Are some snails unsafe to be kept with breeding shrimp

Moni · Post by **Moni** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 9:59 am

Hi, for some time I've been researching the topic of keeping snails in a fry tank and found varying results. Most everyone online has expressed that it's fine as long as the fry are freeswimming because the snails could eat unhatched eggs. I have a T.F.H book " Apple snails in the Aquarium" that stated not to even try it because the snails would attack a small sleeping fish and eat it. I've read other places that apple snails are recommended in a tank with small fry because their waste promotes the growth of infusoria that the fry could feed on. I've even seen apple snails refered to "infusoria snails". I never seen snails attack a baby fish. Have any of you? I know they'll clean up anything dead. In my searches of this forum the only concerns I've seen concerning keeping shrimp and snails together are if the shrimp were large enough to bother the snails or if the snails were overcrowded in the tank.

Now that I'm keeping and hoping to breed shrimp I'm wondering which and how many snails I can keep in the tank with them. Specifically are giant columbian snails and spixis okay? I did see another posts that mentioned spixis and columbian. It didn't say specifically if they could harm the new born shrimp.

I have 18 CRS that I've had about 2 months. So far they are all seem to be doing well and none have died. My problem is that I can't decide which tank to put them in. I originally bought them to put in my 32 gallon aquaterrarium, but there are some danios and whiteclouds in there. I read that it's best to keep shrimp in a fish free tank so I have 2 other (fish free) options. I could put them in my 15 gallon that currently has snails only. There are 2 big columbian ramshorns(eggs get removed), 4 spixis and a number of small red ramshorns in there with bunches of java moss as the only plants. I periodically remove the extra red ramshorns from this tank so that population is kept in check. Also, two of the spixis will be moved to another tank soon. My only other option at this time is to put them in my extra 5 gallon, but I think that would be too small when they start reproducing. Right now they're by themselves in my 2 1/2 gallon tank that has a lot of algae growing in it, some cut leaves and an old oak leaf. What do you all think? Are the big snails okay for new born CRS? They are just so much bigger than the shrimp. That's what scares me. I also have a huge cana snail in another tank. I don't plan to place shrimp with him but wonder if he could eat a live one. He's bigger than my fist.

thanks Moni

edit- correction, I have RCS not CRS

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 12:15 pm

There is more than one type of apple snail. Canas can and do eat fish if they get the chance, which is rare. Brigs do not eat live fish but will eat dead ones. Brigs are also not live plant eaters, while a Cana will clean you out of plants in time.

I keep brigs apple snails with my crayfish and cherry shrimp with no issues. That being said, I find that red ramshorn snails are a better choice when it comes to tank clean up. Brigs and Canas need really hard water to do well, while CRS prefer softer water. Red rams to find in soft water.

pixl8r · Post by **pixl8r** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 4:20 pm

I keep, and breed, brigsii (Mystery snails). There are a bunch in my Red Claw shrimp nursery tank. I just have to do more frequent tank cleaning to keep the water quality up to snuff. The snail eggs have to be removed from the tank, because the young shrimp eat the infant snails. I have another tank that is the snail nursery. I keep Amano shrimp with the infant snails, without problems.

Moni · Post by **Moni** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 5:46 pm

Thank you both for the input. badflash, sorry about this confusion, I have red cherry shrimp not CRS. My mistake. When searching online I've seen them called cherry red shrimp so that's why I put CRS. Anyway, my type of shrimp do fine in hard water, which is what I have. I like snails and keep 7 different species, althought not all together. One of my brigs laid a clutch of eggs about a week ago and I'm hoping they are fertile

the scientific name for my giant ramshorns is Marisa Cornurieties. I'm leaning toward putting the shrimp in with these snails.
Moni

pixl8r · Post by **pixl8r** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 6:28 pm

CRS is the acronym for Crystal Red Shrimp, if you don't already know.

marusempai · Post by **marusempai** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 6:47 pm

I would think the shrimp would be fine with the marisas... I keep my cherries with spixis, and both species are thriving and reproducing like mad crazy. I acually didn't have much success with the cherries until I moved the spixis in there, although I'm sure it's coincidental. Marisas and spixis are (from what I hear) very similar, so I wouldn't think it would be a problem at all.

wskurdahl · Post by **wskurdahl** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 6:53 pm

I keep spixis snails in all my shrimp tanks. I like them because they eat hydra

. I have CRS, RCS, and other species and haven't noticed any problems with the shrimp not breeding or the snails doing anything other then getting a little pushy when they find the food.