Description
Ramshorn Snail (Planorbella)
Overview
The Ramshorn Snail (commonly belonging to the family Planorbidae, with species like Planorbella duryi and Marisa or Planorbis genera) is a very popular freshwater snail in the aquarium hobby, recognized for its distinctive, tightly coiled shell that resembles a ram’s horn.
- Appearance: Features a flat, spiraled shell that coils on a single plane rather than twisting vertically like most other snails. They come in a wide variety of brilliant color morphs, including common brown/wild-type, bright pink, leopard-spotted, electric blue, and striking bright red. They possess two thin tentacles with eyes located at their base.
- Size: Typically grows to about 1.5 to 2.5 cm (0.6 to 1 inch) in diameter depending on the specific species and available food.
- Lifespan: Usually 1 year, though they can sometimes live up to 2 years under ideal conditions.
Care Requirements
- Aquarium Size: Because of their tiny size, they can be kept in almost any size freshwater aquarium, from a 20-liter (5-gallon) nano tank to large community setups.
- Water Parameters:
- Temperature: 18°C to 28°C (64°F to 82°F)
- pH: 7.0 to 8.0 (they thrive best in neutral to hard, alkaline water)
- General Hardness (GH): 8 to 20°H. Hard water is crucial because they need adequate calcium carbonate in the water to build and maintain their hard, spiral shells. Soft, acidic water will cause their shells to pit, erode, or dissolve.
- Filtration & Flow: Standard gentle filtration. They prefer calm or slow-moving waters and do not appreciate powerful, turbulent currents.
Maintenance
- Aquascaping: Ramshorn snails are not picky and adapt well to almost any planted or hardscaped aquarium. Adding live plants, driftwood, and rocks provides plenty of natural surfaces for them to graze on.
- Water Quality & Changes: Routine partial water changes (20% weekly) help maintain general cleanliness. To support shell health, many hobbyists supplement calcium by adding crushed coral, cuttlebone, or specialized calcium supplements to the water or diet.
Diet
- Nature: Omnivorous scavengers and detritivores. They are constantly on the move cleaning up organic waste.
- Staple Diet: Algae, leftover fish food, decaying plant matter, sinking pellets, and algae wafers.
- Vegetable Supplementation: They love blanched vegetables (such as zucchini, cucumber, spinach, and shelled peas). Note: While they generally do not eat healthy, robust live plants, they will readily consume decaying or melting plant leaves.
- Population Control Note: Because they are opportunistic feeders, an overabundance of leftover fish food or decaying plant matter will cause their population to explode rapidly. Controlling the amount of available food is the best way to manage their numbers.
Behaviour and Compatibility
- Temperament: Completely peaceful, slow-moving, and harmless. They spend most of their time gliding along glass surfaces, decorations, and plant leaves scraping away biofilm.
- Social Needs: They are solitary by nature but reproduce readily on their own, meaning they are almost always found in groups in an aquarium.
- Tank Mates: Compatible with virtually all peaceful fish, shrimp, and other snails. However, avoid housing them with snail-eating fish (such as Clown Loaches, large pufferfish, or certain predatory cichlids) unless you intend for them to be live snacks.
Breeding Behaviour
- Spawning Setup: No special setup is required; Ramshorn snails are notorious for breeding effortlessly in standard community aquariums.
- The Process: They are simultaneous hermaphrodites, meaning any two snails can mate and lay eggs. Females (or mated individuals) deposit small, gelatinous egg clutches containing anywhere from 10 to 30 clear, round eggs directly onto plant leaves, glass, or decorations.
- Raising Fry: The tiny, transparent baby snails hatch within 1 to 3 weeks depending on water temperature. They immediately begin foraging for micro-algae and detritus on their own without requiring any special parental care or specialized feeding.
Picture for illustrative purposes only. Either come in store to view available stock or request pictures to be sent to you.
Please Note: Due to variations within species resulting from age, region, sex, etc., the actual livestock may not look identical to the image. Approximate size range may also vary between individual specimens.
