Pet Forum / Aquaria / Goldfish / February 2005

...what's an apple snail?

I just got mine at the pet store, but my two are in with a Betta.

I did try one AS way back when when I had goldfish, and I don't recall
having any problems but they had plenty of space too.

Apple snails can grow to the size of a tennis ball. Fish will nip, but the
AS will learn to hide, tenticles willl grow back if nipped on.
You'll need to provide at least 5 gallons per snail.
Lungworm parasite? I'm not too aware of that - obviously quarantining is
good practice!

I've kept the snails with my goldfish both in an aquarium and in the pond.
All seemed to get along just fine.  Never heard of the parasite, so I cannot
comment on that.

Jacqui

Mystery snails get to be the size of a golfball. Some people keep them
on thier own some with fish.

here is something I wrote on them.

http://www.langsite.com/aquaria/html/applesnail.html

Kay

My comet is about 6" long, and  Snail is about 3/4" long, in the shell. At
first, the GF did nip at his tentacles, but the one GF got is growing back.
They seem to have become used to each other. If Snail senses GF coming up
while GF is picking at the gravel, he ducks in his shell for a second.  If
Snail was climbing and GF picked at him, he used to let go. Now, he just
hangs on and keeps going.

I never heard of the Rat Lungworm parasite, so it didn't concern me.:) I
quarantined Snail for a month or so....

Mine came from a chain, 'cos I don't know where a LFS is. Only ones in my
yellow pages are saltwater stores.

A

Thanks for all the advice gentle snail folk. :)

My temps are a little low, so I'll have to wait for the new heater before I
go snail hunting. I'm well buffered, so the KH and GH s/b OK, but I'll
check. I'm hoping Big Al's carries these guys.

I started with 3 small mystery snails, after about 6 months they started
breeding, I now have a self sustaining population. My goldfish get along
fine with them. I have a large planted tank and I think it helps.

Rich M