Will this work?

[Thenewguy]

I was thinking of making a self contained pond.
There would be a ton of apple snails in there eating something( not too sure, any ideas?)
And there would be Redear Sunfish to keep the snail level down.
Is there a ratio of snail to fish I should follow?
Any help would be appreciated!
Thx

 

[sissy]

apple snails do not live if you are in a cold state you need japenese trapdoor snails they give birth to live babies

 

[sissy]

they eat algae and fish waste

 

[j.w]

APPLE SNAILS

Survive in aquariums: Yes
Survive in warm ponds: Yes
Survive in cold ponds: No
Plant eating capacity: Moderate to High
Algae eating capacity: Low to Moderate
Breathing: Gilled and pulmonate
Breeding: Sexual, egg-laying
Apple snails are huge, tropical, debris and plant-eating machines. They are a type of mystery snail. Apple snails belong to the family Ampullariidae and include the genera Pomacea (most common), Asolene, Marisa, Pomella, Afropomus, Lanistes, Pila, and Saulea. The first four are from the Americas and the other four are from Africa and Asia.
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TRAPDOOR SNAILS

Algae Eating Black Japanese Trapdoor Pond Snails (Viviparis malleatus) are the preferred species of snail for recreational and professional pond and water gardeners world-wide. Algae Eating Black Japanese Trapdoor Pond Snails are one of the few snail varieties that can over-winter well and survive in harsher northern climates. Algae Eating Black Japanese Trapdoor Pond Snails are a great asset in helping keep algae under control in your pond and water garden as they groom your plants, planting-pots and water garden rocks and walls. Algae Eating Black Japanese Trapdoor Pond Snails will tend to the ponds bottom, consuming any decaying matter such as leaves, excess fish food, and even fish waste.
Algae Eating Black Japanese Trapdoor Pond Snails are live-bearing; they only breed a couple of times a year and will not take over your pond like other nuisance egg bearing snails can and will. In order for your Algae Eating Black Japanese Trapdoor Pond Snails to have a positive effect on algae growth, a minimum of 10 snails per 50 sq feet will be needed, and farm ponds will need to have at least 200 Algae Eating Black Japanese Trapdoor Pond Snails to have any positive effect at all.

 

[Thenewguy]

So if I were to add 15 trapdoor snails in a 3600 gallon pond
How Long would it take them to take over
There will be plants
Also how big do they grow

 

[j.w]

According to the Internet:
The trapdoor snails are black in color and range from 1” to 3” in size. They are live bearing and will multiply. These snails can survive cold winters and temperatures below 0 degrees. To keep your pond algae in control along with plant coverage a snail will keep eating the algae on the sides of your pond, on the rocks, sides of plant containers and even on plants. Trapdoor snails will even eat decaying matter left over from fish food and plants. Japanese trapdoor snails only produce about 20 young snails in their lifetime and do so over a number of years. In calculating the number needed for your pond the rule of thumb is you should use approximately 1 snail per 20 gallons of water. If you have a larger pond you could add a percentage needed per year. Overall they are less expensive than adding algaecide's weekly.It is normal for these snails to sometimes have algae attached to their shells as they have no way of cleaning themselves. This will not promote algae in your pond and the algae will disappear from them after being in the pond if your pond is mostly algae free.
When you receive your snails they will appear dead as they get scared in shipping and will pull into their shells but after adapting them to your water a few hours later they will disappear in your pond. If there is a crack in their shell these also will mend. It is not necessary to float snails as you do fish. You can put them in some pond water when they arrive and when they become adjusted enter them into your pond or just put them in your pond.

 

[Thenewguy]

Ok thanks
Anyone have any information on Redear Sunfish?

 

[sissy]

I bought them and so far they have had 30 babies and I started with 24 of them .I bought them I think back in January.They don't take over because they don't live that long

 

[Thenewguy]

Ok thx

 

[CometKeith]

Do you live near raccoon habitats? If you do they will eat your trapdoor snails if your pond is not deep.

 

[crsublette]

So, I should not worry at all about japanese trapdoor snails overpopulating my pond?

My "pond" is only ~430ish gallons so should I put 20 of those snails in there, if it were 1 snail per 20 gallons. With them reproducing, if there gets to be too many, I guess I can just toss them out.

I am wondering if 20 would be too many or if I should go fewer?

(sorry, wasn't for sure if i should've made a new thread or not)

 

[sissy]

snails don't live very long ,but if you are getting them to clean they are not the big workers I thought they were .They clean ,but downfall is if you net the bottom of your pond you have to be even more careful

 

[koiguy1969]

trapdoor snails dont procreate profusely like their smaller cousins pond and river snails. they bear live young and not that often. not a big bunch of eggs.