Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I've found snails very useful. They eat algae, so they help to keep nitrates higher. When I feed too much, they are here...
I have put several of them in my system, and I plan to buy some bigger ones I've seen in the pet shop.
What is your opinion about snails?

I find snails useful as an ontrey with a little garlic

Yes, I love snails too... Some recipes make them delicious. I'm wondering if the 'water' snails are as tasty as the 'earth' snakes. The ones I've seen at the shop are about the same size, maybe one day I'll be able to make a comparison.

eat snails? you guys mean snails as in slugs? with shells?

that be the ones - don't pay too much attention to the tall stories they are spinning tho

I didn't mean to eat them, basically. I posted this topic to discuss their utility in a fish tank, not really gastronomy, but you should try eat snails, really

Yes they realy taste nice

LOL yes... blame the french...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escargot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliciculture

Turning Snails into Escargot

Snails are mature when a lip forms at the opening of their shell. Before they mature, their shells are more easily broken, making them undesirable. For H. aspersa, commercial weight is 8 grams or larger.

The nutrient composition of raw snails (per 100 grams of edible portion), according to information from the nutrient databank of France, is:

Energy (kcal): 80.5
Water (g): 79
Protein (g): 16
Available carbohydrates (g): 2
Fiber (g): 0
Fat (g): 1
Magnesium (mg): 250
Calcium (mg): 170
Iron (mg): 3.5
Vitamin C (mg): 0
Main article: Escargot
Snails are washed, steamed, shelled, then washed in a vinegar- (or lemon juice) and water-solution before they are canned. Producing a quality canned product is somewhat tricky, and you must take care to prevent food poisoning. To prepare live snails for cooking, remove the membrane, if any, over the shell opening. Soak the snails in enough water to cover them. (Add 1/2-cup salt or 1/4-cup vinegar for every 50 snails.) Mucus will turn the water white. Change the water several times during the 3- to 4-hour soaking. Rinse several times or under running water until no mucus remains. Put snails in cold water and bring to a boil. Boil about eight minutes, then drain and plunge the snails into cold water. Drain. With a needle or small fork, pick the snails out of their shells. Remove the intestine and cut off all black parts. (Some cooks also cut off the head, tail, and all "cartilage or gristle.") Prepare according to your recipe. An alternate method is: Wash the snails well in clear water. Drop into boiling salt water (to which you may add lemon juice and/or herbs), and cook--about 10-15 minutes--until you can easily remove the snails from their shells. Drain and rinse.

Prepare the giant African snail by breaking away the shell, then cutting the foot away from the rest of the body. The traditional way to remove the slime is to rub wood ashes on the snail, then wash the snail (or part of the snail) under running water, then repeat until no slime remains. You may substitute substances like flour (to which you may add salt and vinegar) for ashes. Cut up the foot into convenient-sized pieces. [You may dehydrate the leftover visceral mass, crush it up with the shell, and mix it in poultry feed to make up 10% of your snail feed.] Another source says put the live snails in boiling water for 30 minutes to kill them and to make removal from the shell easy. During boiling, the snails will release a large quantity of mucus. Data varies, but 28% to 46% of the live weight of Achatina is shell.

Sometimes it's best not to know these things... mucus... mmmm

ok wish you luck

Anyway, oyster are considered as a delicate dish, isn't it? So are escargots, it is really the same...
But again, I meant snails usefulness in a fish tank... To eat alguae...

as to their USEFULNESS....
They can be very useful, and they can be a royal pain in the butt too!
The larger yellow or redish ones (some call them mystery snails) are kept in aquariums all over the world. they can breed but are slow to do so and need specific conditions to do so (as they lay their eggs above the water line)
The usual smaller brown coloured snails are the ones which can be both useful and a pain - they eat algie and other uneaten food, which is usefull. BUT, some verities like a strong flow of water and will travel UP your pipes, sometimes causing blockages.
In South Africa one kind of water snail was linked to the spread of bilhasia - but that was only around still water during the warmer months, just before the rain season strated.

Blocking the pipes... I didn't think about this. Actually they are too big to enter the pipes but maybe the small ones will (I see eggs here and there).
I have put a net on some of the pipes, because my guppies like to travel from tank to tank thru the pipes. So will eventually the snails, I shall be aware of this, they are much more static...

I've noticed the populatation of snails increase over the past few weeks with the warmer weather, they are the small brown variety that I got with some of the aquarium plants I bought. I am happy to leave them there, as they love eating the algae off of the glass. I will let you know if they multiply to plague proportions...

Snails certianly keep things clean, I had them in the pond at my last house, got them from under rocks in the local river.

As far as eating them goes, the basic answer is YES, I have eaten land snails in france, sea and land snails in Italy, weird snails in Hong Kong snails from the rock platforms in Australia. They are known to contain a range of natural remedies, dyes, anti biotics and anti cancer compunds, to name a few. Green lip mussels from NZ are one example, and there are rumoured benifits to eating oysters.

In our house snails are highly regarded because my wife studdies them.

As far as Ap goes - bio diversity is a good thing