Snail

Ramshorn Snails

Name: Ramshorn Snails
Price: 15.99 USD

Planorbella duryiPlanorbidaeSnails

Price: $15.99 USD

1 photos

Ramshorn Snails (Planorbella duryi) are popular freshwater cleanup crew snails with distinctive flat, spiral shells in colors like brown, red, blue and pink. They graze on soft algae, biofilm, uneaten food and decaying plant matter, are peaceful and plant-safe, and do well in tanks of 5 gallons or more with stable water parameters.

Quick facts

Identity

Also known as: Seminole rams-horn; ram's horn snail; red ramshorn; blue ramshorn; leopard ramshorn
Synonyms: Helisoma duryi
Environment: Freshwater
Native to: United States (Florida)
Habitat: Slow-moving or still freshwater habitats rich in organic material, including marshes, ponds, lakes, and slow streams with aquatic vegetation and tolerance for low dissolved oxygen.
Sourcing: Captive-bred
Conservation: Not Evaluated

Care

Care level: Easy
Temperament: Peaceful
Adult size: 0.3 – 1 in (0.8 – 2.5 cm)
Lifespan: 1 – 2 yrs
Min tank: 5 gal (19 L)
Growth rate: Fast
Placement: Rock & glass

Water

Temperature: 65 – 82 °F (18 – 28 °C)
pH: 7.0 – 8.0
GH: 5 – 18 dGH
TDS: 100 – 500 ppm
dKH: 3 – 12 dKH
Flow: Low

Behavior & compatibility

Social: Colony
Aggression to own kind: Low
Active: Daytime
Invert safe: Yes
Plant safe: Yes
Shrimp safe: Yes
Clean-up role: Algae, Biofilm, Detritus, Leftover food
Population boom risk: High

Feeding & breeding

Diet: Omnivore
Foods: Algae, Biofilm, Vegetables, Pellets, Wafers
Breeding type: Egg scatterer
Breeding difficulty: Easy
Sexing: Simultaneous hermaphrodite; no external sexual dimorphism, though cross-fertilization between two individuals is typical.
Target feeding: Not needed

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Care guide

Overview

Ramshorn snails are small planorbid gastropods named for their flat, coiled shells, found in shades of brown, red, pink, and blue depending on the individual. They spend most of their time grazing glass, decor, and plant leaves for algae and biofilm. Hardy and prolific, they suit nano to community tanks but can overpopulate quickly if fed heavily.

Care

Ramshorn snails are among the hardiest freshwater invertebrates in the hobby, tolerating a broad temperature range and even unheated tanks. They need calcium and a modest amount of carbonate hardness in the water to keep their shells from pitting or thinning, so very soft or acidic setups are best avoided or supplemented. A tightly fitted lid helps since they occasionally climb out of the water and stray from the tank. Copper-based medications should never be used in a tank housing them, as copper is lethal to snails.

Feeding

Ramshorns are opportunistic omnivores that graze soft algae, biofilm, diatoms, decaying plant leaves, and leftover fish food from surfaces throughout the tank. They rarely touch healthy plant tissue, focusing instead on dying or already-damaged leaves, so they pose little risk to a planted setup. Population size tracks food availability closely, meaning overfeeding the tank is the main driver of a sudden boom in numbers.

Tank mates

Peaceful and completely harmless toward fish, shrimp, and other snails, making them suitable for community, shrimp, and nano aquariums alike. They are frequently preyed upon by assassin snails, loaches, puffers, and larger cichlids, so those species should be avoided if a stable ramshorn population is desired. Conversely, keepers wanting a self-renewing live food source sometimes deliberately pair ramshorns with snail-eating fish.

Breeding

Breeding is effortless and often unintentional, since a single snail introduced on plants can found an entire colony given its hermaphroditic reproduction. Clear, gelatinous egg masses are deposited on plants, glass, or decor and typically hatch within about three weeks. Because reproduction rate scales with food surplus, the simplest way to manage numbers is to reduce feeding rather than remove snails by hand.

Health

The most common issue is shell erosion or pitting caused by soft, acidic, low-carbonate water, which strips calcium from the shell over time. Maintaining adequate GH and KH along with a calcium source in the diet or substrate prevents this. Population explosions from overfeeding are considered a husbandry issue rather than a disease, and are corrected by reducing food input rather than treating the animals.