Interaction With Environment
Ramshorn snails generally will eat only the most delicate plants, preferring algae, uneaten fish food, and dead fish. Some varieties do particularly enjoy eating the leaves of stem plants such as cabomba and anacharis.
Some aquarium species will eat ramshorn snails. More voracious eaters include loaches (such as the clown loach or any other member of the genus botia), bettas, crayfish, and most gouramis— though many other fish will also consume snail meat. The larger apple snail will also prey upon ramshorn snails.
Good fish roommates for snails include, but are not limited to, danios, guppies, White Cloud Mountain Minnows, neon tetras, and cory catfish. All of these are non-aggressive fish that cohabitate easily with snails.
One should also be aware that pond-reared red ramshorn snails are able to carry various parasitic flukes, which can be transmitted to fish, or humans. Most of these flukes require intermediate hosts, so that leaving the snails in a fish-free aquarium for a month or so will eliminate any parasites.
If the population is kept to a manageable size, ramshorn snails can be good tank cleaners. They eat algae and dead or dying plants generally, so they can be useful. However, if they breed too prolifically they can become a nuisance. In warm climates (such as those in mainland Australia or the southern United states) they much prefer ponds, especially outdoor ponds. Algae, dead leaves that sink to the bottom, mulm and dead animals can be a problem, as they foul the water. Ramshorn snails eat all of these things.
Read more about this topic: Ramshorn Snail
Famous quotes containing the words interaction with, interaction and/or environment:
“The act of putting into your mouth what the earth has grown is perhaps your most direct interaction with the earth.”
—Frances Moore Lappé (b. 1944)
“Those thoughts are truth which guide us to beneficial interaction with sensible particulars as they occur, whether they copy these in advance or not.”
—William James (18421910)
“Autonomy means women defining themselves and the values by which they will live, and beginning to think of institutional arrangements which will order their environment in line with their needs.... Autonomy means moving out from a world in which one is born to marginality, to a past without meaning, and a future determined by othersinto a world in which one acts and chooses, aware of a meaningful past and free to shape ones future.”
—Gerda Lerner (b. 1920)