Interesting Facts About The Ramshorn Snails
Overview
Ramshorn Snail is a prevalent aquarium species that plays a significant role in keeping your tank clean. They feed on decayed plants, fish waste, debris, algae buildup, and uneaten fish food. These aquatic snails sneak their way through tanks, hitch themselves and lay eggs to live plants. Depending on the objective, these aquarium tank mates can serve as a helpful cleaner or be a pest.
Compared to other types of snail, Ramshorns require minimal snail care that making them one of the top species in the aquarium trade. As a result, these snails are available to most pet stores nowadays.
Characteristics
Ramshorn snails differ significantly in their appearance. Both its skin and shell can be different in colors, creating numerous color combinations. There are varieties such as common, pink, blue, and red ramshorn snails.
Their typical skin color is either red or black. Red snails have a vibrant color because of their red blood hemoglobins. On the other hand, Black snails have melanin pigment that the red ones don't possess.
Unlike other freshwater snails, Ramshorns don't have an operculum. As a result, these snails are not able to breathe underwater and must breathe air instead.
Ramshorn snails are hermaphrodites that can grow up to 1 inch as they get older. Their average life span is in between 1 to 3 years.
Tank requirements
Ramshorns are solitary and peaceful snails that can quickly adapt to various water conditions.
These freshwater aquarium snails love planted tanks and enjoy stable water quality. However, they are mainly being targeted by aggressive fish, so keeping them with the peaceful ones is necessary.
The ideal tank size should be at least a 5-gallon tank, but it is advisable to upgrade into a 10-gallon tank if you're planning to keep multiple snails.
Water Parameters
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Ph Level: 7 - 8
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Hardness (GH) : 7 - 15
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Carbonate Hardness (KH): 8
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Nitrate: Below 20 ppm
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Temperature: 70°F – 78°F
Tankmates
More extensive, aggressive fish are mainly targeting ramshorn snails. It ideal keep them with peaceful tankmates like shrimp, clams, friendly snails, gourami, danios, and teras.
Note: Some aggressive snails like the Assassin snail love to devour pond snails, ramshorn snails, and Malaysian trumpet snails.
Feeding
Before anything else, it is vital to be sure that the food you will serve to your snails is copper-free as they could quickly die from it. By any chance, If you cannot avoid putting copper-contained products into your tank, it is highly recommended to transfer the snails to a different aquarium.
Ramshorn snails are can easily be fed, and one of their favorites is algae. They are bound to search for algae all over the tank. They also feast on rotting plants, dead shrimp and fish, uneaten food like pellets and fish flakes.
You can always give them some treats like algae wafers and vegetables like cauliflower, lettuce, cucumber, and squash.
Breeding
all you need to have is at least two of them because ramshorn snails are hermaphrodites, meaning they have sexual organs of both male and female. And because of that, they could quickly breed with any other snail.
These snails lay multiple egg clusters all over the tank. Each group contains an average of 12 eggs. And after few days, the baby snails will be visible from the inside.
