Channeled Apple Snail

Description

Price is per snail. You will receive one unsexed snail, size may vary between 3 – 5cm depending what we have available at the time of your order.

These snails often referred to as Apple Snails, Channeled Apple Snail or Pomacea canaliculata, the larger version of the Mystery Snail (Pomacea diffusa) and this snail is NOT plant safe. It usually grows to an average of 8cm whereas mystery snails grow to around 5 or 6cm. It is a great cleaner (eating algae, blanket weed and uneaten fish food) but it will eat plants too, especially if there is no algae to eat.

This snail also needs both sexes to reproduce. It can also tolerated colder water than the Mystery snail but prefers tropical conditions.

Snails are beneficial to any aquarium. They play a vital role in the ecosystem with their ability to break down excess waste into something that is easier for your beneficial bacteria (and even shrimp) to consume. People often misunderstand snails and see them as ‘pests’ because in dirty, over-fed tanks snails will reproduce rapidly. In a well maintained tank they will not over-populate. People also think all snails eat plants, because they see a snail eating a plant leaf, when in fact the chances are your plant (or part of it) was dying off and the snails were doing you a favour by getting rid of it. Most snails only eat decaying matter – it is important you know which snails you are keeping and their role in your tank.

This snail however will most likely eat aquarium plants but if you have a tank full of floating or fast growing plants then you will hardly notice your plants being eaten depending on the number of these snails you keep. We keep them in our elodea and salvinia ponds to ensure the plants we sell you has little to no algae on it. They do a good job of keeping these tubs clean and keeping hydra amongst other pests away.