Apple vs Ranshorm

[washefuzzy]

Will my apple eat my ramshorn snail.

[Melody]

Unlikely  .  Cana Applesnails may eat baby Ramshorns though. 

However, Ramshorns can drive an Applesnail nuts - they bug them incessantly and the smaller ones can get under the Applesnail's shell.  They also gnaw on their shells.  Some people have them in tanks together without any problems, but I keep mine separate as a rule.

[washefuzzy]

The apple snail seems to be helping himslef to my plants. sigh If I feed him leafy greens will he stay away from my plants. should I cook the collard greens first?

[Melody]

Wash the greens & cook them slightly to soften them.  If we're talking about the Marisa, mine have an almost constant supply of greens, along with a high vegetable diet which includes homemade vegetable blends, and they'll still strip a stem of Hornwort before you can say 'Slimey Devil'.     They do leave my tougher plants alone though, and the fast growing plants seem to keep ahead of them.  They're classed under plant-eaters, but experiences vary.  Its worth a shot.   

[washefuzzy]

Ha I've tricked the Marisa buy putting them in  none planted aquarium. I'm gonna throw 3 platies in with them. Should be oka.
I gonna take up a nap and then whip up a storm for the little devils. But they are cute.
Thanks for the advice!

[BigDaddy]

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that most snails will generally go for more easily digestable foods first... so if you have a tank full of algae and plants, the algae should be the first veg matter they hit.  Same principle should apply with cooked greens... being softened up would make them more palatable to the snails than live plants.

[washefuzzy]

I gave them collards and black eyed peas last night. NO I just gave them the collards and they really liked that. I'm not sure how one of my snails are doing his body was kind of sucked into the filter . I don't know if he was there by choice or was being sucked in so I removed the hose and put  a panty hose over the nozzle. These snails are worse than 2 year olds for getting into trouble.

[Melody]

They often eat out of/off of a filter, so hopefully that was all he was doing.

BD, depends on the species.  Cana's & their relatives will eat the algae, the vegies, mow your tank and start to eye your fingers hungrily when they're done....lol...all in 48 hours flat.  They'll even eat styro.

Marisas are on the border, in my opinion, so I can understand how experiences vary.  Mine are always breeding too, so that may have something to do with the increase in appetite.  Growing snails will also constantly eat.  Spixi snails aren't plant eaters, but their babies will nibble away at your plants, for example.

I had a Marisa Snail who made his way into one of my planted Bridgesii tanks... must have had an egg on a net or something.  I breed Plumetail Platy's & Pastel Albino Swordtails in the same tank, so I kept adding Hornwort, Pennywort, Java Moss & the like for the fry to hide in.  In no time they'd be stems or completely gone.  I thought I was killing them but the plants had thrived in that tank before.  Then one day I spotted him, just about half grown by that time, scarfing down my latest addition of Pennywort.  .  Out he came, plants are fine.  The tank, as all of my tanks are, was constantly fed vegetables and vegetable foods.  A growing boy needs his vegies I guess.