The Ramshorn Snail (Planorbis rebrum)
The Ramshorn Snail has gotten kind of a bad name.
A lot of planted aquarium hobbyists consider it to be a pest and try to get rid of them
using all kinds of different methods.
This snail can and will eat your plants if food is scarse, But if abundant will eat the food
meant for the shrimp while kicking the shrimp to the side, and covering the food with
many so shrimp can not get to it and many other annoying things. It may sound very bad
but it can easily be prevented by not overfeeding.
Overfeeding is the number one cause of snail outbreaks. If you see a lot
of snails in your tank then there is a high probability that you are
overfeeding either your fish or shrimp. The Ramshorn Snail reproduces
rapidly.
It lays a clutch of eggs in a hard mucus.
Here you can see a clutch of eggs inside
the mucus. You can see these eggs on
rocks, leaves, glass, and virtually any
surface in the aquarium. Trying to remove them all is near to impossible and will drive
you crazy. Every time you think you got them all,later you will find you did not!
Unfortunately there are products on the market that are meant specifically for killing
snails. If you are keeping shrimp, crayfish, or any other invertebrates I highly recommend
you do not use any chemicals in your aquarium with the objective of
removing snails. You will most certainly kill your other invertebrates as
well. Put the chemicals to the side and use the snails weakness to
your advantage, that weakness being its slow movement.
You will not be able to find all of the snails in your aquarium by simply
looking around. You will most likely rip your entire tank apart before
you even get 10% of the population. There is one solution: let the
snails come to you. This method has been used many times in the
aquarium hobby and it works. Best of all it is extremely easy. Place a
piece of cucumber at the bottom of the aquarium before you turn off
the lights at night. Wake up the next morning about an hour before the lights come on and voila, the snails are sitting
ducks.
There are some very beautiful looking Ramshorns though. There is a Blue
Ramshorn, a Pink Ramshorn, and many other different colorations. Some
invertebrate hobbyists (like me) enjoy keeping these different colored
Ramshorns and breeding them.