Habitat - Indoor :: Snails

[judemiller1]

Is it advisable to have a snail or two in the 20 gallon turtle tank?
Thought it might help keep it clean--although I change water regularly, just wondered.

[DavidY]

There's nothing wrong with that but if the turtles are big enough they will probably eat the snail eventually.

[scripta_elegans]

I have heard that snails can over run the tank, but they don't ever last long enough in my tank to breed. I think some turtles must like snails, and others don't.

[SpotsMama]

There are a number of little bitty snails in Spot's tank and he eats them sometimes. They've never been a problem but I've heard that sometimes they overbreed and can be quite messy and clog the filter. Depends on the type of snail I suppose. There are three big minnows in Spot's tank too and they do a fine job of cleaning up after him.

[erwynn]

I thought about snails too but was wondering about the turtle eating them. um, aren't the shells really hard? Will the turtle eat the shell of the snail? Wouldn't that hurt them maybe, like internally? I am trying to think of a good critter to keep in the tank to help clean it, and maybe putting some sort of hiding area in there where the turtle can't get to them. I used to have a plecostimus (sp?) but I worried about them spineing the turtle.

[megcornell]

In reality anything that goes in the tank is food to the turtle. I bought a little cave for the rosy reds to hide in in hopes that they would last longer and Leo could eat them over the course of a few days, but it made no difference, they were all gone within half an hour anyways.
Plecos aren't a good idea for the tank because usually they have messy painful deaths-- because they're larger than minnows turtles usually take chunks out of them instead of eating them whole, which is just gross and painful (at least I'd imagine it is).

[industrial_girl_2000]

I wouldn't put a snail in a turtle tank. They don't clean the tank as you think they would and actually like to eat vegetables in the tank. Also, if you have them in the tank, you have to keep a cover on because the bigger snails will sometimes crawl out of the tank (!).

[Daniel3507]

i went to petsmart and bought a pleco. they have ones called rubber lip plecos that only get 5''

[megcornell]

i went to petsmart and bought a pleco. they have ones called rubber lip plecos that only get 5''

Plecos are not a good idea for the tank, they're like a very expensive feeder fish. Eventually your RES will eat it, and it's usually a slow painful death because they take chunks out of the pleco if it's too big to eat at once.

[Daniel3507]

i got one that only grows to 5'' so it wouldnt get die slowly if it ends up getting eaten. it was about $4 at petsmart so i figured i would give it a try

[Tenodera]

I have the same kind except they're called bulldog pleco here. I've had it with my turtle for 5 months now and he's very healthy!

[Aqua8]

Yeah I bought mine a wk ago and all seems good the pleco (Red) mindes his own buisness and for Tortarita she approaches him but as soon as his fins go up she dashes away!!:-)