Variations
5 kinds · tap one for a closer look
Ramshorn snail
Breeds fast when overfed.
- Giant gourami eats animals up to about 10 cm. Ramshorn snail only grows to 2.5 cm.
- Oscar eats animals up to about 12 cm. Ramshorn snail only grows to 2.5 cm.
- Jack Dempsey eats animals up to about 8 cm. Ramshorn snail only grows to 2.5 cm.
- Only a narrow temperature range suits both: exactly 22 °C.
- Only a narrow temperature range suits both: exactly 22 °C.
426 species in our list are a good match.
Care and water
Behavior
Breeds fast when overfed.
Food
Leftovers, algae.
Tap a food to see what it is.
Male or female
Hermaphrodite: every snail has both sexes, so there are no males or females.
Health
Common problems. Tap one to see the signs. This is a guide, not a diagnosis.
Breeding
Egg-layer (substrate spawner) · Easy
Hermaphrodite that breeds fast, laying eggs in a clear jelly mass; young hatch in about three weeks.
Buy 3-5 snails. They are hermaphrodites.
A 20-40 L tank with plants and algae. Any normal water.
Warm water and food; they breed freely.
Eggs are laid in clear jelly masses averaging about 21-26 eggs each in a lab study; they usually hatch in about three weeks.
Young eat algae and veggies. No special care.
- Overfeeding, leading to a boom
- Putting with loaches
- Using copper
Where it lives in the wild
The story of the ramshorn snail
A flat-coiled snail from Florida. Unlike most snails, ramshorns carry oxygen with iron-based haemoglobin, which shows through as red or pink in the pale colour forms; wild snails are brown.
Albert G. Wetherby described this snail in 1879 from Florida, originally in the genus Planorbis. Its flat, spiral shell looks like a ram's horn. Red, pink and blue forms are popular as clean-up snails in planted tanks.
First described by Albert G. Wetherby in 1879.
- Its blood contains haemoglobin, which gives red forms their colour.
- It breeds quickly.
- Its shell is flat and coiled.
Sources
14 facts checked with sources
- Scientific name
Invertebrate (freshwater pulmonate snail). Planorbella duryi (Wetherby, 1879); older name Helisoma duryi still common. TRADE WARNING: 'ramshorn' in shops can also be the larger European Planorbarius corneus or other planorbids; The Shrimp Farm treats both P. duryi and P. corneus as ramshorns, and colour forms are sold under either name.
Wikipedia: Planorbella duryi (cites NatureServe, AnimalBase, conchology.be, Čejka et al. 2024) - Familycorrected
Legacy has no family; recorded as sourced.
Wikipedia: Planorbella duryi (cites NatureServe, AnimalBase, conchology.be, Čejka et al. 2024) - Size
Shell diameter. 1 in = 2.54 cm. Planorbarius corneus reaches about 1.5 in (3.8 cm).
The Shrimp Farm: Ramshorn snail care (established invertebrate breeder/retailer; covers Planorbella duryi and Planorbarius corneus) - Temperaturecorrected
Source's °F and °C don't match (71.6-87.8 °F is 22-31 °C); the °C figure 22-28 is used. Legacy lower end 18 °C is below it, though this subtropical snail survives cooler water (wild in Florida; feral in a Slovak thermal brook).
The Shrimp Farm: Ramshorn snail care (established invertebrate breeder/retailer; covers Planorbella duryi and Planorbarius corneus) - pHcorrected
Source range 6.5-8.0 with 7.0 or above ideal. Legacy upper end 8.5 is slightly above it.
The Shrimp Farm: Ramshorn snail care (established invertebrate breeder/retailer; covers Planorbella duryi and Planorbarius corneus) - Smallest tankcorrected
5 US gal x 3.785 = 18.9 L, about 19 L. Same source says a few snails can survive in 2.5 gal (9.5 L), which matches the legacy 10 L as an absolute floor.
The Shrimp Farm: Ramshorn snail care (established invertebrate breeder/retailer; covers Planorbella duryi and Planorbarius corneus) - Lifespan
Usually about 1 year; exceptional individuals reach 2-3 years (same source).
The Shrimp Farm: Ramshorn snail care (established invertebrate breeder/retailer; covers Planorbella duryi and Planorbarius corneus) - Temperament
Large fish, nippers and snail-eaters (loaches, puffers, assassin snails) can eat them.
The Shrimp Farm: Ramshorn snail care (established invertebrate breeder/retailer; covers Planorbella duryi and Planorbarius corneus) - Care level
The Shrimp Farm difficulty level.
The Shrimp Farm: Ramshorn snail care (established invertebrate breeder/retailer; covers Planorbella duryi and Planorbarius corneus) - Where it livescorrected
Legacy has no range; recorded as sourced. Found in most freshwater habitats including streams and ponds.
Wikipedia: Planorbella duryi (cites NatureServe, AnimalBase, conchology.be, Čejka et al. 2024) - Male or femaleWikipedia: Planorbella duryi (cites NatureServe, AnimalBase, conchology.be, Čejka et al. 2024)
- BreedingWikipedia: Planorbella duryi (cites NatureServe, AnimalBase, conchology.be, Čejka et al. 2024) · The Shrimp Farm: Ramshorn snail care (established invertebrate breeder/retailer; covers Planorbella duryi and Planorbarius corneus)
- Eggs and youngcorrected
Clutch size computed from the peer-reviewed lab study: 17,707 / 826 = 21.4 and 34,645 / 1,355 = 25.6 eggs per clutch (11,361 / 534 = 21.3 on the third diet). So legacy 5-20 is on the low side. Hatch time about 3 weeks (Wikipedia), longer than the legacy 1-2 weeks; not found in the paper's abstract.
Wikipedia: Planorbella duryi (cites NatureServe, AnimalBase, conchology.be, Čejka et al. 2024) · Milward-de-Andrade, Maruch & Costa 1978, Revista de Saude Publica 12(1): 90-98: Alimentacao e fecundidade de planorbideos criados em laboratorios IV - Helisoma duryi - Story
Nuance: all ramshorns (not only red forms) have haemoglobin; red forms lack the dark body pigment so the red blood shows. The 'lack of pigment' part is not quote-checked.
The Shrimp Farm: Ramshorn snail care (established invertebrate breeder/retailer; covers Planorbella duryi and Planorbarius corneus) · Wikipedia: Planorbella duryi (cites NatureServe, AnimalBase, conchology.be, Čejka et al. 2024)