Snails: Plant Eater or Not?

[Melody]

Following is a list, info & photo's to assist you in identifying plant-eating and non-plant-eating species of snails found in the aquarium trade.

Non-Plant-Eating Snails:

Physa - 'Pest Snail' or 'Pond Snail'
Planorbid - 'Ramshorn' or 'Pest Snail'
Melanoides tuberculata (MTS) - 'Trumpet Snail'
Melanoides granifera
Known Brotia species - 'Thorny Snail'
Pomacea Bridgesii - 'Applesnail' or 'Mystery Snail'
Asolene Spixi - 'Spixi'
Neritidae - 'Nerites'
Viviparid - Most common is the 'Japanese Trapdoor Snail' or more recently the 'Zebra Snail'.

Plant-Eating Snails:

Marisa cornuarietis - 'Giant Columbian Ramshorn'
Pomacea canaliculata - 'Cana' 'Applesnail' or 'Mystery Snail'
Pomacea haustrum - 'Dr. Seus Snail' or 'Applesnail'
Pomacea insularum - 'Applesnail'
Pomacea paludosa - 'Pal' or 'Applesnail'
'Salton Sea Applesnail' (As yet not scientifically ID'ed)


Eloeda Densa, 'Anacharis' has been reported repeatedly as safe with even the plant-eating snails. My experience with Marisas, Canas and Haustrum backs that observation.

Marisas are not avid plant eaters in my experience. They eat plants, no doubt about it, but they don't mow them like other snails and they don't eat all plant species. I have had an Anubias in with them for well over a year now, for example. I do feed fresh vegies, so that may make a difference as well.

ID Tip: The most commonly confused snails in stores are the most dangerous to confuse. One eats plants (Cana) and one doesn't (P. Bridgesii). Both are often sold simply as "Applesnails" or "Mystery Snails". It is difficult to tell the difference between the two as they both come in gold and dark striped colors. Here are pictures of Gold P. Bridgesii and a Gold Cana - you can see how easily they could be confused:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-Cana_Spixi.jpg ___ http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-Gold-P.jpg

However, if the snail is Ivory, Blue or other 'designer' colors, it is a P. Bridgesii. In the majority of cases, color alone is not a good way to ID a species, but in this case it will work for the designer colors.

There is excellent information and diagrams available at the Applesnail.net website. To get you started, photo's of some species follow, but keep in mind that many of these snails can come in several colors/patterns.

NON-PLANT-EATERS

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-Physa.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-RedRamshorns.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-Trumpet_Snails.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-BrotiaSpecies.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-Magenta-P-Bridgesii.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-A-Spixi_Applesnail-2.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-NeriteSnails2.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-Vivs.jpg



PLANT-EATERS

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-Marisas3b.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-Canas_Haustrum.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-P-Haustrums.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f227/canadiansinternetdotcom/MM-Saltons.jpg

If you have anything to add, including photos of the snails I don't have, please feel free to post.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
© Please note: While you are welcome to link directly to this thread, the contents are copyright CanadianAquariumConnection.com and cannot be copied (all or in part). Thank you for respecting the effort that we have put into our content.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~