jul 1, 2021)

Hello and welcome to the forum! 

I do agree, there isn't much out there about snails and much knowledge does come from observation and first hand experience. 

I'm interested to see what you've found!!


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## manyfacez (Dec 9, 2021)

Eridanus said:


> Hello and welcome to the forum!
> 
> I do agree, there isn't much out there about snails and much knowledge does come from observation and first hand experience.
> 
> I'm interested to see what you've found!!


Hi! Yes, yes! The information is so limited and questions get these certain answers.... OK hang on first thank you for the welcome and it's my pleasure to meet you and be here.
I've been creeping on these types of forums for ages and staying silent... biding my time until I felt I had worthy enough knowledge to share and a lot of actual experiences going through it all first. I refuse to be one of those people who adds to confusion with nothing substantial to at least add to even out the fact what they are putting in can cause that confusion. Like, I am still perplexed by many aspects of all this but if I ever add something I will be honest with the fact I'm bewildered by it and I wilk then proceed to share the things I DO know about it or what I have seen and observed thus far in regards to it. Additionally I will back up any info I can with any other media or learning aids I can when able ie. articles, photos, videos, testimonials, etc. 
I def got a lot to share about these creatures and what I have to share is some wild s***. For real. 

I'm an American in the UK BTW so that might clarify my exuberance lol people often are like huh this chick can not possibly be British lmao and they would be most correct.

I will say this to be clear, I do like my snails they are interesting critters and my mystery snail Gary is the bomb diggity lol.... but they are something of a science experiment in a sense of the matter...... they do NOT own my heart like my betta fish does... which is why this is the first forum I joined since it is mostly about betta fish with a cool extra area to dispel all my random bs about the snails too. 

Yes exited to begin listing out some of my stuff here and hopefully I can add something to a little further at least clear up the very ambiguous universe that is the slinky 🐌 hehe....


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## Eridanus (Jul 1, 2021)

No problem! Glad to meet you too and it's great to have you here! 

I respect how you decided to wait until you thought you could make good contributions. But the good thing about this forum is that you don't have to! Any questions you have you can ask it's how we learn! Many of us still have questions too 🙂

Oh nice, backing up with sources is always great! 

I like to believe that excitement is what causes passion. No issue with that! 

Yep! It is, but it's also got sections for our various other creatures we all keep! 

I'm excited to hear what you've learned! It'll be fascinating 🙂


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## manyfacez (Dec 9, 2021)

Eridanus said:


> No problem! Glad to meet you too and it's great to have you here!
> 
> I respect how you decided to wait until you thought you could make good contributions. But the good thing about this forum is that you don't have to! Any questions you have you can ask it's how we learn! Many of us still have questions too 🙂
> 
> ...


Oh I am not against asking questions, just that it is really stellar if one can add to the question anything they do know, speculate, hypothesise, etc you know what I mean like go ahead and throw in your guess or insight or thoughts attached to it cause this enriches the question and makes it helpful at the same time it is beckoning assistance in figuring it out. Maybe I'm not making sense exactly lol I know my brain is out there on overdrive constantly and I don't expect to always have my wild head understood lmfao. 
You are most welcoming I really appreciate it. Yes much to come on all this.


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## manyfacez (Dec 9, 2021)

So to begin with all this snail shenanigans 🤪 let's just pluck something random and go with it. I'm going to go withhhh..... hmmm.....
Ah, ok! Something fun and flipped out regarding bladder snails. 
So they say bladder snails as well as all snails are peaceful. This is the general consensus yes?
I beg to differ when it comes to bladder snails in particular.
From my viewing of the infamous bladder snails I have seen a different reality. For one thing bladder snails are my vote for what snail is the biggest pest. By FAR. Bladder snails are the roach of the water snails and that's my firm opinion. You can get just one... just ONE and it's over. A week later there are a bunch and two weeks in they're exploding more and more and more by the day. When you get one in your tank it's red alert 🚨 all the way. If you want a snail free tank better start going rambo on them immediately if you are to stand any chance of them not growing the numbers on your tank with a quickness. They are brutal in the procreation department and they will take your tank over so easily if you aren't careful. These are the type of snail that will make the gravel look like its alive cause its all moving like crazy. They are hard-core so just know that.
Perfect for feeding to certain species of fish though, essentially you can have a tiny fish bowl of these things breeding like crazy and you will have a constant stream of steady live food. 
Now as far as the peaceful thing.... ha. OK... from my hours of watching crap tons of these I wouldn't say they are peaceful lol not by a longshot. These things are crazy, they gang up other species of snail and overrun them. In my snail tank I have a few different kinds of snail. The ramshorn and Malaysian trumpets struggle to keep pace with the bladders.....the ramshorn more so than the MT. The MT are pretty gangster and push back more they hold their own better than the rams. The rams are pink and blue rams, and they literally drop like flies in that tank... because of the bladder snails. The bladders swarm the ramshorn snails. They bully them. Toss them around even, push them and shove them, and literally gang up on them and the rams succumb to their harassment. The bladders prevent them from moving where they are trying to go, hog the food, and when the rams get tired enough from the effort expelled trying to just hold their own they just seem to collapse... and then the bladders finish the swarm job and cannibalise the rams body and suck the shell dry. 
BSnails bully each other too. They grab each other and shake each other violently like pit bulls. They hound each other ruthlessly to mate and the mating is savage... though they can have babies solo own their own they prefer a good ol [email protected] instead of self love lol. They are violent with their own kind as much as any other tbh.
I can't put video of this on here so I will upload some videos showing these cruel and seriously crazy snails in action... I have video proof lol these snails are nuts and they will over power other snails and literally conquer the entire tank with ease. If you see one, know the score and act accordingly immediately one way or the other. 
Very fun to watch though its like watching the mafia or a street gang roam your tank just commiting crimes like whatever. All they need is some bling, some guns and some reefer blunts and bam it would be truly complete and Los Angeles worthy full stop.
Have video coming to show this as soon as I can add it.
That's my experience with bladder snails and I believe with all I've seen that they are by no means peaceful and innocent and in fact are quite the opposite. 
Anyone else experienced this or is it just me lol


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## Eridanus (Jul 1, 2021)

That was a more entertaining read than most of the movies out these days LOL 

I have recently delved into the world of Bladder Snails (had one hitchhike the one time I broke down and got a plant from a community tank) but I have seen them go at each other in the relatively small container I keep them in. 
Fascinating, never knew that much about them though.


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## manyfacez (Dec 9, 2021)

Haha ok so you have seen them in small numbers going at it, imagine a butt ton hahaha OK OK so they aren't actually cruel like THAT. They are snails so they aren't too ruthless and it isn't like they just murder murder all day long.. but they are crazy af and they do dominate the tank if you let them which of course I kinda did hahaha it's been super fun to watch though!!!


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## manyfacez (Dec 9, 2021)

@Eridanus lol I don't think tagging works here like that but oh well....
Quickly wanted to ask you something ....

You have hissing cockroaches as pets? That's gnarly af man no offense hahahaha but like helllllll nawwww. Not happening no way I'll stomp a roach so fast it's insane just reflex couldn't help it if I tried.....but what are they like? Are they nice? Doesn't sound like it if they hiss! 

Tell me the truth... do yall cuddle?


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## Eridanus (Jul 1, 2021)

I have, at first it was kind of like oh, okay. Wasn't much shocked, I've seen way worse (outside of fishkeeping) but it is certainly an interesting fact of nature. Clean up crew gone rogue, huh? Or extreme? LOL

It does! @manyfacez

I do! Two female, both easily five inches long, Madagascar hissing cockroaches.
Hey, no offence here, not an easy person to offend! And literally pretty much everyone has said the same thing. Lol
For your questions. So, the kiddos of this species I have do not like people. I got them from someone who was giving them away and let's just say they were severely neglected and literally left in a dark corner for an entire year. Pretty much no human contact so they're afraid of humans.
I've had them about a year? The one will let me touch and pet her (took a while), the other one still runs away hissing when I come close. Which is better than when I first got them. So, progress!

Others of their kind that I have met are very sweet. Pick them up and they'll just sit on you. Madagascar hissers aren't the fastest, and they're pretty chill kids. They don't at all bite, or attack. Their defense is the hissing nosie which they make by blowing air out of certain tubes on their body. You can tell when they're going to do it because they inflate their bodies before hand, think a balloon before you let it lose. Then they run away or just cower there. The noise sounds like a poorly imitated cat hiss. It's amusing LOL

With these girls, I do not. Because I respect their dislike of me. But others of their kind? Oh totally will. Get me to someone doing a roach showing and I will be first in line to hold them!

But anyways. There's a long post on some stuff you probably didn't want to know LOL


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## manyfacez (Dec 9, 2021)

Eridanus said:


> I have, at first it was kind of like oh, okay. Wasn't much shocked, I've seen way worse (outside of fishkeeping) but it is certainly an interesting fact of nature. Clean up crew gone rogue, huh? Or extreme? LOL
> 
> It does! @manyfacez
> 
> ...


Holy God that's wild haha but hey I mean if they cream your twinkie that's what's up! I find it extremely interesting to hear you talk about them.

Wow.... pet roaches... who would have thunk it!


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## manyfacez (Dec 9, 2021)

OK, so I shouldn't be writing this right now I have a billion things going on I'm so freaking busy it is stupid butttttt alas! I'm hopeless and hooked and bursting to share more about the almighty aquarium snail......

So..... I want to delve into some things but those things tie into other things that started with that thing about the other thing ha you know what I mean so I'm just going to start with a thing and let it rip n roll....

I want to get introspective and marinate in a myriad of things buy let's start with a question so many ask and yet there is little about, always the same ish answers. 

The shell.... many of you have seen it first hand. The shell looks cracked, flaky, has white in the spiral part, etc. When asked this in person I see the same answer.... calcium deficiency or soft water. Add cuttlebone and all will be well. 

Right.. I'm thinking no... no no no. This is why:

First, I have had this problem with numerous snails. I added cuttlebone eons ago and keep it available at all times for them so it's not low calcium causing this. 

PRO TIP: Always add cuttlebone in small pieces, cause it actually goes off pretty easily though it doesn't seem or look like it. It will spike ammonia and other nasties in your water. Some people like to cook their bones into a food For the snails to eat. I am sure that's great and all, but IMO not needed. They will much on the bone as is and the calcium is entering the water and into their shells regardless so I wouldn't worry but its an option.

Moreover, what is just as important is the waters hardness. They like water with bullets in it lol, very hard. If your water is soft you can buy this stuff called Rift Valley salt mix and use it at half dose to harden the water. Epsom salt raises water hardness while basking soda raises the carbonate hardness and you can use the two to really adjust the all around water hardness to your needed parameters.

Got so much more lol I have GOT to share ASAP but I need to shower now, flying tomorrow to Spain. I'll be back with so much more asap


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## manyfacez (Dec 9, 2021)

*so I got in trouble on here and now im essentially shadow banned and my this post is taken off of the main pages recent post list. So now no one will even see this thread.

That was ahort lived. Heh... can't even have a profile picture now.

going to go to a different forum and go from there... Will let yall know the link when I do move on but I won't be posting anymore here.... 

shame....... but alright 

was swell yall but the swelling has gone down.

love and light to all....

shalom. *


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## Eridanus (Jul 1, 2021)

Do let me know if possible? I would love to hear what else you've learned. 

And yes! I've learned about the calcium thing before, I just keep pieces of cuttlebone in my tanks for my kids.


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## manyfacez (Dec 9, 2021)

I'm going to stick around I think and see this snail research through. My snail tank has really changed its course and new findings have been made. Going to start a fresh thread about this. Keep your eyes peeled!


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## Eridanus (Jul 1, 2021)

That's great news!! 

Oooh? Okay, I most certainly will! Lol


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## manyfacez (Dec 9, 2021)

Eridanus said:


> That's great news!!
> 
> Oooh? Okay, I most certainly will! Lol


I'm about to make a blast a$$ with info post. Where would it best be seen do you think?


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## Eridanus (Jul 1, 2021)

You could do it in "Journals" or "Other fish"?


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