Bumblebee Snails

[rooroo]

Awhile ago I bought two or four (can't remember) of these guys, before I started to research new inhabitants before purchasing.

 

This past weekend I swapped out the old tank for the RR tank and while taking out rocks and sand I found two of them. I since read up around the web on them and find that they seem to be controversial. Most people with personal experience with them like them or find nothing wrong with them while all the experts say you shouldn't put them in your tank. I put them back in because as the others with personal experience say, I didn't see them do anything bad for the tank.

 

Scientific names are Engina mendicaria or Pusiostoma mendicaria. All the experts say they're a kind of whelk that prey on beneficial worms, which they probably do, but I still see bristleworms around in my tank so they don't do too good of a job.

 

Just curious what other people thought of them.

Edited January 4, 2007 by rooroo

[jason the filter freak]

Eve has some in her tank, and it's well great looking

[SteveM]

I have 2 of them in mine, so far no problems.

[ChrisS]

I think the harm they do is a matter of scale.

 

You don't want to put a bunch of these in a nano as they'll decimate the sand bed fauna. However, in a larger tank they won't really eat enough to be a problem. So if you like the looks of this snail go ahead and add a few. Just keep thier numbers low or proportional to your tank size.

[Sugar Magnolia]

I've got one that's over three years old, fully covered in coraline, sniff, sniff...no more cool stripes. It's never caused any problems for me.

[TROLL]

I got a bunch of them in 2 tanks, they do great job however, they don't grow past 1" and can die easily. Pretty to look at and not expensive but their mortality rate is something to consider when it comes to budget.