When you went to bed last night, there was one little snail in your tank. You don\u2019t mind him; he\u2019s kind of cute. This morning, you\u2019ve woken to find about a thousand in there.<\/p>\n

Where do they come from? Are they good or bad for your freshwater aquarium? Can they live peacefully with your fish? Let\u2019s take a look at the good and the bad of snails in your freshwater fish tanks.<\/p>\n

Where did this Snail Come From? You certainly don\u2019t recall buying a snail the last time you were at the fish store. Yet, here he is\u2026with hundreds of his friends and family. So how on earth did he get into your aquarium?<\/p>\n

Are Snails Good Or Bad For Fish Tank? Freshwater Snails are scavengers and also good algae eaters. Why do not keep them instead of other algae killers? What about overpopulation, they reproduce pretty quickly? <\/strong>Advice today is to regulate them, maybe keep one or two and everything will be just fine. <\/strong><\/p>\n

For more info, such positives and also treads keep reading further.<\/p>\n

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Most snails enter your freshwater environment on live plants that you purchase at your local fish store. <\/span>Snail eggs are microscopic; the little creatures are so tiny that you won\u2019t see them when you are buying the plants.<\/span><\/p>\n

Young snails are also small enough to miss at first, and so they can hitch-hike from the store right into your tank. There is also a possibility that some eggs or juvenile snails were scooped up along with your latest fish purchase, especially if the net contained gravel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Switching the decorative items from tank to tank can also allow freshwater snails to travel from one environment to another within your own home. <\/span><\/p>\n

Because snails reproduce rapidly, what may start as one lone snail can quickly amount to an infestation in your tank. <\/span><\/p>\n

Freshwater\u00a0<\/span>Snails can live upwards of three years in the right environment, so the problem can quickly get out of control in your fish tank.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the wild, freshwater snails can live in nearly any body of water including rivers, lakes, and ponds. <\/span><\/p>\n

In your aquarium, snails can hide under your plants, burrow into your substrate, or just hang out along the glass, cleaning as they go.<\/span><\/p>\n

Freshwater snails breeding and reproduction<\/h2>\n

Snails lay eggs in gelatinous clusters that can be found floating near the surface, attached to the side of the tank, or under the leaves of plants. Once laid, the eggs will take between two to five weeks to hatch. <\/span><\/p>\n

Some breeds of snails, however, are livebearers and will produce at an even faster rate than their egg-laying friends. <\/span><\/p>\n

Most snails are hermaphrodites; this means they can both lay their eggs and fertilize them as well, without the need of a mate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Female snails are generally larger<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Some snails are asexual, meaning they can produce entirely on their own. Others do have genders, and telling them apart can be achieved by looking into the opening of the shell and looking for a penis, by differentiating them according to size (females are generally larger), and by looking at the shape of the shell itself; males will have a slight lip on the bottoms of their shells that females will not. <\/span><\/p>\n

A female can store fertilized eggs for a long period of time, then release them to hatch. This can make it seem as if one lone snail has had a miraculous birth event.<\/span><\/p>\n

Can Freshwater Snails be Harmful to my Aquarium?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Some snails are simply nuisances, while others are ornamental and beneficial. <\/span><\/p>\n

The ones that smuggle themselves into your aquarium uninvited are general nuisances. One snail by himself isn\u2019t harmful; they do eat dead vegetation, debris, and algae. Telling myself this sounds positive. The problem is that one freshwater snail is never content to be alone; he wants to surround himself with many more, just like him. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Snails can harm your freshwater aquarium in several ways:<\/span><\/h3>\n

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• snails love to hide in your filters, blocking inlet valves and jamming impellers<\/strong><\/li>\n
• dead snails can release harmful ammonia into the environment<\/strong><\/li>\n
• the big snail colony will cause a biological imbalance in your tanks, reducing the number of fish the fish tank can support<\/strong><\/li>\n
• snails eat aquarium plants and on occasion, will harm your fish if your fish are already weakened from disease or parasites<\/strong><\/li>\n
• Snail killers – chemicals and processes used to remove snails may kill your fish, too<\/strong><\/li>\n
• Snails have the potential to carry infectious diseases to your fish<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  How can Freshwater Snails Benefit my Aquarium?<\/span><\/h2>\n

  Snails can be beneficial to a freshwater aquarium. The beneficial ones tend to be the ones you voluntarily introduce to your tank rather than the opportunistic hitchhikers you bring home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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  • Because they are scavengers, snails will eat debris, leftover fish food, and algae in the tank; in effect, they are sort of slow-moving vacuum cleaners. \u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Many snails love to burrow, they essentially aerate your substrate which can keep deadly and toxic anaerobic gasses from building up in your fish tank.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Some snails, such as the assassin snail, will feed on nuisance snails and control their populations – big thumb up.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Freshwater snails can be a very ornamental and attractive addition to your tank<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Unlike most algae eaters, freshwater snails will avoid eating fish eggs if you are breeding your fish<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • Snails will eat dead or dying plants that can release deadly levels of ammonia in your tank<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Can Freshwater Snails Hurt My Fish?<\/span><\/h2>\n

    Generally speaking, snails will not physically harm or chase after fish in a fish tank. They can pose a threat to fish that are weakened and already dying, but not to a healthy population of fish. <\/span><\/p>\n

    The harm that comes from a resident snail overpopulation will be in imbalances of the biological load of the fish tank. Other than these issues, freshwater snails can be kept with any other tropical fish.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Ornamental snails can be very finicky about water quality and temperature. They thrive in temperatures of 72-82 degrees Fahrenheit (or between 22 and 28 degrees Celsius), so pairing them with other freshwater fish who need these temperatures is ideal. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Because snails can be so susceptible to water quality changes, such as pH, they can be a good indicator of worsening conditions in the tank. If your ornamental snails retreat into their shells, they could be signaling that it is time for a water change.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Good Snails or Bad Snails – Everything you Wanted to Know<\/span><\/h2>\n

    As we\u2019ve already learned, most snails that you find one day in your tank are the invasive snails that can ultimately overpopulate and affect your tank negatively. <\/span><\/p>\n

    These can include:<\/span><\/p>\n

    Malaysian Trumpet Snails <\/strong><\/h3>\n

    (lat. Melanoides tuberculata<\/em>)<\/span><\/p>\n