Quite often beginning aquarists in the process of equipping the aquarium think about whether snails are needed in the aquarium. To solve this issue, you need to know why they are generally allowed into the aquarium and what is the use of it.
Do snails need an aquarium?
These small inhabitants are able to bring both benefit and damage to your aquarium. Here, as in the case of drugs, it all depends on the dose. Snails are natural nurses. They eat all the remains of food and dead plants. In addition, the snails are used to clean the aquarium, they scrape off the plaque from the walls and absorb the products of the vital activity of fish. There are some types of snails that you can safely use as indicators of water quality in the aquarium. And small snails in the aquarium often serve as a decorative element.
But these creatures reproduce very quickly, so in time you will have to regulate their population artificially. If too many snails gather in the aquarium, this will result in a lack of oxygen. With a shortage of food, they will start eating plants, and some species secrete mucus, which will lead to contamination of the aquarium.
You can get rid of the overgrown population of snails in several ways. It is enough to manually catch and remove excess individuals. Experienced experts advise an easier way. At the bottom of the aquarium, put a saucer with bait. When the snails gather in it, just pull out the saucer from the aquarium. In addition, in the pet store you will be offered special means for combating snails, which will greatly simplify the solution of the problem.
What do snails eat in the aquarium?
In natural conditions snails eat algae and bacterial outgrowths. In the aquarium snails can eat gray films on glass, algae leaves. Snails ampullarii perfectly scrape off the glass and plants all the plaque. They can eat young plants, but this happens very rarely and from lack of food.
As a rule, snails feed on dead algae and this helps to maintain water quality at the right level. Ampullarii can eat almost anything that can be rubbed and swallowed. Here is the main list, what snails eat in the aquarium: spinach, cucumbers, carrots, fish food. Also, snails can eat dead fish and their eggs. The food should be soft enough. You can offer them scalded scraped meat or a boiled salad leaf. Throw a few slices of soaked white bread.
To develop and build a house, snails need calcium. Make sure that the pH of the water does not fall below 7, if it is higher - it's only good. If the water in the aquarium is too soft, then add crushed marble, limestone. You can grind the sea shells or buy a specially designed medicine for this in the pet store. They increase the hardness of the water in the aquarium.
Where in the aquarium snails?
It happens that the snails in the aquarium appeared suddenly, when you absolutely did not plan to start them. The snail could have come from
Why do snails die in the aquarium?
There are only two reasons for the death of snails. Too soft water and a lack of food lead to such sad consequences. Periodically feed your pets with boiled cabbage or salad. This will not spoil the water, but will enable snails to get full. Note that for ampullarians you need about 10 liters for each individual. Always carefully watch the hardness of the water and then there will be no problems.