I am curious if those that have added to their tanks a pleco, snails, shrimp test their water frequently? What may make the water *look* cleaner is the added agitation at the bottom of the tank that stirs up the gunk and gets sucked up by the filter. Because plecos and snails poo and poo a lot.
Plecos and snails can be hard on water quality *plecos need 10 gallons of water for each when young and 2.5 gallons or more is recommended for each snail. Snails DO NOT eat poop, they eat plant matter and dead meat matter. They make poop and lots of it. Plecos, snails are algae eaters, not poop eaters.
http://www.applesnail.net/
"What exactly should I feed my apple snail? I place romaine lettuce at the bottom. Is that good enough?
A: From my own experience, the apple snails are not difficult when it comes to food.
Feed them fish-food (food for pond fish, it comes in a big box, consist of big pellets and is inexpensive), cucumber and lettuce.
Apple snails consume a lot of aquatic plants and algae and can be very useful in eliminating your algae.
In the literature there is an article mentioning that their apple snails stopped reproducing when they where put on a diet, which consisted solely of water hyacinths. They didn't describe if it was the kind of food, or the fact that they could only eat one type of food that caused it.
Maybe it might be a good idea to have some variation in their diet. "
from
http://www.applesnail.net/content/faq.php#1
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/snail2.htm
http://www.applesnail.net/content/vario ... _guide.htm
If you are thinking about adding a pleco or snail, do a lot research before first because they each require individual care like a turtle.. Plecos come in many varieties and common plecos get to be over 12" in size and need a pond. Rubbernose or bristlenose, chocolates and some other 4-5" varieties may be good..but again..may not be the way to go.
