SOmehow or another I got apple snails in my 20 gal. tank

[Mental_Butterfly]

Which is weird, because I haven't added any new plants or decor to the tank in months, just some diamond tetras, but I didn't let any fish store water into the tank and I've never heard of snails hitchhiking on fish.

Anywho, the things are reproducing like mad, my pond snails never laid eggs like these things do. In only a week I've gone from one straggler to five or six of the little buggers. I saw it suggested on another thread that shrimp will eat snail eggs, and I've kind of been wanting to add some shrimp to this tank, but I don't know a lot about their bioload. Fishwise, my tank is at capacity right now. Do you think I could add some shrimp without overburdening the tank's ecosystem?

 

[robinanne]

i have a baby snail too! i am very excited about it though. all the things i read about how the eggs have to be above the water line and all didn't happen but some how i have a tiny bronze penny colored cutie! they did mate but the little mystery laid the eggs on the top of the big apples shell. in a few hours they were all gone. i was so shocked when i saw that little guy trucking along the bottom of the tank.

 

[zzz22zzz]

I had the same problem for a while and I put cherry shrimp in but my tank wasnt over loaded or anything

 

[Mental_Butterfly]

I just found out that I misidentified them: They're actually small ramshorn snails. On the one hand, they're doing a lovely job cleaning up my excess algae and don't seem to have a taste for most of my plants. On the other, they're liable to overrun the tank in no time, and they poo a lot, something which probably negates any benefit that comes from them eating the algae. So now I'm stuck: to force out the invaders now lest they take over and cause a problem later on, or to leave them be and see if their population balances out like the Malaysian trumpet snails in my 5 gallon did? For invertebrates, snails are complicated creatures.

 

[tropicalcrazy]

let them clean off whatever has built up in your tank. pull them out or kill them by smashing them against the tank (thats what i do and the sharks eat it as it falls downwards) but leave a few. ive found out that i actually dont mind around 20 or so around my tank. i like them in my filter because they do a great job at cleaning it. also slow your feeding down and dont feed as much then you can keep a manageable amount. mine came in from a plant that i got. i hated it at first but now i dont mind the little buggers as long as they dont go crazy and i see them everywhere.

 

[MissFishy]

I was going to say...I'd never heard of apple snails invisibly hitchhiking they are so big! Ramshorns are actually easily controlled, most fish will actually pick their eggs off the sides of the glass or surfaces they lay them on. I am surprised neither of your tetras are doing it yet, perhaps stop feeding the tank so much and the tetras will get to work.

 

[Mental_Butterfly]

I hope the tetras start munching on the little buggers, I'll try not feeding over the weekend and see what happens. I'm hoping the current population explosion is just because of the copious amounts of algae they've eaten thus far, now that the walls, rocks, and driftwood are mostly clean maybe they'll learn a little restraint. On the other hand, they may turn on my plants as an alternate source of veg, I have lots of soft, tender, juicy anachris, and I've noticed nibble-marks on my anubias. I don't really want them all gone, I just don't want them all alive.

 

[Scooper]

If you don't want all of them alive then do as tropicalcrazy said and crush some of their shells. Then the fish can eat them. As for the shrimp you should be fine if you add a few. I did and they didn't push me over the edge.