The Helpful Pond Snails

Many people are grossed out by snails because of the mere fact that they secrete slime. Pond snails are actually very helpful in maintaining a pond. It is no wonder that people who are in the know prefer to have pond snails in their ponds. They are working wonders in many bodies of fresh water that some every enterprising people have started breeding them and shipping them out to customers.

Pond Snails' Functions in Your Pond

Pond snails can be considered a small but integral gardening unit of your pond. These hardworking mollusks pretty much stay put in you pond and seldom leave the area they are placed in but, of course, if they have a food shortage, they will look for food or unfortunately, feed on your decorative pond plants. Of course, they do have preferences regarding which plants they eat so they may not actually consume all your plant if they lack enough algae.

Pond snails are very helpful in eating the annoying algae in and around your pond. In many cases, algae compete with other plants and fish for oxygen. Since they multiply quite fast especially under the sun, chances are you fish will run out of oxygen sooner or later. Pond snails eat the algae and give your fish a fighting chance. In aquariums, these kinds of snails may have a difficult time surviving because the regular aeration and indoor location of most aquariums tend to discourage the growth of algae, which the pond snails eat.

Olive Nerite

You might worry about the variety of pond snails that eat vegetation. Most companies that sell and ship these snails have specifically bred and segregated the variety that does not eat decorative plants. The Olive Nerite snail is one of the most popular pond snails because they do not eat decorative plants and they love to eat algae. They are great for maintaining the plants in your pond or aquarium. They also travel around the aquarium glass, eating the algae that may have formed in the glass.

Keeping pond snails in your pond can be highly advantageous. Most snails that are useful for ponds and lakes breed easily enough, although, the Olive Nerite will need brackish water for their eggs to hatch. These certain snails may breed and lay eggs in fresh water but their eggs only hatch in slightly salty water or brackish water. To increase the population of your pond snails, make sure to check underneath the pond plants' leaves for their jelly like egg clutches. Do not prune your plants too much if you have no time to look for egg clutches.