# ramshorn snails and 3 goldfish



## snail_keeper97 (Mar 10, 2011)

hello everyone,

i own a 15 litre tank (quite small) with 2-3 plastic plants, one small stick on filter and one "air stone". ik have recently baught 2 ramshorn snails and i am wondering wh they aren't eating at all like the ones did in the shop. im quite dissapointed as they might stay in one spot for maximum 2 days but they will be alive as i know when they are dead.. also i am looking into breeding them.. got a smallet tank that im willing to put the eggs in and stuff i just to need to know what the layout should be for it i end up doing it. oh and just so you guys know im buying 2 more


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## chris oe (Feb 27, 2009)

You might be overcrowded in your small tank, what with the three goldfish and your ramshorns. Are these the big ramshorns, the ones 2 - 3" across? Not the little ones that are brown and less than an inch across the shell? If they're the big ones, poor water quality often stuns them into immobility. Do you have an ammonia test? What are your ammonia readings? Liquid test kits are more accurate than strip tests, if you haven't bought one yet I'd recommend taking the money you're thinking about using for more animals and buying a test instead. a 50% water change will probably help perk up your snails (don't take apart the tank and scrub it, just take out half the water and replace it with clean, treated water. You should probably be doing this a minimum of once a week with this many snails and goldfish in such a small tank) you're using water treatment chemicals, right? Removes chlorine and chloramine? 'Cause that's another thing that could be stunning your snails. I also suspect your filter is too small for the population you have in there. You mention it is a stick on, is it one of those with the suction cups that is driven with an air pump and has a cartridge with floss and carbon inside that you change out? I would take that back to the pet store and exchange it for something bigger. The pet store who sold it to you, pardon my rudeness, but they should be ashamed for selling those at all, let alone selling them to you when you have so many fish and snails in such a small tank. The salesperson should be asking you appropriate questions and helping you find a size filter that is actually going to help you. Those little stick ons aren't big enough (or effective enough) to keep a largish betta bowl going, IMHO. 
(Insert rant about pet companies who make profits by selling little cute plastic pet equipment that they know doesn't work and is too small and will cause suffering to pets and to pet owners but they still make it anyway because it is cheap to produce and they know it will sell because of the price point and the cuteness.) Don't mind me, I'm just old and cranky.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Hi and welcome.I agree with everything Chris said above.If you are wanting to breed the snails,then the goldfish need to go back to the store.They will get very large.I honestly do not understand how any petstore can sell people three goldfish and such a small tank,knowing they will cause nothing but sorrow in the long run.Common goldfish are pond fish,plain and simple(unless you have a very large tank,or do tons of waterchanges..).The issue with the snails,as pointed put above is the water quality.The snails are sensitive to ammonia,and goldfish are large ammonia producers.The filter is only good for a spawning tank,IMO.Like Chris said,instead of getting more snails,invest in a test kit,and if you dont want to rehome the goldfish,then get a larger tank.If you cant afford a larger one just yet,a plastic tub from Walmart is a very effective and cheap temporary alternative.look into a power filter too,so you will be able to turn over more water.

On the breeding,I cant really help there.I know that if they are healthy and theres plenty of food and the water is good,they will breed.I have read they are hermaphroditic,and will breed easily.

I hope you dont think me harsh,i certainly dont mean to be.Just want you to understand,the people at the petstore should have explained more to you.


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## snail_keeper97 (Mar 10, 2011)

thanks guys you have saved me big time. ill take the fish back. ill get a bigger tank i guess, and just not get goldfish as they produce way too much waste etc. i just dont know what to look for as it isn't tropical and stuff D:


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## chris oe (Feb 27, 2009)

I wish I knew more about the snails you have, since there are two varieties that are called ramshorns. You might want to take a look at applesnail.net if you've got the big ones (the ones that are striped and a couple inches across when adult sized) for info on breeding and care and so on - they have lots of info. If you've got the little ones, the ones about as big across as a berry they're easy to please and there's also info on applesnail.net (although not quite as much)


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## snail_keeper97 (Mar 10, 2011)

no i have the small ones they are tiny.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

They should breed very easily.I think they are like pond snails.Just be sure to give them food and clean water and they should multiply on their own for you.


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## ARMS87 (Jan 2, 2011)

I can't get rid of my ramshorns fast enough, I've started using snail meat for gutloading insects for my amphibians..


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## Niki7 (Aug 16, 2010)

chris oe said:


> (Insert rant about pet companies who make profits by selling little cute plastic pet equipment that they know doesn't work and is too small and will cause suffering to pets and to pet owners but they still make it anyway because it is cheap to produce and they know it will sell because of the price point and the cuteness.) Don't mind me, I'm just old and cranky.


LOL!! Love it! Go Chris GO!


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## chris oe (Feb 27, 2009)

Ok the little ones are fun. Family Planorbidae, they actually breathe air, though you seldom see them do it. As I'm looking around I'm thinking Gyraulus parvus is the species we usually see in the U.S. but I'm not sure where you are located, and it is probably a different species of Planorbis if you're not in the U.S., but probably some species in the genus Gyraulus.

G. parvus love algae and a couple of fish food flakes and breed easily. Chestnut brown tends to be the dominant color, but some have a red body, and one of the things that always amuses me is throwing the red ones in a tank by themselves, since the red is recessive I always try to breed for the red ones. Other people have gotten lavender and green colored bodies, but I think those shades take some imagination or something. If you see white stripes on the shell it means your carbonate hardness is low, for the best shells you should put in some clean/sterile shell material (like a boiled clam shell from a seafood restaurant or an oyster shell, or a bit of a cuttlebone like they sell for parakeets) and you need to do your regular 10% water changes every week. For the tiny type ramshorns your small tank is just fine, not too small at all. And they will enjoy cleaning off the leaves of your live plants. The trick will be to not overfeed them, because they don't eat much being so tiny. Egg sacks are disk shaped and very flat up against glass or plant leaves usually, and transparent with just a hint of brown. If they are on the glass and you have a hand lens you can watch the eggs develop into tiny snails inside the sack. When they're ready they will break out and start traveling around your tank - just tiny, maybe a millimeter across.

If you're in Europe or elsewhere your ramshorns might be a bit smaller - I guess the British Gyralus are 6 to 8 mm? (biggest G. Parvus I ever had was nearly an inch across, but most of mine fall in the 6 to 8 mm range) 

Lots of people say ramshorns can carry parasites, although nobody's ever explained which ones, and I've never run across a fish parasite that had a snail as an intermediate host (yet) but I don't know about people, so wash your hands after you work on your tank, 'cause parasites are bad enough in our fish, we don't need 'em in ourselves.


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## chris oe (Feb 27, 2009)

oops, you're in Australia, I didn't see any gyralus family members native to Australia in my picking around. Doesn't mean there aren't any, just that I don't know about them, and this could be an import, too.


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## snail_keeper97 (Mar 10, 2011)

okay thanks i will go for a walk along the beach and get cuttle bone. (obviously rinse it off before i put it in). and since i have goldfish in a small tank im doing quite big water changes a week as they produce so much waste, my snails aren't eating either so im going down to buy some algae wafers.


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