# thank God for apple snails!



## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

So I had a little outbreak of that nasty green slimey hair algae in my plant tank due to having the lights on too long. I read about how the apple snails love algae, so I popped one of my big and I mean BIG boys in the plant tank this am....well he's just motoring around my tank like he's in 7th heaven 

I watched him grab onto a piece of plant that's floating that I just pulled some algae off this am, and he's munching down that stuff like its ice cream!!!

At this rate I won't have anything left for him to eat .....good boy 

He and his female companion just laid me a 3 inch x 1 inch wide egg case, so in a few weeks I will have lots of baby apple snails available. LOL.


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## Scotmando (Jul 10, 2011)

snails rule this green earth


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## Egonsgirl (Feb 28, 2012)

Hey Anna, I could use a couple of them babies. I have hair algae in my guppy tank, and I think it is starting in my shrimpie tank. What colour are yours?


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

No babies yet, will be another 3 weeks and then a few more for them to grow a bit. Mine are just plain old greyish/brown...nothing fancy, but BIG!


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## kuler22 (Jul 16, 2012)

Hi Anna,

Would Apple snails live peacefully with Cherry Shrimp and do they eat the slimy green algae? I can't seem to get rid of that type of algae but want to ensure that they do not eat any of the baby shrimp as I have just got them breeding nicely. I know you are one of the resident experts.

thanks.
Jon


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

they do eat the algae, and no they don't snack on my shrimps 

I have them in the tank with my Taiwans right now...dumb things were floating in the co2 bubbles, having fun


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## Pamelajo (Aug 9, 2009)

kuler22 said:


> Hi Anna,
> 
> Would Apple snails live peacefully with Cherry Shrimp and do they eat the slimy green algae? I can't seem to get rid of that type of algae but want to ensure that they do not eat any of the baby shrimp as I have just got them breeding nicely. I know you are one of the resident experts.
> 
> ...





bettaforu said:


> they do eat the algae, and no they don't snack on my shrimps
> 
> I have them in the tank with my Taiwans right now...dumb things were floating in the co2 bubbles, having fun


I agree with Anna I have 4 different kinds of apple snails and they are all in with different shrimp and they do not bother them.


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## zfarsh (Apr 7, 2011)

do they eat the plants, or just alga?

Would Oto fish be a good idea instead?

I didnt know Apple Snails eat hair alga, i thought it was only SAE fish. Do you have any pics of your hair algua, i may need to get some in the futur instead of SAE for my smaller tank, just in case one day i may get them again (still not sure how i got rid of them).

Anna, pls pm me when you get the babies, as their are different types of Apple Snails, and i dont know which is which.... also, they would be a nice addition in my 75 gallon golfdish tank if they dont eat plants!!!


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## zfarsh (Apr 7, 2011)

Hi Anna,

Any chance you can take pics of your Apple Snails?? I dont know why, but i am extremely excited to get some now.


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## Pamelajo (Aug 9, 2009)

Any apple snails that get peach size will eat plants. The coloured ones (blue, ivory, purple, black, etc) will only eat dead plant material. 

Anna if you do not know what kind of apple snail they are can you post a pic of the spiral from the side and I should be able to tell you what kind.


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

I believe these are the giant apple snails...just found them playing with my co2 diffuser...yes they turned it upside down and one was sitting above it the other below it....I had to move them both out of the way to get photos of them....just huge!!

Will post them tomorrow am when I am not as tired....too much wine for dinner


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## zfarsh (Apr 7, 2011)

Hi Anna, 

do your Giants eat live plants???


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

not that I can see, but they love that algae...saw them cleaning the back wall of the plant tank where there was quite a bit starting on it. 

here's pics of them

this is the girl for comparison, those mesh are 3 inch sqs.










this is the boy...see what they did to my co2 diffuser, he's got it upside down now...










together. he grew that extra piece of shell after I put her in his tank, then they made woopee!


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## Pamelajo (Aug 9, 2009)

They definitely look like plant eaters, but maybe leaving your plants alone because they are busy with the algae and the plant eaters tend to be more bratty. Anna do you have sponge filters in their tank? If so look at them closely and see if they have been eating them.


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

I have the colored variety green, blue and they also eat plants. 
I had lots of amazon frogbit that slowly disappeared thanks to them.


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## Pamelajo (Aug 9, 2009)

Jackson said:


> I have the colored variety green, blue and they also eat plants.
> I had lots of amazon frogbit that slowly disappeared thanks to them.


That is weird the coloured variety usually will only eat dying plant matter, are you feeding the tank/fish enough so there is left overs for them? Do you have very fine plants. I wonder with the frogbit if it is because the little plantletts are soft and tender? Mine are in a planted tank and they never bother the plants, and I have tons of frogbit. I can send you some, it is tiny tiny I can't seem to grow it big. I keep taking it out to the goldfish and putting in the plant eating snail tank.
I had a tank of rainbows, gourami and kribs and no snails, it kept dissappearing. I also had ameca splendens that ate it but now have another goodeid that don't touch it.


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

Very well could be that frogbit is tasty to them. It's the only plant I had in there. 
They're well fed I was shocked to see my frogbit slowly vanish.


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## zfarsh (Apr 7, 2011)

man, this is depressing, i really wanted some Giant snails!!!!!


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## Pamelajo (Aug 9, 2009)

zfarsh said:


> man, this is depressing, i really wanted some Giant snails!!!!!


You could always do a non planted tank for them.


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## robert77k (May 27, 2012)

This is the type of apple snail you want for a planted aquarium as they don't eat plants. They grow to max size of a golf ball.

http://www.applesnail.net/content/species/pomacea_diffusa.htm

Color has nothing to do with the species. You have to look at the shape of the shell to determin the species.

If it's bigger than a golf ball, you can be pretty certian that it is not a pomacea diffusa, and they will munch on live plants.

I have 5 red/yellow pomacea diffusa now, and they are the size of a large marble. Thus far they have only munched on algae and sift through the gravel.

This link is great to help you figure out which species you might have. The color of the eggs is also a good indication:

http://www.applesnail.net/content/species_genera.htm


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Pam these snails have never ate any plants in the time I have had them over 2 years for the biggest one.

I checked the sponge filters (2 of them) and nothing has been eaten off them and the algae on the back glass of the plant tank is a lot less now, plants are looking cleaner too!

I had floating water lettuce and hygro in the big 125 tank where my goldfish are kept the plants are still all OK. never eaten.


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## Pamelajo (Aug 9, 2009)

robert77k said:


> This is the type of apple snail you want for a planted aquarium as they don't eat plants. They grow to max size of a golf ball.
> Applesnail.net is an awesome site, I was a moderator there for many years and in the beginning I had a hard time telling the two shells apart when buying them and ended up with a cana in a planted tank.
> 
> http://www.applesnail.net/content/species/pomacea_diffusa.htm
> ...


The plant eaters don't come in blues, ivories, pinks and purples which is diffusa formerly bridgesi, and easier for people to distinguish due to colour. So species kind of goes by colour A person who has snails with out a lot of experience, may have a hard time differentiating between the two shells.

Plant eaters are usually carmel,light brown, greenish with or with out stripes. You used to be able to purchase cana a plant eater in bright yellow with a white foot, but every since the crack down in the US we have not been able to get this colour.

The diffusa eggs are dusty rose while the plant eaters are more of a fushia/ hot pink unless you have a haustrum which are green. Anyone wishing to see pics of these, send me your email and I will send you the file, it won't attach for some reason.
The only one in the pics I have attached that is not a plant eater is the purple one.


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## Pamelajo (Aug 9, 2009)

bettaforu said:


> Pam these snails have never ate any plants in the time I have had them over 2 years for the biggest one.
> 
> I checked the sponge filters (2 of them) and nothing has been eaten off them and the algae on the back glass of the plant tank is a lot less now, plants are looking cleaner too!
> 
> I had floating water lettuce and hygro in the big 125 tank where my goldfish are kept the plants are still all OK. never eaten.


That is good, they may have a deformed spiral causing them to look like the cana spiral. Normally the spiral on a diffusa non plant eater is more like distinct steps were as the plant eaters looks more like a squished cinnamon bun.
This is were the LFS stores can be misleading, they are not true giant apple snails but just large diffusa, are they the size of a peach or more like a golf ball?


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Golfball size


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## Pamelajo (Aug 9, 2009)

Then they are diffusa. 








Here is a tank from awhile back with all juvenile snails cana or haustrum plant eaters and diffusa in the back ground. The spixi are probably almost full grown. You can see the size difference.


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## zfarsh (Apr 7, 2011)

Thank you everyone for sharing your experience on these snails, it is mucho appreciated!!!!


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