Aquarium Snails Love 'em or Hate'em

Aquarium snails get bad press and really don’t deserve it.  There is talk in some of the aquarium forums of plagues of snails, and of snails eating the plants in aquariums but the truth is that if you manage snails in the same way as you manage your fish they can become an active part of a well balanced aquarium eco system.

Aquarium snails for the most part do not eat healthy plants.  They may be seen starting to snack on discoloured dying leaves but as these were simply going to decay and add to the ammonia levels, this is actually helping.  The only snail I know of that tucks into living plants is the pond snail.  Snails have a voracious appetite for algae and a small group of aquarium snails will keep your glass and decorations clear of a lot of the common algae.

Snails are great at cleaning up the gravel in a tank and will happily eat any left over food.  Unlike some of the catfish that are used for this purpose snails will not eat eggs deposited by breeding fish so can be a useful cleaner in a breeding tank.

Snails can get out of hand and you need to manage them in the same way as you would any aquarium inhabitant that is capable of breeding.  Snails will breed if given the right conditions. Hard alkaline water and a readily available food supply will result in a swift increase in numbers.  Snails thrive in hard water as they need the calcium to maintain the health of their shells.  Overfeed your fish and you are simply giving your snails the second thing that they need to multiply.

Despite their hard shells there are fish that will eat snails and keep the population under control.  Clown loaches love nothing better than a tasty snail, sucking the soft body out of the shell to eat them.

Trapping snails is relatively easy.  Leave a tempting snack down for them overnight such as a lettuce leaf.  In the morning you will find them congregated on it, and easy to remove.  Repeat this a few nights in a row and the numbers are significantly reduced.

Steer clear of the aquarium pesticides that promise to end your snail problem or make sure that you read the small print.  A lot of these can harm or kill off the bacteria in your bio filter playing havoc with the water balance and harming your fish.

Snails have been around for millions of years and will be for millions more.  They live happily in the wild and with a little work can be added safely to the home aquarium helping to keep it in balance.