Little Brown Snails

[Faith79]

In my other post, I mentioned that some little brown snails snuck in with my plants. I was wondering if anybody knows what they are really called, other than "little brown snails" lol!? I was also curious about their reproduction. If anybody has any information on them I would appreciate it.

[StealthDrug]

there just common water snails they wont do any harm they do reproduce rapidly but if u have alot of fish the eggs will get eaten so you will only ever have 1 or 2 :)

[shev]

common pond snails. they are hermaphriditic (sp?) which means they have both male and female reproductive organs, and can/will multiply like mad. if they do it is usually a sign of overfeeding. they can do damage to plants, but also clean up excess food and eat algae. a few are always good to have. and they will stay small and may be food for your fish.

[Racoons]

I agree with the posts before. But just as a review:

They're called Physids. (I think) They're considered a major pest species and mutiply like mad. The eggs that my Physids have are small and I have a bit of trouble seeing them.

If you have them, they will ravage your plants. I usually get mine on the anacharis.

I think that mine are kind of hard to get rid of.

[rubysoho]

you can control the population if you find their eggs. Normally you'll see a clear bubble-like mass with many opaque circles inside. This is the eggsack. I've not had too many problems with them on my plants, but I had some pretty hardy plants in my 10 gallon. I didn't mind them or see them as a pest, but some people don't like them for asthetics. Actually one or two of mine got pretty big and I thought they were pretty cool.

[shev]

Well there are lots of different kinds of pond snails, but they should all be treated the same. i think physids is a genus or family name, or maybe thats physidae. i dunno. but physids is right, they are going to be some kind of those what ever they are.

[Faith79]

Thanks everybody! They are about the size of an english pea. Is that as big as they'll get??? Whats funny is now, they arent even staying on my plants...which is probably odd. I think there are like four or five in there and theyve all attached to the side of the tank, not paying my plants any attention. However, my fish are, as well as the pleco. One of the fish in particular is always "pecking" at the plant. The plant looks bad already and I havent had it long. Rubysoho: where will the egg sack be if and when they reproduce? Hanging from a plant maybe?

[cinnyandsimon]

they can stick them anywhere , thats why they are hard to control , because they lay thier eggs every where , if you want to get ridd of them add a few copper pennies to ever ten gallons of water for a few days and they'll die off with no harm to your fish , thanks to GRAHAMANDKIm for that tip , it works!

[shev]

Except most crustaceans hate copper. if you have any shrimps i wouldnt use copper.

[rubysoho]

really they can place their eggsakes anywhere. I always notice them on the glass and occasionally on plants. Just keep a look out for them, you'll see them.

[Faith79]

Thanks, If I find any eggsacks Im going to leave them alone. I like the snails and I wont mind if they reproduce.

[Michele4Mouse]

Is there any special food for snails?

[shev]

yes, but you don't need any to feed common pond snails. thye mostly eat excess food and stuff, they will eat algae wafers too, and algae on the glass. or vegetable matter, like lettuce and peas, cucumber.