I squished a snail and my fish didn't eat it!

[lindz]

Okay. I know this may seem like a stupid thread, but it took a lot for me to squish that snail. It was really creepy for me to do and I had to do it with the bottom of a mug ontop of a piece of plastic and I made a noise while doing it because it grossed me out.

And then I gave it to my Betta, Fang, but he didn't eat it! He just looked at it!!! I was so angry!

Why didn't he eat it??

So, I took it out with the piece of plastic and put it in another one of my tanks for my fish and they didn't eat it either! I thought fish were suppose to like snails as treats! I squished it for no reason!

*shudders*

Did I do something wrong?

[Hurley]

Sometimes they don't realize its food. Maybe try holding off feeding for a couple days then feeding the snails. I don't think any of my fish have eaten squished snails. They might also dislike the shells.

[Hooked Newbie]

What type of fish are in yur other tank? I agree that they probably just did not realize it was food.

[lindz]

That makes sense. I fed it to my 10 gal and there are rasporas in there. They kind of picked at it for a few moments then let it go.

I wasn't thinking of feeding it to them as like a main food type of a thing, I had just heard that it was like a special treat to give them, especially when you start getting overpopulated with snails. Which I'm starting to get.

What should I do with the snails if they're getting overpopulated other than feeding them to the fish?

[NeonFlux]

Crush the snail outside, then throw the crushed snail with food.

[Quinn1928]

sell them give them to pet stores for credit manually remove them and throw them in the trash lots of things

[Hooked Newbie]

Snail populations level out based on the nutrients available to them. You can manually remove them by putting a leaf of lettuce or something similar in for a day or so and then removing it with the snails that go for it. The thing is, they will repopulate as long as the conditions are right for them. The best idea IMHO is to reduce feeding &/or increase gravel vacs.

[lindz]

Thanks for the advice, guys! It really helps!

[ina1032]

I heard clown loaches will make quick work of snails. Do they automatically know snails are food or do you have to introduce them to a new taste?

[Hooked Newbie]

I heard clown loaches will make quick work of snails. Do they automatically know snails are food or do you have to introduce them to a new taste?

Most loaches naturally prey on snails and other inverts. Clown loaches grow quite large (18") albeit slowly. There are alot of varieties that stay smaller (6" range), but all loaches need to be in groups and really shouldn't be kept in anything under a 55G other than Kuhlis.

Check out www.loaches.com (http://www.loaches.com)

[Drewhop]

My female bettas love snails. I found this out the hard way...... I did not get the memo on them being a natural predator for snails.

[thebullit]

i would try it again a fw times, they will soon learn that its food and then bam it wont even touch the floor when you put them in.

[Lupin]

I heard clown loaches will make quick work of snails. Do they automatically know snails are food or do you have to introduce them to a new taste?
In the wild, many species of loaches relish invertebrates. Inverts are part of their diet. I regret feeding all of my pond snails and MTS to my loaches.:lipssealedsmilie: Loaches can smell them and can actually recognize them as food.;)

[pixl8r]

I use a spatula to occasionally munch a few MTS in my shrimp tanks. They enjoy picking the shell bits clean. One tank of my Macrobrachium dayanum have learned to eat MTS. The larger shrimp can pry off the trap door and pull out the snail meat. But this is not a common behavior. I have 10 tanks housing that species, and only one tank does this.

[thebullit]

universal shrimps :o)