Snails???

[beckie]

hola seniors and senioritas...i gotta question...duh?...yeah anyway. i want to know if i'd be a good idea to put a snail in my tank for cleaning.
i have a (i believe) 29 gallon tank, half water half land tank with live plants and a waterfall in the water (i might get a filter instead of the normal pump i have...is it a good idea?) i dont have gravel, its more like kinda small rocks.
i have three chineese (or jap, i dont trust the store, so i'll put up pics here for people to identify when i get the pics developed)fire bellys living in there. should i get a snail? or would it eat the plants (golden pothos)? what would be the best one that wouldnt eat the plants and work the best?

 

[sam]

Hi Beckie,

don't use big snails as they may injure your newts because big snails have quite big grazers they use to scrap algae. I heard small snails are fine, just that they have a high libido and soon they may be everywhere, a rather harmless but bothersome nuisance.

By the way, you can check the tip of the newt's tail, if it's rounded, you've got a chinese, if it's pointed, you've got yerself a japanese.

 

[sam]

oh, yar the filter's a good idea though i dun use one cuz i'm a lousy beginner. Check with the others what type of filter they'll recommend for your giant tank

sam

 

[jesper]

Hi!
Use small snails, they are great at eating stuff that u dont want in an aquarium. Sure they multply like hell, but to me thats only good - less <font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font> - I dont have to clean! U can always take out the biggest ones to keep them under control, but as I see it the amount of <font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font> in the tank is proportional to the amount of snails

Thus a clean tank cannot support a big snailpopulation. My snails dont touch the plants.
I would use a filter with a very low output(not much current!) if any, an alternative is keeping lots of plants and snails - all natural - though your tank is perhaps a little small to get a good balance that way.
Jesper

 

[jesper]

I would say that beginners are the ones that need filters the most Sam! Water can easily go bad if u r not careful, <font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font> happens u know!

 

[sam]

Hi,
Yep, thanx for the advice, just got for myself a box filter. BTW is it mandatory to have a rock that breaks the surface or can floating plants that are grounded suffice?? Thanx.

sam

 

[jesper]

Id say that plants are fine. The reaction to judge this by is that of ur newts though. They will probably leave the water if the current is too strong. My waltls have surprised me, I think they enjoy a little stream. They spend a lot of time where the stream is anyway....
They sometimes do some "against the stream swimmingtraining!

 

[sam]

They dun seem to mind, often i catch them sleeping on the plants. haha, one of em just moulded and ate the skin... cool man. btw what are waltls? keep hearin 'bout em...

sam

 

[jesper]

Pleurodeles waltl are a species of newt, see caudatecentral

 

[elisabeth]

Hey Jesper, my newts also enjoy a little stream action. They spend a lot of time where the stream is and they also do some against the current swimming. It especially gives my male newt some excercise. He eats like a pig!