# Giant ramshorns as duckweed control ?



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I have a few of these guys. I rather like their looks, and started with, I think, six of them. For most of the summer, they've been in a 29G, with a mass of anacharis, and appeared to be pretty much leaving it alone. I think they'll eat dead plants if they have to, but I really am not sure of that.

But I decided I'd put them in with most of my other snails in the frog's tank. BIG mistake, they LOVE frogbit, with which the frog's tank is well covered. I got tired of the mess they made of the frogbit, chewing a leaf here and one there to shreds, so I put them in a 5G. The 5G had a thin layer of duckweed on it, L. minor, and I remember thinking to myself, I really must get rid of the duckweeds.

But the duckweed vanished within a week. i looked one and realized only a few leaves remained. So I tossed a small handful of frogibt in there, and it too almost completely vanished in a couple of days. Last night I tossed in a BIG handful of frogbit, and this morning, a chunk of it is gone and every snail is upside down, hanging from the frogbit, munching away like little industrial lawn mowers.

If it were not that I don't yet trust them not to eat some stem plants, they might be ideal control for heavy loads of floating plants, which they clearly adore. There are 8 adults in a 5G, most of them an inch or so across, but two, one of which is female, [ I've caught her laying eggs].. are pushing two inches across.

A lot of mowing power for a 5G tank.. but I'd guess even one of them would make fairly short work of a duckweed problem. Perhaps I could rent them out as temporary mowing machines  ?

Edit.. Clearly, i need to test them with various plants that don't float to see how attractive they may or may not find them.


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## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

Crazy. They're a different species than reg ramshorn snails, right? 
That's some fast work on the duckweed. I'd imagine no plant would be safe with them.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

No relation to the common small ramshorn. In fact, they are members of the Apple snail family, but unlike Mystery or Giant apple snails, they lay eggs under water. Huge eggs.. in large slimy masses. Young snails consume much of the mass after hatching, which is nice, less to clean up.

So far, I know of two plants they don't bother.. anacharis and java ferns are apparently not to their taste. I think I will toss in some other cuttings to see what they do with them, be nice to find out what other plants they might or might not eat. I suspect they would stick to what they like best so long as it was available to them.. so giving them duckweed or frogbit might well deter them from damaging other plants.

They're neat looking snails though.. truly do look like a rams horn too.


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## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

Do they not eat it, or do they just prefer softer stuff?


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

So far as I have observed, they don't eat anacharis at all. Clearly they prefer softer bodied plants.. and it may be there are some toxins they don't care for in anacharis too. Most water plants produce some type of allelopathic compounds, it helps them compete for spade and food.

Edit *.. looked this morning, they have already eaten two thirds of the big handful of frogbit I put in, and laid yet another clutch of eggs. Clearly, abundant food seems to stimulate reproduction. They are often clustered in what appears to be mating postures, four or five together sometimes.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Update for anyone interested in their rate of consumption. The big handful of frogbit I tossed in, I think it was yesterday, gone entirely this afternoon. A new small handful tossed in, took less than 10 minutes, for every snail to respond by climbing up and latching onto a frogbit and begin munching. I don't know if they smell food or see it floating, but either way, the response time is amazingly quick.

Still not touching the anacharis, so I tossed in a small piece of pennywort to see what they do with that. 

Now there are SIX clutches of eggs and they haven't been in this tank more than a couple of weeks. I guess I'll have some to sell once they hatch.


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