Ramshorn possibly egg predator

[TCMontium]

Hello,

Did you ever have adult Ramshorn snails in a fish breeding tank and still had high hatching rates?
I have a 24-36 hours old T. candidi spawn right now and the number of eggs dwindled from maybe 40-60 to 10-20. The female is tending to the eggs all the time, but I see 3 adult ramshorns in the cave tight now, 2 of them are sitting IN BETWEEN THE EGGS on the cave ceiling!
Do you think they are eating the dying eggs or are they eating healthy eggs too?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Hello,

Did you ever have adult Ramshorn snails in a fish breeding tank and still had high hatching rates?
I have a 24-36 hours old T. candidi spawn right now and the number of eggs dwindled from maybe 40-60 to 10-20. The female is tending to the eggs all the time, but I see 3 adult ramshorns in the cave tight now, 2 of them are sitting IN BETWEEN THE EGGS on the cave ceiling!
Do you think they are eating the dying eggs or are they eating healthy eggs too?

There is a long thread on PlanetCatfish <"Live tips to save...">, that suggests that Ramshorn (or MTS) snails aren't a problem with eggs.

cheers Darrel

 

[TCMontium]

Hi all, There is a long thread on PlanetCatfish <"Live tips to save...">, that suggests that Ramshorn (or MTS) snails aren't a problem with eggs.

cheers Darrel

Thank you very much. I suppose they were just eating the dead eggs or cleaning the surface of the eggs.
I read about and have seen photos of Malaysian Trumpet Snails “rearing” pleco eggs so I didn’t doubt they would be helpful. I was just worried since different snail species might have different diets, even in the same genus.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Some snails are definitely egg eaters.

cheers Darrel

 

[gerald]

"Ramshorn" applies to a LOT of different snails, including Marisa which is not even in the same family with the "true" ramshorns (Planorbidae). (Marisa is a ramshorn-shaped apple snail). Any generic statement that "ramshorns" or "pond snails" are safe (or not safe) is bound to be wrong for some species in the group. It's like saying "cichlids need hard alkaline water". I'm guessing you're talking about the common European red/brown ramshorn, Planorbarius, which many of us have in our breeding tanks and are usually "safe". But even those might chow down on live fish eggs if hungry, so I try not to let them get too dense in tanks where i'm trying to breed. In grow-out tanks, the more the merrier.

 

[TCMontium]

"Ramshorn" applies to a LOT of different snails, including Marisa which is not even in the same family with the "true" ramshorns (Planorbidae). (Marisa is a ramshorn-shaped apple snail). Any generic statement that "ramshorns" or "pond snails" are safe (or not safe) is bound to be wrong for some species in the group. It's like saying "cichlids need hard alkaline water". I'm guessing you're talking about the common European red/brown ramshorn, Planorbarius, which many of us have in our breeding tanks and are usually "safe". But even those might chow down on live fish eggs if hungry, so I try not to let them get too dense in tanks where i'm trying to breed. In grow-out tanks, the more the merrier.

True. I was thinking of the possibility of having a different species since there are many similar looking snail species even from different genuses, as you said, but the possibility of mine being a rare species is slim. I only use commercial plants etc. so they must be a frequent species of Ramshorn in the aquarium trade, I think…
I will try to move the Ramshorns to an aquarium that I don’t plan breeding any fish in and try them with betta or tetra eggs in the future to see if they eat or clean the eggs. “Pond Snails” (mine are probably Lymnaea sp., if internet doesn’t lie with the images) would be much harder to move since they breed much faster, also I haven’t seen them near any eggs so I will let them be for now.
Btw today my other candidi pair laid eggs. Their aquarium only has Pond Snails, no Ramshorns. I have no hope of them hatching either, but we will see.

 

[gerald]

"no hope" = they probably WILL hatch this time.

 

[TCMontium]

"no hope" = they probably WILL hatch this time.

You wish
I will start having hope (for candidi) after I add alder cones or peat moss, increase temperature to 28-29C and buy some air pumps. Even more hope will be there if I can remove the pond snails too.

 

[Ade205]

Interesting thread.

I have both Ramshorn and pond snails in some of my tanks and I'm beginning to wonder if they are an issue with my A.Elizabethae as I've now had countless failed spawns and just like tc, I've seen snails inside one of the caves of one spawn. Could be other factors I know, but think I'm going to move the Lizes to a new snail free tank.
Interestingly I've not witnessed them show any attention to snails when guarding eggs, but I've a pair of very experienced German Blue Rams that go to town on any snail that get to close to their eggs or wrigglers. This pair have given me a lot of fry and store credit!
I will update if any success with the Elizabethae after move to a snail free new home.

Ade.

 

[TCMontium]

You wish
I will start having hope (for candidi) after I add alder cones or peat moss, increase temperature to 28-29C and buy some air pumps. Even more hope will be there if I can remove the pond snails too.

Thankfully I didn’t have my hopes up, this batch was gone at the 2./3. day too. Now the candidi female is swimming around as usual again and she has a particularly long sting of poop hanging from her anus. I don’t think I fed her so much yesterday, so maybe that’s from all the eggs she ate herself, not the snails? I don’t know, the eggs were not at a location I could see and check if there was any snails.

Right now I have a Dicrossus filamentosus pair with a “very eager to spawn” male (maybe even too eager) and a female with a relatively full belly. Sadly the female doesn’t seem interested in spawning yet, but when she spawns I will be able to observe the snail behavior much better since they are open spawners and their auarium has 30-40 adult sized pond snails.

 

[TCMontium]

I spoke too soon about the Dicrossus female… Today I came home and: