Snails in Ponds

Question:

My fish(gold fish) winter with a friend, but we bought some more this winter to keep in an aquarium to grow up to be pond fish. We also bought a large snail. We have had him/her (is there a way to tell?) for 5 months...no propagation. Can I put him in the pond with the rest of the fish now. He is all alone in the aquarium  and we would like to shut that down. Also have a plecostomus...have heard conflicting reports weather the actually help or hurt the cleanup of the pond.

Thanks..
p.s. Don't know what kind of snail...he is about 1 1/2 inches or so. Fast mover...big mouth. If I put him in will he stay? Came from fish store.
I also wonder, will I be able to find him when we shut down for winter?


Discussion:

Sure you can put your snail in the pond. If you live where it freezes solid, your snail may not make the winter. Plecostomus are great fish for clean up, but as tropical fish, often they do not survive winters either. They do in the deep south and lemme tellya, nothing will wake you up faster than having one that is 6 or 8" long slither over your bare foot while you are cleaning a pond.


Snail is now in pond, would like to get a few more but worried I will end up with 37,000 of them.
Yes, I live in northern Wisconsin, all our fish come indoors for winter. Our pond is only 2.5 feet deep.
I am new at ponding..probably wouldn't have chosen to do so but I bought a house that had a large pond and waterfall in the back yard. We are learning.. your site has been very helpful. Went the other day and got several bunches of anacharis grass, some hyacinth and water lily. We are not feeding our fish!
Our pond gets full sun for only an hour to an hour and half a day the rest of the time it has light/dappled shade. I will check to see if we have enough cover for fish.
What temp should my pond water be staying around for plants and fish to be happy? Right now it is around 70* F.

Further discussion

The 70º temps are fine. Below 55 is when you can start to have problems.
You need one bunch of anacharis per square foot of pond surface and one linear foot of fish per 25 sf of pond surface.

To catch fish in the winter, pour warm water in the pond. The fish will come to the warm water.

You are right about the snails. One is good. Two = thousands and they crunch under your bare feet.
Your water lily may not bloom well with little sun, but try it and see. Can't hurt.

You can read about snails and more in my new book, A Practical Guide to Building and Maintaining your Pond.
Download it  here.

And for discussions like this one, join us on pondlady.com

The Shade Pond

Ponds in the shade are prettier than in full sun, I think. There are some aquatic plants that won't do well, of course, just like any garden. Water lilies need at least 5 hours of sun daily, so most likely they will live, but not bloom in the shade pond. Good aquatics for the shade pond are Taro, acorus, umbrella grass, egyptian papyrus and calla lilies. In fact, Callas will not grow in the sun, so the shade pond can have 'the perfect flower for every occasion.' Surrounding the pond can be broadleaf plants that will not tolerate sun, like philodrendon selloum, although I do not recommend it because of it's ability to send out a root into the water and then take off and come up through your kitchen floor.
You can have ferns and other plants that make the pond a woodland masterpiece.