Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Trapdoor snail success!

About 2 months ago I put 6 trap door snail in 2 of my 110 gallon recirculating tanks. I raise bg fry in. I noticed they were doing a great job cleaning up the algea and fish food. Today when I drained them to move my bg to there larger tank I noticed 4 babys about the size of a marble. I know they give live birth but could not belive how big they were in 2 months. They do a great job of cleaning the FA in my tanks and are quite expensive to purchase. I wounder how many it would take to keep a 1 acre pond cleaned up of FA? Heck if I can get them to keep doing what there doing there's money in them there snails Anyone on here try to breed them? I read they don't carry north americas snail parasites, and since the from japan they tolerate cold water well. RES could get mighty big eating these guys.

I brought home a gallon ice cream bucket full of them from my lake house. hope they do ok in my pond. I do have snail eating koi, redfish and one sheepshead........ they could be just eating them for dinner though.

I live in Ohio and the pond has grass in it and it make it hard to fish . would like to get some grass eating carp. can you tell me the best one to get and where thank.

White Amur aka: grass carp are widely considered the best most if not all states require they are tripaloid "sterile" they do a good job on most stuff, but they eat there favorite stuff first.

From Bill Cody in a duplicate question in another thread. I deleted the duplicate questions in the other threads and I am combining them here so the answers aren't scattered all over the place.

cliff - what part of OH do you live in? Region or area will help determine where the better and closest places are to get the grass carp. Also you should know what species of weeds you have that are most abundant. Grass carp will not eat all weeds with the same zeal or effectiveness. Sometimes a pond needs 6/ac to 24/ac depending on weed species and abundance. Too many usually make the pond murky and denudes all weeds - often bad for numerous reasons. First place in OH to try is call your local county Soil & Water Cons district office and ask if they have annual fish sales. That is usually the simplest method.

Those snails do get huge... I was walking the bank of the Potomac River looking at all the dead snail shells washed up on the shore. Some had to be close to 4" long.

Would these snails be good to put in a pond to help feed fish?

Are those snails any good eating?

Not sure....this video talks about putting them in
ponds for cleaning purpose and that fish like to eat them.
The guy in the video says catfish love them.

Trapdoor Snails in ponds

Very cool video,Thanks Mark.

Ken....this guy sells them by the hundred with free shipping.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-Live-Trapdoo...=item3cae7bf64f

It's good to know they can take hot and cold water.

I cleaned out the 110 gallon tanks a few days ago for winter that had the 6 trapdoors in it. I have 73 now. Most over one inch. They do a good job cleaning up the mess.

If anyone wants some, come to the Potomac River here in VA, MD and DC. There are hundreds of thousands of their shells everywhere along the banks and many more floating dead on the water surface in the summer. Look under the water and you will see thousands of live ones.

I ordered 100 of these for pond. I hope it works out. Have not heard any negative affects of them.

They are kind of expensive.

Jwwann:

You might want to research them a bit more. Missouri considers them an invasive species. I don't know what the penalty is for releasing them into an outdoor pond...

Here's a clip taken from the Mo. Gov website.....

Human connections: Mystery snails have been imported to our country by the aquarium industry as well as for Asian food markets. Some releases were probably from hobbyists, and others may have been deliberate in an effort to create a local food source. They can transmit diseases to humans and clog water intake pipes.
Ecosystem connections: Chinese mystery snails can serve as vectors for the transmission of parasites and diseases to our native aquatic species. They also compete with our native snails for food and space.

Don't turn me in. If one of these snail can travel half mile to nearest creek without being eat in' that would be crazy.

That would explain why the guy at fish store said he could not get them anymore. He wasn't happy about it. Said they are the best pond / aquarium snail.

http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/chinese-mystery-snail
All I can find is they are invasive. No laws pertaining to them.

When your fish start having parasite issues of worms, grubs and black spots in your fish fillets then thank your snails and waterfowl. As a general rule, the more snails that a pond has the more parasites that will develop in the fish flesh. Fish hatcheries consider the large mystery snail (trapdoor) a nuisance which is an indication of their overall benefit for a recrational pond. What the pet shop guy didn't tell you was he ment ""they are the best pond / aquarium snail...."" for lily ponds, backyard ponds and aquariums not recreational ponds. Few aquarium shop employees are well versed on the ecosystem functioning and ecological balance of plants, animals, and water chemistry found in fresh water lakes and ponds.

Thanks Bill, but these snail are live bearing and only eat plant life.

Jwwann: If it is not too late I would cancel the order.

If I do decide on not adding to pond I have aquariums I can put them in.

BILL every fish in our Natural lake in WI has tons of these in the meat and skin. THe lake has loads of musscles and snails. are these parisites of some sort?