We bought 3 snails to a family fish tank yesterday.Last night i checked and all 3 were there.The next morning,I woke up early and checked on the snails and one was missing.1 was on the side and the other was moving on the rocks.I looked all over.My kids are to small to reach the fish tank and we have no other animals besides the snails and the fish we have.What happened?
Many fish and aquatic animals enjoy the taste of snail. Goldfish will eat anything that fits in their mouth and happens to float by.
Can you post a picture? I'll look around by me.
Maybe it ran away. Very slowly.
They are good climbers. Maybe he climbed out.
Ahh, the old missing critter in the fish tank experience. If you're going to own a fish tank, be prepared to be constantly trying to figure out where the fish went. That's one of the many reasons I got rid of mine. The other one was, I wanted my life back.
My tank was saltwater, but one thing I found out is that some fish look really sweet, but at night or when you're not looking they are very aggressive, and sometimes eat other fish. If you haven't found the shell, he probably wasn't eaten. One day, when you least expect it, you will probably find his carcass somewhere in the house.
He's either hidden under a rock, or he crawled out.
Check if any of your neighbors enjoy escargot.
Sorry, couldn't resist.
If there is not a cover it could have gotten out the top. Or it could just be hiding.
What sort of fish do you have? I don't have much experience with saltwater, but if you have a freshwater tank, loaches, botias, and puffers all eat snails - in fact, I purposely bought two botias, specifically to eat the pond snails that hitchhiked in on some plants (the plants are long dead, but the snails continue to multiply). In the case of puffers, they actually have teeth that can break into the shells.
Or, there is a very attractive type of larger snail that is often sold for aquariums - they have spiral snails, and look sort of like bumblebees. They are often called "assassin snails." If they run out of other muck to eat, they will eat any slimy creature they can find - including each other. Any chance this is what you have?
Also, they like dark places, so maybe check UNDER your ornaments and plants. They are better diggers than I would have thought. You might try drawing them out, too. Float a piece of wilted lettuce in the tank at night, after you turn off the light. Snails like the dark, and they like moldering plant matter - check the lettuce once or twice at night, or before you turn on the light in the morning - maybe you'll find all three at the same time!
On the lid of the tank?
Could it have climbed out?
check your filter. we found ours in there several times. they also found a hole in a rock that was the perfect size and they could hardly be seen. get a flashlight and really check EVERYTHING. those suckers can hide in places you'd never imagine!
