Can i put a coldwater snail in my tropical aquarium?

Kentar0

Hi there,

Quite new to this hobby so please bare with me,

I have a fish tank with 2goldfish in with a snail... They seem to be attacking my snail for some reason... Never have done before.

Can I move this snail into my tropical tank ?

Will post a picture of him soon.

Thank you :)
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Kentar0

There's a picture of him :)
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SpottedPleco

Hey there,

Looks like you've got an apple snail there, often labeled as mystery snails for lack of a more specific term.

I've kept apples in my tropical freshwater aquarium before, but it really depends on temp. Apple snails will prefer low 70s, but can do fine up to about 78F

The trade off-
Warmer waters will speed up metabolism, and ultimately shorten lifespan. Apples kept in ideal conditions will live 5+ years and grow to be tangerine-sized or larger (seen some get as large as baseballs!)
Kept in warmer tropical temps, they'll live 2-3 years, and top out around golf ball sized.

However, goldfish are notorious snail nippers, and a snail being constantly chewed on is likely to die even sooner than one kept in tropical waters, so if your tropical tank is less than or equal to 78F, then they'd probably be better off in there.

I will also note as a warning to be careful transferring to any tank that has been treated with medication in the previous 12 months... I had some beautiful golden apple snails I placed in a tank that had been treated for ich almost a year prior only to have them die mysteriously a few days later. The medication had leeched into the silicone sealant and was still present in the tank so many months later. I was quite bummed.

Not even sure if that would apply in your case, but either way, snails are extremely sensitive to changes in water chemistry (salinity and pH in particular) so keep a close eye on any snails you move and be prepared to rescue them if they show signs of distress.
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Kentar0

Thank you for getting back to me !

The new tropical tank is still cycling through (around a week now) with the water from my coldwater tank (fishless cycling).

Temp is set at 25 degrees so ideal from what you've said :).

I do have 3 live plants in the tropical tank which is where the snail is now, will my plants me food to the snail or will he not touch them ?

Sorry for the questions just want to learn as I go along :)

Simon.
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SpottedPleco

Apple snails like the one pictured will NOT eat healthy plants.

You may occasionally see them grazing on the bio-film that will accumulate on the leaves, so it might look like they're munching on the plant, but they're just cleaning them up.

The only plant matter they will eat is the unhealthy, dying leaves, so often keeping them in the tank will help cut down on plant pruning and ammonia spikes from decaying plant matter.

Common pond snails or pest snails will eat plants, and quite voraciously, which is how the snails eat plants myth started, but apple snails are excellent in planted tanks!

If it's a newly established tank, keep in mind while stocking that a fully grown healthy apple snail will want 2gal of tank to himself. (i.e. If going by the 1inch of fish per gallon rule, count the snail as two inches of fish)
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Kentar0

Ok brilliant :) thank you for the information !
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