Snails with newts

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paul

Guest
Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of adding snails to a newt tank? I was thinking of adding 1 or 2 golden apple snails to my 2ft x 1ft x 18" tank which has 6 small Chinese fire belly newts. There is plenty of elodea for them to munch on.
Is this a feasible idea or will they harm each other??

Thanks,
Paul.
 
Yeah they are -

Species: Pomacea canaliculata
Family: Ampullariidae

Is that a problem??

Thanks Francesco
 
I kept them with my discus and the only problem was they ate the plants. They wouldn't harm adult newts but they would eat the eggs.
Ciao
 
I had an apple snail in my tank when I put my newt in (spanish rib) . after about 10 seconds of being in the tank, the newt came face to face with the snail, I waited in glee for its reaction, right away it bit the snail's head. The snail's reaction was to shut down on itself, mine was to scream, the newt's head was all the way in the snail's shell and it kept on tossing it this way and that trying to pull it out of the shell. Eventually the newt let go of the snail, I think it was too rubbery to get a good hold on, I thought it was dead (the snail) but ten minutes later it was going around again. It was a memorable moment. They cohabit all right now but the snail is not adult size.
I've read more than once people do not recomend apple snails with newts because they get too big and can clamp down hard on the newt, causing injuries, so I would say don't do it or else plan to move your snail to another location when it gets too big.
Good luck!
 
Could anyone reccomend any other snail types??
The pet shop has asian contour snails but they are probably tropical...
 
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Hi Paul. I've been keeping snails in some of my newt tanks for about a year or so and have had NO problems whatsoever. Wish I could tell you what kind of snail they are is but I don't know. They're not tropical though. Could be a native Japanese species. I also keep freshwater shrimp in some newt tanks.



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Wow thats seems to be a big f****** snail!
shocked.gif

Not that I know much about snails but that one looks as if it came from another galaxy..
 
I was told not to add anything into my newt tank. Fish can get eaten or harm the newts. Frogs can do the same. And I was told that snails have been known to attach themselves to the newts. I'm not going to do it, but if you feel safe, go ahead.
 
Well, change entails risk. Adding snails or any other creatures to the tank carries the risk of introducing parasites and diseases. That also goes for adding any type of live food as well as newly acquired newts! As for mixing newts with fish and frogs, there's a long list of disaster stories to peruse at:

http://www.caudata.org/caudatecentral/articles/Mixing_disasters.html

It's good that you choose to be on the safe side...but honestly. I've never heard an account of snails attaching themselves to newts (unless the newt were dead or something), and it seems to me to be pretty implausible. I'd like to see that info if you have a link for it
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The type of freshwater shrimp I keep with my Japanese newts is the same kind that coexists with them in the wild here:

http://centralpets.com/phpscripts/PrintFriendly.php?AnimalNumber=4998
 
Um, well, I can't remember if I read that somewhere (snails attaching themselves to newts), or if I heard someone say something about it. I'm pretty sure I read it though. If and when I come accross it again, I'll give you the link.
 
Elisabeth, I found what you probably read. It's at:

http://www.caudata.org/caudatecentral/articles/Tank_critters.html

...in which Jen recommends small snails to help solve an algae problem, but warns against big ones.

"Small snails are harmless in an aquarium. Some people think they are a plague, but they cause no harm to newts. The only harm done by snails is that some will eat aquarium plants. But in most cases, small snails eat only debris and the dead parts of the plants. There have been cases of snails crawling on top of newts, or even laying their eggs on a newt. I have heard of these things happening, but never heard of any harm coming to the newt as a result. Some newts like to eat small snails. Large snails may pose some danger to newts. If they close down hard on a newt�fs foot or head, injury can result. Avoid large decorative snails that are able to clamp down hard."

By the way, does anybody know of a way of minimizing the risk of introducing nasties into the aquarium by soaking snails/shrimp/whatever in an antibacterial solution beforehand? I know this is done sometimes for feeder fish, but I dunno what effect say methylene blue would have on snails and shrimp. It might be toxic for all I know
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Nope, that's not it Tim. Whatever I read said that snails pose a large risk.
 
The fish antibiotics I used in the past for ich and velvet had warnings on it not to use with invertebrates. I always took my big snails out for treatment but I noticed the smaller snail population burrowing in the gravel would go on, it did not kill them.
When you say soaking feeder fish do you mean quarantine and treatment if necessary or something like shock therapy?
 
I have had problems with apple snails and fire belly newts. The snails ate the tails off of a couple, the legs off of another and two completely disappeared. The snails were large.
 
The injured newts recovered and grew back their legs and tails and have, since, bred. I did not know that they could do that .. I thought only axolotls grew back legs and feet and toes.
 
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