# Snails in turtle tank?



## LVL UP

My brother's tank has an algae problem, it's outside so I can't use fish that prefer cold water. Is it safe to put mystery snails in my brother's tank? Or should I use an algae eating fish? I'm worried about them being eaten. He has a baby yellow bellied slider and a baby map turtle, each under 5 inches. The tank is about 80 gallons.


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## mfgann

LVL UP said:


> My brother's tank has an algae problem, it's outside so I can't use fish that prefer cold water. Is it safe to put mystery snails in my brother's tank? Or should I use an algae eating fish? I'm worried about them being eaten. He has a baby yellow bellied slider and a baby map turtle, each under 5 inches. The tank is about 80 gallons.


Mystery snails don't eat a whole lot of algae. They wouldn't do a great job. You'd have better luck going down to your local pet store and finding a tank with small snails in it, and asking if they would give you handful of those. If you're already buying something, like some anacharis for the turtle to munch on, they would probably be happy to throw in the snails. I asked for a few when I was buying a couple of fish and the guy could hardly believe I was asking for them. One of his chores everyday was to try and get rid of them all. He was happy to throw in four or five.

The one thing I'm not sure about is whether the turtle would leave them, or algae eating fish alone.. he might see them as a yummy snack. If you got enough little snails, maybe they could reproduce faster than he could munch on them, but I'm not sure.. never kept a turtle.

Good luck!


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## snail

I'd think snails would make good turtle food, but I have no experience with turtles.


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## WhiteGloveAquatics

my turtle is about 6" now shes a red ear slider, ANY snail that comes in her tank she eats it, I even got her a apple snail and she devoured it within seconds. 

you can load a TON of pond snails in there and see how it goes, mine always eats them but doesnt eat them all when I put hundreds in there. fish and snails alike will become a meal for the turtle, its their natural food source.

even a hundred + pond snails could not keep up their numbers against the turtle. eggs are taken care of by the gold fish that shelly cant eat yet.

You could get some large comets and put them in there, they are too big for the turtle to eat and the comets will munch on anything/everything they can


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## deenalove

Yeah I was going to suggest big pond snails. I have not had a turtle in a while but remember it eating EVERYTHING it could.


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## mfgann

If a larger fish won't be eaten by a turtle, perhaps a pleco? I figured the pleco would be relaxing as he dines on some algae and the turtle would come along and bite him in the back...?


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## deenalove

Yeah a pleco is too slow I think


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## mfgann

I'd say your best bet would be to buy a few hundred malaysian trumpet snails, which might hide well enough to survive a little longer, and view it as food for the turtle. Dunno if they would live long enough to easy much algae or not. Shrimp might be fast enough, but I dunno how well the clean an algae that's thick.
Let us know how it goes.


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## WhiteGloveAquatics

pleco wont do as the size pleco youd need wont eat much algae when it gets to adulthood.

trumpet snails are very palatable to a turtle, Mine doesnt let a snail get away and a turtles eyesight is very good, I watch mine suck up pond snail eggs at night.

I still say larger comets will work.


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## mfgann

Well, I'd go with WhiteGloveAquatics advice. I've never kept turtles or goldfish.

That, or you could raise snails in your own tank and sell them to your brother as turtle-snacks/glass cleaners


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## WhiteGloveAquatics

Even if they do eat some its no big deal, goldfish are grazers all day long they have to eat.

my turtle eats rosies and the occasional tropical fish that has been culled.


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## snail

Algae problems always have a cause so you might be better to consider what is causing the problem. The most likely causes are dirty water or too much light. Does the tank have a filter? Being outside it might be getting too much light, if you can shade it more that might help. How warm does the water get?


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