Snails showing up in Newt tank - Dangerous?

[ravenous]

Well I have a tank cycling for a month now and I put live plants in right away. Over the weeks Ive seen some snails come and go. Now Im seeing them as they get bigger and Im wondering how they will affect newts when I get them. Theyre too small to take a clear picture of, but this is what I got:

Acroloxidae
Physidae
Planorbidae

YOu can see pics here:
http://www.applesnail.net/content/snails_various.php

Now Ive read the horror stories here but they seem to invovle those big apple mystery snails, so how are these for the newts? By the time some arrive, if the snails live, theyll be too big to be eaten.

My tank is also getting alot of algea. On the rocks and glass especailly.

 

[jameswei]

They are not dangerous but more of a nuisnace than anything else. Once they start breeding, it doesnt take long for them to overwhelm the tank. I remove them whenever i see them because of the problems they cause.

 

[ravenous]

What kind of problems do you get? So far my tank is looking more cleaner, theyre getting the algea that was all over the glass and rocks. Plus if they do breed and have little snails, wouldnt that be a good food source for newts? I mean as they get hungry they can find them, I wouldnt use them as a primary source.

 

[jameswei]

For me they have clogged filters and destroy plants. Aside from that, i really cant fault them for anything else. I highly doubt that newts can digest the shells of snails, or that newts have enough mental fortitude to know that snails may be dangerous for them.

 

[jacob]

When the glass in my tanks gets too many baby snails on it, I just move a lot of them into a cluster and smash them with my thumb. If you do this, make sure you do not crush too many snails in a day, as this might foul your water.

 

[michael]

is it okay to put sucker fish placostumases in my tank because it's covered in algae and i don't like snails because they creep me out. any answers

 

[abrahm]

I definitely would not put a plecostomus in with your newts. They grow very large (around 18"-24") and as a result of both their dietary habits and their large size, they produce quite a bit of waste. Larger plecos may try to eat or at least suck on your newt which can be a problem.

Smaller plecostomus or sucker mouth catfish species do not do well at good newt temperatures and the very smallest of them could pose a health problem to a newt if they tried to eat them due to pectoral and dorsal spines.

The best way to get rid of algae is to keep the tank out of direct sunlight and to keep the tank light on as little as possible. Couple this with consistent water changes of about 25%-50% a week and there shouldn't be enough nutrients in the water for algae to use to grow.

Unfortunately, you'll need to scrape the algae you already have off the glass and then siphon it out. The best way to solve an algae problem is to not acquire one by good maintenance of the water.

 

[jennifer]

Excellent answer from Abrahm. There are incidents involving plecos in the "mixing disasters" page:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/Mixing_disasters.shtml
And this might help:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/Tank_critters.shtml

 

[a.]

I was wondering what would snails and fish would make of newt eggs? Isn't this where the real danger can occur?
Another thought: how would a freshwater mussel (such as the Swan Mussel[Anodonta cygnea]) fit in the newt tank?

 

[abrahm]

From everything I've heard keeping freshwater mussels in aquaria isn't a good idea. They are filter feeders and trying to provide them with enough suspended nutrients in the water column would be very difficult. They also like deep sand beds to hide in which can pose other problems.

Many mussels are threatened or endangered due to the fact that their rivers are becoming silted and they can't feed. Mussels can live for decades but often die within the year in an aquarium from starvation.

As for placing them with newts, if the mussel closes its shell when the newt is around there could be some serious physical injuries. I don't think it is worth that chance.

I think both snails and fish would consider newt eggs a delicacy. Best to keep the breeding aquarium free of other animals.

 

[jennifer]

There is one incident on the mixing disasters page involving a mussel (see last paragraph on the page).

I've had newt eggs in tanks containing small pond snails and/or white cloud minnows. I can't tell you for-sure that the snails and fish left the newt eggs alone, but I've seen plenty of newt eggs hatch in such tanks.