Snails - Guardians Of Purity

2023 Author: Molly Page | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 22:49

The role of snails in the aquarium can hardly be overestimated. These natural orderlies zealously observe the purity of the reservoir: they clean algae from the leaves and stems of plants, eat fish excrement, dead plant parts, fish food residues, and destroy the bacterial film from the water surface.

I want to warn you that you cannot transplant snails from local reservoirs into an aquarium. First, they are often carriers of fish diseases. Secondly, our snails have a rather strong mouth apparatus, and they gnaw at plants even with hard leaves. And pond snails also produce mucus that pollutes the water.

Article on the topic Snails and shellfish in the aquarium

In aquariums with decorative tropical fish, the most common are fiza, coils, melania and ampullia.

Ampularia. © Photo by Sophia Netreba

The easiest way to keep coils and physical

In an aquarium with favorable conditions, they very quickly begin to lay eggs. Small transparent masonry can be found on plants, glass, stones. Fully formed snails appear from the eggs, only very small ones.

After acquiring skills in the maintenance and breeding of coils and physical, you can plant melania in the aquarium. In natural conditions, these snails live in fresh water bodies from Egypt to India. They spend most of their time buried in the ground. In the aquarium, coarse-grained sand (grain size 2-3 mm) is most suitable for melania. If the sand is too fine, then the access of fresh water is difficult, and the snails get out to the surface (to amateurs this should serve as a signal that the conditions for melania are not favorable enough). Mollusks cannot burrow into the ground from too large pebbles.

Melania loosen sand well and protect it from acidification. At the same time, they do not damage the roots of plants. The caviar is laid on the underside of the stones. The bad news is that these snails reproduce quickly, and it is very difficult to control their numbers.

Sandy melania (Melanoides tuberculata)

The most interesting and, perhaps, useful aquarium molluscs are ampullia. They came to us from the tropics of South America. Ampularia are very similar to the well-known lawn, but much larger (up to 5 cm). The color depends on the age. Juveniles are dark brown, almost black in color. As they grow, they brighten, yellowish stripes appear on the shell. The brightest color is observed during the period when the size of the snail reaches 2.5-3 cm. With further growth, the shell begins to collapse, stains of a dirty white color appear on it. The clam becomes less attractive. Even strong plants can break under its weight.

Ampularia breathe atmospheric air. From time to time they rise to the surface of the water and, sticking out the breathing tube, take in air, while making rocking movements. If the snails cannot reach the surface for a long time, they suffocate and die.

Related article Freshwater snails in an aquarium

Special attention should be paid to feeding. If you do not need to feed the coils, fiz and melania, then the ampullaries need additional nutrition. The easiest way is to use dry food for this purpose. The snails make a funnel from the upper half of the leg and suck in food together with the film floating on the surface of the water. After the "funnel" is almost full to the brim, the mollusk eats its contents. Then he picks up the next batch.