# Choosing a Snail



## Eolith (Aug 4, 2009)

I've decided that I'd like to get a snail to go in my 5g aquarium with one of my bettas, but I don't know a whole bunch about what type of snail would be best for me in terms of size and so on. Any suggestions or resources where I can read up on freshwater aquarium snails?


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## Adastra (Jun 18, 2010)

I'm a big fan of nerites--they eat a large variety of algae and they can't reproduce well in freshwater at all, so they won't overpopulate your tank. I haven't had to scrape for algae in my 5G once since I added a single nerite to the tank. They're also quite pretty--I have a few of the tiger patterned nerites in my tanks. The zebras are very pretty as well.


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## JB5 (May 22, 2010)

My zebra has done a great job of cleaning the tank but there is a side effect. While they do not reproduce, when they are well fed they lay tons of eggs everywhere and they are so hard to get rid of. I am actually thinking of getting rid of it and getting something else.


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## Eolith (Aug 4, 2009)

Hmm, thanks for the heads up on the zebras. I do want to make sure that I don't wind up with lots of baby snails or eggs in the tank... just one snail will do. The nerites won't do this?


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## Hermitpaws (Jun 8, 2010)

in my opinion sails aren't hardy little guys all of mine died with in a week of buy them.
one i know of was attack by my betta and the others Committed suicide at the top of the tank.?(by crawling out of the water on to the lid.)


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## Posaune (Sep 17, 2010)

Snails poop a lot too, don't they? They would clean the tank from algae, but they might make it dirtier in other way.


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## Eolith (Aug 4, 2009)

Lol, the tank is cycled and I do weekly water changes... so I'm not super concerned about the amount of poo as long as it's not a huge snail and there's only one of them.


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## JB5 (May 22, 2010)

Eolith said:


> Hmm, thanks for the heads up on the zebras. I do want to make sure that I don't wind up with lots of baby snails or eggs in the tank... just one snail will do. The nerites won't do this?


 
Nerites (Zebra is a nerite) won't reproduce but they will lay lots of eggs. here is a pic of my driftwood to show you what they look like.


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## JorgeBurrito (Sep 2, 2010)

The other standard recommendation besides a nernite is a mystery snail. They have the advantage that they are very commonly available. If you just buy one they can't reproduce as unlike most snail require both a mail and female to reproduce. 

To the person that had snails climbing out of the tank...snails do that, they are not necessarily committing suicide. You need to have a lid on your aquarium with snails less you end up finding them on the floor or out of your aquarium. If they do get out, with many species they can survive for multiple days outside the aquarium so just plop them back in the water. If they are climbing out of the aquarium a lot it is a sign that your water quality sucks and you need to do a water change asap!


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## Eolith (Aug 4, 2009)

Hmm, do the mystery snails lay eggs? What about apple snails... I've heard those mentioned too.

Edit: haha I just typed it into the internet and supposedly apple snails are the same thing as mystery snails! Is that right? Just shows how much I know about snails.


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## Hermitpaws (Jun 8, 2010)

JorgeBurrito said:


> To the person that had snails climbing out of the tank...snails do that, they are not necessarily committing suicide. You need to have a lid on your aquarium with snails less you end up finding them on the floor or out of your aquarium. If they do get out, with many species they can survive for multiple days outside the aquarium so just plop them back in the water. If they are climbing out of the aquarium a lot it is a sign that your water quality sucks and you need to do a water change asap!


i had a lid, they were climbing o to the lid and just sitting there!!!
i think it was cuz my fish tried to eat them.


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## puppyrjjkm (Aug 2, 2009)

Mystery snails are so fun! They can get pretty big, and shouldn't have babies unless a female is pregnant when you buy her.


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