[Neil D]

I plan on getting an apple or nerite snail for my tank some day. I know sometimes they can come with eggs of other types of snails on them undetected. I don't want an infestation haha. How long would you recommend to quarantine them and how would you do it?

 

[SeaHorse]

I love your location... but I found you! Haha. I have wondered the same question and I'm going to follow this in hopes that someone can fill you/us in. I have purchased 2 over the last year. The first came with disease that went thru some of my fish and then died, the other seems to be ok. No babies tho from either.
I don't think they reproduce the way pond snails do. Those eggs and babies seem to come in on plants that I buy.

They, I think need to have more than one of them in the tank to reproduce. But I don't know how long a quarantine time would be if they have been housed in a group in the store's tank.

I hope you don't mind me lurking to hear the answers too!!?

 

[jennesque]

Nerite snail eggs cannot hatch in fresh water so they will probably lay eggs in your tank at some point, but the eggs won't hatch. As for apple snails, they will lay their eggs in a sort of 'clutch' that will be above the water line. If you see it, remove it and that'll avoid babies.

I've always just acclimated and then tossed my nerites in.. I trust the store I get them from though.

I also will say that I got 1 assassin snail and 3-4 months after bringing it home, it laid eggs in my tank. They only lay eggs after breeding, so it must've bred in the store before I brought it home. Apparently snails can hold on to eggs for a while!

 

[djembekah]

i have never quarantined a snail :S maybe that's bad, but i've never had a problem from it.

i have....5 species in my tanks. 3 of which were not intended but i dont mind them lol

 

[thekoimaiden]

If you are going to quarantine an invert you'll need a cycled, mature tank as they graze on surface film constantly. I do recommend QT-ing especially if you got it from a sketchy store. With an apple snail, nothing smaller than a 5 gal as they are surprisingly good at producing copious amounts of ammonia.

As for a snail infestation, you won't get one if you don't overfeed. Infestations don't just happen, they are made. If you see too many snails in your tank then something is wrong. If your apple snail does bring in eggs of another snail, you will be able to see them and can remove them. If you wait until they are adults, then you'll be waiting at least a month. Snails are hard to spot when they first hatch.