Snails and axolotls

[PatchworkClocks]

At the moment I have a blue mystery snail in the tank with my 5-month-old. It's larger than his head, so he can't eat it anyway, and it leaves him alone. Occasionally he'll go up to it and rest his head on its shell, but he's never shown any behavior that would lead to me thinking he would want to eat it. Of course when he gets big enough to eat snails, they'll be a no-no, as I'm not quite experienced enough to try to keep a colony of snails without harming my 'lotl.

 

[JPM77]

I currently have not had any problems with the Axos and my snails. I have worried about them and my assassins but haven't had any problems with them. The best snail in my opinion for an Axie tank is the Japanese trapdoor snail. Mine are anywhere from the size of a golf ball to the size of a base ball. They are way to large for the Lotls to eat and they don't eat live plants they clean up excess food and have even been seen cleaning up Axo poop. When they were first introduced the Axos did harass them a bit and maybe pulled an antennae off or two but they grow back and now they live very well together. I also have some rabbit snails in my tank with out any issues and they are also quite large, about 3 to 4 inches long. If they were to try and eat one of those they would be easily removed because they would look like they have an icecream cone half the size of their body protruding from their mouth. I think most snails are probably a good tank mate but their is always possibility of issues as there is in their native environment too.

 

[layna]

Im interested in getting some edible snails for my tank and was wondering what types would be 'safe' to buy, like names ect...i have limited snail knowledge haha

 

[bugdozer]

I put a pond snail in with my tadpoles to help clean the tank. A couple of days later we found the snail eating a tadpole, which was just a head when we found it. Could the snail have killed the tadpole or is it more likely the tadpole died from something else and the snail was just consuming the carcass?

 

[PatchworkClocks]

I put a pond snail in with my tadpoles to help clean the tank. A couple of days later we found the snail eating a tadpole, which was just a head when we found it. Could the snail have killed the tadpole or is it more likely the tadpole died from something else and the snail was just consuming the carcass?

Snails are hardly an aggressive species. It's more likely that the tadpole died at some point and the snail was cleaning up the mess.

 

[Azhael]

Definitely the second option. No pond snail could catch a healthy larva.

 

[majikninja]

i just added some 2" japanese trap door snails into my tank. was leary about using small snails because of hearing about impaction too. any one use larger snails before?

 

[Joff3005]

After reading this thread I am seriously thinking of introducing some small snails to my axie tanks. I am worried though that if my axolotls lay eggs in the tank, is there a risk of the snails feasting on the eggs? I've also heard stories about snail "infestations" taking over tanks - does anyone have any ideas on how to control this, and/or suggestions on the type of snail to go for?

 

[Niels D]

Use bladder or pond snails. Too small to pose a real risk and they won´t feast on the eggs, unless they´re unfertile and have started to decompose.

 

[mr cyclone]

Ive put snails in all my caudates tanks I've seen axolotl and created newts and marbled newts all eating them with no problems

 

[tipnatee]

Most axolotl's stomach can digest calcium like small snails , especially most smaller snail but Apple snails are bigger and harder I can see why some people would concern. However I used to keep Apple snails along with my axie before without any problem. I used to watch my axie grab on snail and used it to cruised around the tank glass walls. Apple snails don't just close their trap door unless they have no place to stick them self to like when human picked or scraped them out of the glass. So you won't be seeing them laying around with their trap door close for axie to easily swallow them whole, and they are not desirable shape for my axolotl to go as far as trying to eat them especially when they are in mature size ( too big to wrap their mouth around. The only problem with Apple snails are the fact that they would eat axie food such as smallest worms or pellets ( not just the left over) they won't go for just algae , poops, or scraps if they have a better choice laying around , and they're not just vegetarian . However sometime the small worms like black worms can snugged them self inside the snails's shell, in result separate the snail from their shell and successfully killing them. Also dead snail can polluted water in a very short amount of time. I used to keep black worms and that was the end of all snails keeping for me.

 

[rsjour4079]

If snails were STDs my 10 gal would be a $2 whore. It's absolutely infested with physid (sp?) snails. You know, the little ones that reproduce like wet gremlins. Anyway, there's been a whole lot of snail-axolotl interaction in there and no problems to report so far. Also Duke Togo and Carlos (my assassin snails) are also in there and no reported fatalities (axolotl that is, there quite a collection of empty snail shells in there.

Have your assassin snails caused any issues with your axolotl? I just bought them not realizing their carnivorous??

 

[AMurry24537]

Have your assassin snails caused any issues with your axolotl? I just bought them not realizing their carnivorous??

This is a pretty old thread, and that user specifically hasn't been online for about 7 years. Plus, this question is so far down that it's relatively unlikely the people who have the experience to answer this question will see it (though obviously I at least found it, I have 0 experience with snails). I'd recommend making a new thread to ask about it

 

[xxianxx]

I think reffering to "assasin snails" as such is a marketing tool to increase their sales. If you buy these snails expecting a serangeti type blood bath to occur in your tank with voracious snails rampaging around and slaughtering other things you will be sadly disappointed, i was. They are slow and boring, quite pretty but about as interesting as watching paint dry. My only concern about keeping this species with axolotls would be temp, they are a tropical species requiring 75 to 80f, above an axolotls optimal temp by a long way.