# Nerite Snails breeding in freshwater tank?



## end3r.P (Aug 31, 2015)

Pretty sure your new small snails are not nerites, since (1) you're right, nerites won't reproduce in freshwater, and (2) they look like bladder or pond snails.


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## randym (Sep 20, 2015)

Agree with end3r. The small snails are pond snails. They probably hitchhiked into your tank as eggs on your plants.

The line of white dots are nerite eggs, but they won't hatch in freshwater. Pond snail eggs are small transparent blobs that are easy to overlook on plant leaves.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

randym said:


> Agree with end3r. The small snails are pond snails. They probably hitchhiked into your tank as eggs on your plants.
> 
> The line of white dots are nerite eggs, but they won't hatch in freshwater. Pond snail eggs are small transparent blobs that are easy to overlook on plant leaves.


Just to be pedantic, the eggs do hatch sometimes, but the larvae never survive.


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## end3r.P (Aug 31, 2015)

randym said:


> Agree with end3r. The small snails are pond snails. They probably hitchhiked into your tank as eggs on your plants.
> 
> The line of white dots are nerite eggs, but they won't hatch in freshwater. Pond snail eggs are small transparent blobs that are easy to overlook on plant leaves.


Yes, forgot to mention that the white eggs are nerite eggs. The pond or bladder snail eggs are little translucent dots contained within a larger translucent blob, and are usually on plant leaves.


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## wowyahoo (Dec 30, 2015)

randym said:


> Agree with end3r. The small snails are pond snails. They probably hitchhiked into your tank as eggs on your plants.
> 
> The line of white dots are nerite eggs, but they won't hatch in freshwater. Pond snail eggs are small transparent blobs that are easy to overlook on plant leaves.





jasonpatterson said:


> Just to be pedantic, the eggs do hatch sometimes, but the larvae never survive.





end3r.P said:


> Yes, forgot to mention that the white eggs are nerite eggs. The pond or bladder snail eggs are little translucent dots contained within a larger translucent blob, and are usually on plant leaves.


Thank you, everyone. I do appreciate it. I guess my next question involves getting ride of the pond snails without killing the three nerite snails. The fish I currently have in a 65 gallon:

3 - Boesemani Rainbow
2 - Turquoise Rainbow
4 - Angelfish
1 - Blue Dwarf Gourami
1 - neon tetra (the others mysterious died while on vacation. I could not find their bodies)
3 - Denisonii Barbs
1 - clown pleco

pH of about 7.4 (buffered with 1 cup of crushed coral in the Eheim 2075 filter) 
I use RO water and maintain a hardness of around 8-10 dGH
The temperature is set at 78 degrees

Thank you.


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

I've heard assassin snails can't penetrate Nerite shells..
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/88-shrimp-other-invertebrates/955114-assassin-vs-nerites.html

YMMV..

There are all sorts of snail traps also..You could pick the Nerites out if they happen to go in..


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## cjp999 (Nov 18, 2008)

randym said:


> The line of white dots are nerite eggs, but they won't hatch in freshwater.


Just to clear, these are actually egg sacks. Look at one with a strong magnifying class from the underside and you'll see maybe 50 or so little planktonic larvae. I forget if the larvae are in individual egg sacks or not. It's been years since I looked.

And they do hatch. The larvae just won't mature unless they end up in brackish water with the proper food source.


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## Hooked on fish (Dec 15, 2015)

Just to be clear... Nerite eggs can hatch in freshwater under the right circumstances but it is extremely rare.
Only a few people in the world has pulled this off.


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## randym (Sep 20, 2015)

Do you really have to get rid of the pond snails? It might be more trouble than it's worth. I like snails myself, as long as they don't eat healthy plants. (Pond snails don't.) The little snails like pond snails and ramshorns can eat algae off leaves too delicate to support a nerite. If you get a population explosion, you are feeding too much.

That said, there are various ways to get rid of snails, or at least cut down the population. Assassin snails will clear out a tank of snails, but they breed in your tank and you'll still have a lot of snails. And if they're hungry enough, they might go after the nerites. 

You could add snail-eating fish, like loaches. You probably have room for some small ones. (Not clown loaches! They get too big.)

Or you could trap the snails. Put a lettuce leaf in at night, and remove it in the morning (covered with snails). Or put a small dish or jar in the tank, with a slice of zucchini inside it. Take it out the next morning, full of snails. Doing this 2-3 days in a row will greatly reduce the snail population.


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