Which snails can I use to just eat algae?
I'm trying to optimize my ponds through natural means. Per "Would my fish benefit from snails in their pot pond?", I understand that my fish would benefit from snails, but I don't know which species of snails to acquire.
Which snails should I get to focus on consuming the algae and not the plants?
Are there snails that I can use to do this?
(1)1 Comments
Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best
There are...
The ramshorn snail is an algae eater that will tend to stick to algae unless they become starved. As wiki notes, though, they can end up being a pest in the tank rather than an aid to it if you have more than one.
The nerite snails are also algae eaters, but with the added bonus that they won't breed in fresh water.
The trapdoor snails are algae eaters, they're bigger, and they can give warning of water issues before they become acute. These use to be hugely popular in fish tanks back in the day, you probably saw them in action plenty of times as a kid. They also live breed rather than lay eggs. These may be hard to get, but I would think these are ideal.
In most cases, all of these snails will prefer to algae over other plants in your tank or mini-pond. However, if they run low or out of algae, then plants are probably fair game to them. There are fish species that are far better algae eaters, but as far as I know, none are goldfish compatible.
As a note, there's various beliefs that goldfish can/will eat smaller snails. Dead snails maybe, there's not really any good evidence that they can, or will, eat live snails.
Terms of Use Privacy policy Contact About Cancellation policy © freshhoot.com2025 All Rights reserved.