How to breed aquarium snails

Snails can be seen almost everywhere in aquariums. These shellfish, firstly, serve as a wonderful decoration, and secondly, they are quite good cleaners, because they eat food that is undernourished by fish. In addition, the snails destroy the mucus settling on the walls of aquariums and plants. At the moment there is just a huge amount of aquarium snails. They can have a variety of sizes and appearance. Some types are heterogeneous, others refer to hermaphrodites. In any case, these creatures multiply instantly. Therefore, their population should be monitored.

To do this correctly, you need to know how the aquarium snails multiply. Diversified, for example, ampularia, lay eggs on the walls of aquariums, cover glass or lid, that is not in water. Eggs are kept quite tight, and therefore rarely fall to the bottom. Small snails appear in a half to two weeks. As for the hermaphrodites, even if only one specimen is planted in the aquarium, the offspring will necessarily appear. These snails can also mate with representatives of their own kind. In this case, a larger mollusk always acts as a female.

Large aquarium snails, such as ampullaria, can be quite a good decoration of an artificial water reservoir. However, in an ordinary aquarium (50-100 liters), the presence of 5-7 individuals is quite sufficient. As for small hermaphrodites, in a short period of time they are able to fill the aquarium almost completely. Especially prolific snail red - familiar to all from childhood a brown shellfish of small size. The number of hermaphrodites is more difficult to control, but it is quite possible.

There are only a few ways to get rid of excess aquarium snails. Firstly, since they feed mainly on the remains of fish feed, it is worthwhile first of all to follow the fish after feeding. If in 4-5 minutes after placing in the aquarium food it will not be eaten, then, the portion should be reduced.

The second good way - the acquisition of some predators, natural enemies of aquarium snails. It can be, for example, the bots who attack mollusks and literally pull them out of the shells. The growth of the population of fiz, often falling into the aquarium by pure chance (with soil, plants, snags and stones), can be stopped by running into the aquarium catfish-sticking or ancistrus. These fish eagerly eat caviar and juvenile snails. The same is done by some species of cichlids.

If such fish are for some reason not suitable for keeping in your aquarium, you can use another method. This method is called salad. To get rid of aquarium snails, take a leaf of lettuce and scald it with boiling water. In the evening, this bait is put on the bottom and pressed with some pebbles so that it does not float up. In the morning, getting the sheet and turning it over, you can see on the back of many small snails. Having done this operation several times, you can significantly reduce the number of individuals.

You can also use special chemicals that are sold in pet stores. However, this method has one significant drawback. Killing snails, these remedies also destroy useful bacteria. As a result, the biological balance in the aquarium may be disturbed. As a radical agent, you can also flush plants and soil in warm salted water. It certainly should help.