# Should I keep these bladder snails



## NotCousteau (Sep 25, 2014)

I’ve never had bladder snails get out of control or hurt plants. Sounds like maybe the eggs were already on the plants you bought and hatched later at home. 

Maybe your population will stabilize based on your tank parameters/feeding without any intervention.

Good luck.


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## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

Yes, you got bladder snails 

I see mine eat sick leaves, fish food, algae off the glass, but I never saw them eating healthy plants. They are nature's aquatic cleaners and their population grows and shrinks based on the food availability.

I know of no way to erridicate them that would not hurt the shrimps also. When I want to thin their population down I put a blanched lettuce leaf on the bottom, held down by a stone and pull it out about an hour after the lights go off. There are posts on this forum once in a while from people who want to buy bladder snails for their pea puffers, but I doubt you can make a living off of them.

Nice looking tank, by the way.


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## VRaverna (Jan 11, 2018)

Using no planaria or planaria zero can kill bladder snails and some other snails without hurting shrimps.

After dosing those, you are likely to not be able to have any snails surviving in your tank for several weeks to months.

I last dosed planaria zero over 2 months ago and the residual is still affecting MTS. Right now the only snails that are surviving in my tank are mini ramshorn snails. Planaria zere full doses can kill mini ramshorn snails but seem like the residual after 2 month is not toxic enough to kill them.


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## Greenpapa (Dec 19, 2011)

Thanks for the replies people!

It sounds like I can keep these bladder snails and they won't harm my healthy plants. That's great news, but I still concern about these snails taking away food source from my shrimp. Is there a rough guideline of how many snails I can keep in a 10 gallon without affecting the ecosystem of the tank? Or am I asking for too much?

Thanks again for replying, and thanks OVT for liking how my tank looks. I'm new to live plants, still have a lot to learn :wink2:


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## AMV12Vantage (Apr 29, 2018)

Greenpapa said:


> Thanks for the replies people!
> 
> It sounds like I can keep these bladder snails and they won't harm my healthy plants. That's great news, but I still concern about these snails taking away food source from my shrimp. Is there a rough guideline of how many snails I can keep in a 10 gallon without affecting the ecosystem of the tank? Or am I asking for too much?
> 
> Thanks again for replying, and thanks OVT for liking how my tank looks. I'm new to live plants, still have a lot to learn :wink2:


there is no guideline about how much you can keep in one tank
i have many snails inside my tank including track nerite, zebra nerite, assassin snail, and another horned nerite snail with approx. 15-20 of them in 85L tank

the best way to get rid those pest is by having assassin snail or dwarf puffer, they both will eliminate snail to zero
if you plan to having snail inside your tank don't use puffer or they will eat your snail
assassin snail is very good as a clean crew, they will also eat dead fish
i prefer assassin snail, because puffer will not eat any flake or pellet food (in case your bladder snails is out) they will only eat worm (mostly live)


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## [email protected] (Jan 8, 2010)

The puffer will chow down on the shrimps also


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## Reks (Apr 17, 2018)

First off, nice looking tank! 2nd, I have blue spotted ramshorn snails in my tank, I find them useful for keeping algae blooms low and my tank clean in lieu of plecos, I've heard some varieties of snails may eat live plants, but most aquarium varieities I've encountered just eat the decaying leaves, left over food and algae in a tank. If you get too many in your tank you can always just hand remove them (as tedious as that might be) or you can employ the help of assassin snails if you wish to completely eradicate them (although if you have shrimp I might avoid using assassin's, I'm not sure if it's true, but I have heard they sometimes go after shrimp.) If you want to keep them and they eat all the algae you may have to feed your shrimp with pellets, etc. Keeping a few wouldn't hurt, but when it comes to snails it's honestly just the aquarists personal preference if they're treated as pests or welcome tank mates. In my case I find them entertaining and helpful, if I ever get too many I just gather them up, sell them for a few cents if anyone wants them or just give them away. If you want to get rid of them without risking your shrimp to assassin snails I think there are snail traps you can buy for your tank. I hear that sometimes people who raise dwarf fresh/brackish water puffers (pea puffers?) like to have snails to give their puffers since they eat the shells to file down their "teeth" (beak?) So you could turn them into a small money maker if their population gets to be too much. (Either advertising to locals via Craigslist or online I'd recommend aquabid) Ultimately it's down to you if you see them as pests or welcome tank mates, there are a few different population control methods, ultimately I don't think they'll be a big problem to your plants. Best of luck!


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## jav31 (May 1, 2013)

Hello all...I also recently purchased some horn wart from my local fish store and got these beauties along with them...

Assuming theses are bladder snails as well.


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## Proteus01 (Mar 12, 2017)

Yep, bladder snail. 
I’m also in the “I like snails” camp. Enjoy!


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## kozlany (Feb 25, 2009)

You now also have a free food source. Fish and shrimp will rarely pass up squished snail.


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