How to breed aquarium snails

Snails can be seen in aquariums almosteverywhere. These mollusks, firstly, serve as an excellent decoration, and secondly, they are quite good sweepers, since they eat food that is not eaten by fish. In addition, snails destroy mucus that accumulates on the walls of aquariums and plants. At the moment there is just a huge number of aquarium snails.

They can have the most different sizes and externalview. Some types are heterogeneous, others are hermaphroditic. In any case, these creatures reproduce instantly. Therefore, their population must be monitored.

To do it right, you need to know howmultiply aquarium snails. For example, heterosexual ampoules, lay eggs on the walls of aquariums, cover glass or cover, that is, not in water. Eggs hold quite tightly, and therefore rarely fall to the bottom. Small snails appear after a half to two weeks. As for hermaphrodites, even if only one individual is planted in an aquarium, the offspring will necessarily appear in her. These snails can also mate with members of their kind. In this case, a larger mollusk always acts as a female.

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

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

The second good way - the acquisitionany predators, natural enemies of aquarium snails. These can be, for example, battles that attack mollusks and literally tear them out of shells. The growth of the natal population, often falling into the aquarium by pure chance (with soil, plants, snags and stones), can be stopped by running catfish-sticks or antsistrus into the aquarium. These fishes willingly eat caviar and young snails.

Some cichlids do the same thing.

If such fish for some reason do notsuitable for keeping in your tank, 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 placed on the bottom and pressed down with some pebbles so that it does not float. In the morning, taking out a piece of paper and turning it over, you can see a lot of small snails on the back. By doing this operation several times, you can significantly reduce the number of individuals.

You can also use specialchemicals that are sold in pet stores. However, this method has one major drawback. Killing snails, these tools destroy and good bacteria. As a result, the biological balance in the aquarium may be disturbed. As a radical remedy, you can also wash the plants and the soil in warm, salted water. This should certainly help.