Where Do Snails Come From In My Fish Tank?

Where do snails come from in fish tanks? Snails most commonly come into fish tanks on live plants. They can also arrive if they are netted along with the fish at the store, and were then added to your aquarium with the water in the transport bag. Infant snails are nearly microscopic, and snail eggs on plants are transparent so they are borderline invisible to those not looking for them. All it takes is one stray snail or a few eggs, and you may be astonished to find an entire thriving snail population living in your tank within a few weeks. This is because most snails do not require a mate to reproduce. A single snail can fertilize its own eggs, and soon that cute little snail you saw can have dozens of its family around – each of which can have children all by themselves! Even though the snail has the advantage of reproducing quickly, and can easily hide, you can still stop the situation from getting out of control. Firstly, you can do some population control by luring the snails out by clipping a lettuce leaf to the glass overnight. When you wake up, there will be a whole family of happy snails feasting on it – which you can then scoop out of the fish tank and dispose of. Secondly, you can put snail eating fish in your tank. They will sift through the gravel and suck any snail they find out of its shell. Thirdly, you can use commercial treatments to add to your fish tank in order to reduce snails. However, you must be very careful to use correct dosage to not harm the fish. Lastly, reduce the amount of food you feed your fish, and there will not be as much left over for the snails. Snails can only grow and reproduce if there is excess food or algae in your tank. If you want to stop snails from turning into more snails, you should only feed so much as your fishies can eat completely in a minute or so. However, the best way to avoid a snail problem in the first place is to never let them in the tank to begin with. When purchasing live plants, treat them before adding to the fish tank. With fish, ensure that nothing else, including the aquarium water, is put in your tank. But remember! Snails are not necessarily a bad thing. Without snails, extra food flakes can decay and turn to ammonia - which is bad for fish - and can eventually help cause an algae bloom. Although fish live algae, the green can take some effort to clean up. Instead, let your snails scrape it up and eat it. They will become your free tank cleaning service. But that algae in turn will create even more snails. In the end it depends. Would you prefer to pick snails out of your fish tank, or scrape the algae out of it?