Snails infesting aquariums is very common. To some, this could be a good thing. However, to most, it could mean disaster for the carefully balanced environment in their aquariums.
There are, however, some who breed and raise snails as an unusual hobby while others do so to give their fish and other invertebrates in the snail-infested aquarium food. Raising snails in an aquarium is an unusual hobby but some people who like snails do it anyway.
Some people breed snails in aquariums to feed their fish in there. Some do so as a hobby. For the first group of people, the snail’s eggs from adult snails they breed could be useful as fish food. For the second, breeding snails and housing them in the aquarium is a way of amusing themselves as hobbyists.
How about you? Do you breed and raise snails as a hobby? Or are you someone who would clean your aquarium to humanely dispose of snails and their offspring or their eggs when they infest it?
As you continue reading this article, you will find that there are different ways you can choose to do when dealing with snail infestation in the aquarium in your home.
What do snail eggs look like?
Before we get into what snail eggs look like, let us know more about snails first. The snails that invade aquariums, to start with, are what we call freshwater snails. There are different kinds of freshwater snails.
Ramshorn snails, mystery snails, assassin snails, Malaysian trumpet snails, and nerite snails are some of the most common snails that live and survive in freshwater. These snails make it into aquariums through decorations you put in there. These include plants, parts of driftwood, and rocks.
If you are among those who dread snail infestation in your home aquarium, then you have to make sure that your aquarium’s decorations are clean and clear of snails and their eggs before putting them in. Inspect every part of your aquarium decors, especially the driftwood and the freshwater plants.
Snails, for one, love to lay eggs under the plant leaves. You have to make sure to check that part of your freshwater plants, then. You should also thoroughly check every nuke and cranny of the driftwood you’re putting in the aquarium. Snails might have laid eggs there without your knowledge. Lastly, check every part of the rocks, too.
Clean them thoroughly before putting them in the aquarium so you are sure there are no snails eggs there that can hatch and infest your aquarium’s healthy environment. If snails invade your aquarium of fish through the decorations you put in there, you’ll have to thoroughly clean and clear your aquarium of snails and their eggs.
Expert Tip: Some of the freshwater snails mentioned earlier can be good for home aquarium environments’ health. However, if they overpopulate them, they could be detrimental to those inside them.
Now, what do snail eggs look like?
Freshwater snail eggs are easy to spot. They look like bubbles clumped together on the aquarium decors or, in the case of a species of apple snails called the mystery snails, in the inside of the aquarium’s glass. You know you have snail eggs in your aquarium if you see jelly-like bubbles clumped together there.
Sometimes, these eggs come in different colors. It all depends on the varieties of snails and snail eggs that make it into the aquarium.
How do snails reproduce?
Some freshwater snails need partners to fertilize their eggs to reproduce. We know this as sexual reproduction among snails. There, too, are snails that don’t need partners to produce and lay eggs. They do so on their own. Yes, some snails can asexually reproduce.
Some species of freshwater snails lay eggs at least two times a month if the conditions in the aquarium are right for them to do so.
Where do snails lay their eggs?
We have mentioned above where freshwater snails lay their eggs in the aquarium. Mystery snails, for example, lay eggs in the inside part of the aquarium’s glass. Other freshwater snails lay their eggs in the pieces of driftwood. Some snails lay their eggs in the rocks you place inside your aquarium as decorations.
Most freshwater snails lay their eggs in the back part of freshwater plants. Now that you know this, if you are not a hobbyist who is into breeding and raising snails in aquariums, you have to clean your aquarium of snails and their eggs before they hatch and make the environment in it unhealthy.
What to do with your baby snails and snail eggs
There are different things you can do with your baby snails and snail eggs. If you find that snails have laid eggs in your aquarium, you can do any of these two things: let the eggs hatch and use the baby snails to feed your fish and others, or you can also humanely dispose of the eggs from the aquarium.
If you keep the snails and their eggs in check, they can help with the environment in your aquarium. Snails can be helpful to the environment in aquariums. They help control detritus and algae problems in them.
When your aquarium is out of alga, you can feed the snails with algae pellets and wafers instead. You can also give them blanched vegetables to eat.
Some hobbyists breed freshwater snails to aid other species in their aquariums to survive. There are fish and even a species of snails that feed on snails. Puffers and assassin snails are two of these. Loaches, meanwhile, like to snack on snail eggs and snail babies.
It can be hard to manage and contain the population of freshwater snails in aquariums, sometimes. Most hobbyists agree on removing the snails and their eggs from the aquarium. After removing them, they then freeze the eggs.
Expert Tip: One quick way to get rid of snails in your aquarium is to put a leaf of lettuce in it and wait for them to go to the lettuce leaf. Once they are there, you can then take out the lettuce leaf with the snails from the aquarium.
Snails and snails eggs can be good for the environment in your aquarium. You can do any of the suggested actions shared here in this article to manage snail infestation. They also help control the snail population there.
Now, if you have some more questions on freshwater snails in aquariums, you can ask those below. Our experts will give you good answers to the queries posted.
