Trapdoor Snails

here is some info you may/may not know. thought i would share it with you. some years ago my mom use to have and outdoor pond and they had some of these in it. myself, i don't know anything about them besides what's in this artical. hope it helps.


Why Trapdoor Snails in Ponds? All the pond books recommend these belly foots (gastropods) for ponds. Theoretically, trapdoors make excellent algae eaters. However, we’ve never been able to measure their effectiveness -- even when kept in mass quantities. We know they eat it. We don’t think they can eliminate it. (Try mowing your grass while blindfolded.) But we know snails in ponds (and aquaria) help remove excess foods and any undetected dead stuff they can reach. Snails will eat stuff nothing else will touch -- like moldy old fish food. Maybe not the best diet for them, but they help prevent the overfeeding syndrome so common with new aquarists/pond keepers.

Trapdoors versus Mysteries. The biggest difference between these guys and mysteries and apples is their lack of a lung. They never run up a snorkel to suck O2 from the air. These means they do not drown when ice covers their water -- a recurring problem in our neck of the corn belt buckle. Better yet, since they suck no air, cool weather won’t kill them. Mysteries and apples can’t make the cut.

Trapdoor Mortality Clue. Most of the larger snails grow a trapdoor and slam it shut when you bug them. It protects their edible insides. When that trapdoor falls off, they are dead. Really dead. You need not feel for a pulse. And that smell ... Who could scarf escargots after smelling a ripe snail? Erasers taste better. Even with the garlic and Frenchified “I can’t believe it’s not ear wax” sauce.

Trapdoors and Gravel Cleaners. If you’ve ever cleaned a tank with a gravel cleaner, you hate those loose trapdoors. They clog your gravel cleaner. If they get inside your siphon hose they can drive you just a bit crazy. They totally mess up the flapper-style self-starting gravel cleaners. Some disassembly required.

Great Scavengers. Dropping two or three big snails of any kind into a new tank helps prevent cloudy water. They eat up excess food faster than the bacteria can find it. Their eyesight would never pass a driver’s license exam, but they sport super smellers

Plant Eaters? Of course. If given no choice, all snails will eat plants. So will you. Apple snails even eat sponge filters. Trapdoor snails are not quite as voracious. But put a dozen in a 10-gallon tank with no food and they’ll eat filters, too. They much prefer fish food. In the absence of fish food, they will eat algae AND plants.

Livebearers. We almost forgot to say that you won’t find egg clusters underwater or egg cases above the water. Trapdoor snail mommas have little live babies that come out ready to eat whatever they roll over. If the adults have no other food, they will also eat escargots

 

really good article there buzz!
<--never had them either, but have the mystery snails! (I love the color of the golden ones)

 

thanks. don't know how they would do in a tank, but they did good in an outdoor pond. then again from what i they did for the pond, they should keep a fish tank squeeky clean.

 

your welcome. glad i was able to help out.

 

i keep a handful of them in my 20 planted and everything is perfectly fine. ive never had a problem out of them. my plants are never eaten unless its a dead part and they seem to stay algae free(but the snails are algae encrusted?? , though my glass did get a little algae on it every so often, but that is probably just because there arent enough snails and i might over feed the tank sometimes so they have full bellies. you can definitely see where they do eat the glass algae though. in my experience the only thing ive found to clean the glass totally free of algae is a nice sized plecostomus so if thats what you want them for i would say not to get um but they do help clean up anything rotten in your tank. they give birth to live babies i think only a few times a year and they dont have tooooo many babies so you dont have to worry about a snail infestation. plus they have a pretty cool coloration. if your familiar with aquabid.com a user named Lotsoffish sells some nice ones every week, i belive he has a lot of 8 for auction as we speak.one dollar auction with no reserve and free shipping and live arrival gaurantee, you will like his stuff.

 

I got these "trapddoors" I stock MTS heavily in my tanks and breed them to pass along to others.

They dont eat live plants, they do more good then bad, they disappear during the day and clean by night.

Want some let me know once i hit 20 posts I will post an ad on here.

15 bucks a box shipped, guaranteed live arrival and carry no hitchikers.


plecos lose the algae taste after they mature. get Oto's for this.

 

mts are great! I kept them in my 90g before the changeover & still have several in my 10g. Definately nice little aerators of the substrate!