The Snails
Bladder snails found their way into the tank at some point in February with the addition of some new plants. Arriving on the plants as a clutch of eggs and only spotted when they were already reaching maturity. Bladder snails are a very common form of pest snails with a reputation of completely taking over freshwater tanks due to their fast reproduction rate, however proved themselves to be extremely useful cleaning the glass of algae and biofilm.
The population of these snails has been controlled up until now as there has not been any extra food sources added into the tank besides naturally occurring algae and plant waste. While the addition of snails was not something I had in mind when initially setting up this tank they have proved to be a great addition keeping the water and plants clean and enhancing the brightness of the tank. They are small enough that they will not be noticed unless someone is actively looking for them and don’t take attention away from the tank itself only maintaining the cleanliness and overall health of the plants.
