If I have cories in my 10 gallon tank, can I also add a snail?

[emilyekk]

Or is that too much "bottom dwellers"?

I am going to purchase SOME type of snail to share my 5 gallon with my betta, and since I am buying it online, I thought maybe I'd go ahead and get 2 and keep one with the betta and one in my 10 gallon.

Would this be okay?

The list of fish in my 10 gallon is in my signature...


THANKS! =)

[Northernguy]

Yes! Apple snails are fun in most fresh water community tanks.
If you have live plants than get a gold apple snail.I find they do not eat plants.I have two dark shelled and they gobble up plants like its a salad. lol

[emilyekk]

Yes! Apple snails are fun in most fresh water community tanks.
If you have live plants than get a gold apple snail.I find they do not eat plants.I have two dark shelled and they gobble up plants like its a salad. lol


I only have silk plants :(

But I was considering either a zebra nerite, a green tiger nerite, a sun snail or a bridgesii.


Thoughts?

[Northernguy]

I have only had apple snails.Thats all I can find around here.
Check this site out.
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
Check out species in the link.

[superyogurt]

Nerites are great, I have zebra nerite that judiciously cleans everything it can reach. As a bonus, you won't get any unwanted snail breeding, since nerite young require brackish water to survive.

It does poop a lot though, don't know if all snails are like that.

In addition to Northernguy's link, you could also check out [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

Edit: Nerites don't eat plants either, in case you want to get some live plants (I think you should).

[Wild Turkey]

bridgesii is a mystery snail

They need hard water and high ph as well as a diet thats high in calcium or they will eventually develop shell damage. Most snails are the similar in this way, but mysteries are large and shell damage is very noticeable, so you tend to hear about it more in them.

So whether or not one can be kept in your tank in good health will depend on those factors as well as a few others.

Heres some info on them

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[emilyekk]

I actually have SOFT water... :/
Would any snails be okay in this?

[Oscar_freak12321]

Hmm....not sure...going to have to check that out to tell you for sure...

[Northernguy]

I highly doubt it!
Ph is real important.If you can not find a way to maintain a proper ph it will not work.Chemicals are not recommended!

[Wild Turkey]

I highly doubt it!
Ph is real important.If you can not find a way to maintain a proper ph it will not work.Chemicals are not recommended!

Agreed, very soft water will probably result in shell damage for any type of snail.


You could add some MTS, cause frankly..people dont really care about them much for a few reasons:hmm3grin2orange: It all depends on how you feel about it though. For mysteries though, shell damage can be a potential health problem, where as i have MTS in all my low ph tanks, and the most shell damage they get is wearing at the tips, so different freshwater species are certainly more demanding as far as shell health goes.

[Northernguy]

I never let pond or mts snails live long enough to tell!lol
I think I had crushed at least 300 before I tore my tank down and switched out the substrate.:hmm3grin2orange:

[MrJim]

I never let pond or mts snails live long enough to tell!lol
I think I had crushed at least 300 before I tore my tank down and switched out the substrate.:hmm3grin2orange:
:ssuprised: Too bad you couldn't have hired some loach to do a hit job for ya..

[Bok]

Your water is too soft for the apple snail (bridgesii) and might be too soft for other snails as well.
They do get along with every fish we have..corys, different tetras, guppies, red tailed sharks, even our betta. Our 6"pleco does use the 'dark' one as a soccer ball though. Weird, the yellows aren't an issue with him.
The adults we have are about 2" in diameter. For calcium we have a piece of cuttlebone in the tank but there are a number of other ways to add it. A lot of the solid 'vacation' feeders have a lot of calcium but a lot also have copper in them, bad for snails. Salt is another bad addition to tanks with apple snails.
These are great for fry tanks. The micro organisms released with feces are a tasty treat for fry, helps keep the tank clean :)
My wife has started hand feeding one of the golds. Interesting to watch the shrimp pellet slowly disapper into the snail's system. You can see it when she feeds it when it is on the glass.
Algae eaters help keep the shells clean.

[emilyekk]

Your water is too soft for the apple snail (bridgesii) and might be too soft for other snails as well.
They do get along with every fish we have..corys, different tetras, guppies, red tailed sharks, even our betta. Our 6"pleco does use the 'dark' one as a soccer ball though. Weird, the yellows aren't an issue with him.
The adults we have are about 2" in diameter. For calcium we have a piece of cuttlebone in the tank but there are a number of other ways to add it. A lot of the solid 'vacation' feeders have a lot of calcium but a lot also have copper in them, bad for snails. Salt is another bad addition to tanks with apple snails.
These are great for fry tanks. The micro organisms released with feces are a tasty treat for fry, helps keep the tank clean :)
My wife has started hand feeding one of the golds. Interesting to watch the shrimp pellet slowly disapper into the snail's system. You can see it when she feeds it when it is on the glass.
Algae eaters help keep the shells clean.


Is soft water not ideal for fish too?
I always figured soft meant good.
I have those test strips that test your ph, nitrates, alkaline, etc, and I always read SOFT for water... so I figured good for me!
lol, now I wonder.

The snail I am really looking to get would be either the zebra nerite or green tiger nerite (due to me not wanting the betta to attach the non-shell of the snail)... would these be ok?

If I try to make the water hard by adding something is this going to hurt my betta?

Agh, all kinds of questions! SOrry!

[Northernguy]

Soft water is very good for many fish and they can adapt to different ph levels.The snails need the higher ph to maintain their shells.
Soft water is acidic to a snail shell.
There is nothing wrong with questions.They keep everyone on their toes! lol

[Bok]

Do the directions for use for your strips not have a definition for the terms soft, ideal, hard? A numerical value?

[jaysee]

Or is that too much "bottom dwellers"?

Snails aren't exactly a bottom dweller. In fact, it's rare that I see my mysteries on the gravel. I have fake plants, so they pretty much cover every square inch of surface area in the tank. Can the snails travel to the top of.... say a real ludwiga or rotala (probably mispelled - I don't know plants)?

[Wild Turkey]

Nerites unfortunately easily succumb to shell damage as well

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[red eyes]

well you should be feeding the cories algae wafers or some thing already and I'm sure a sail can find food, their amazing scavengers.

[Fraoch]

Is soft water not ideal for fish too?

Depends what fish. Some prefer soft, some prefer hard. For example, guppies like hard water.

I always figured soft meant good.

It's just different ends of the spectrum. Soft water contains little minerals and is neutral to acidic. Hard water contains more minerals and is usually alkaline.

Soft water is good for humans because soaps foam up well and minerals do not accumulate on all water appliances. Obviously marine creatures are not concerned with such things!

Snails require minerals for their shells. Fish do as well (calcium for their bones, although they can also get that through food).

If I try to make the water hard by adding something is this going to hurt my betta?

I'm not sure what you could add, and you'd have to add it every water change. The worst thing would be a sudden change, so you'd have to add such a hypothetical thing gradually and make sure any water you add during a water change contains the same exact concentration. It's a lot of work and the consequences of getting it wrong would be dangerous for anything in the aquarium.

I'm still a newbie, but I believe you have to work with what you have.