Snail control suggestion

[DIYMatt]

If anyone is looking for some snail population control, I would suggest Dwarf Indian Puffers. They are the best I have tried at eating snails. IMO they are more peaceful and interesting than the loaches. Loaches, IMO, are a little to active and seem to harass my other fish a little too much. Then as the loaches got older they seemed to prefer the regular fish food to deshelling snails. Not to mention they were the largest fish in the tank. Also these puffers stay very small, I have read that they don't grow any larger than 2" long. Mine are about an 1" and 3/4" respectively.

After I traded in the loaches, the LFS was happy to get them-BTW, I noticed that I have MTS snails and at least four other "darn they came on my plants" snails in my tank. I could visually see that some of the volunteer snails were ouycompeting the MTS snails. I was just manually removing handfuls of the volunteers every month or so, it was a pain in the butt. Trying to leave the MTS alone. Then I was at the little fish store in the church locally and saw the little guys. They weren't cheap for less than 1" fish, but worth every penny I spent. Since I have added the puffers, the only snails I see are MTS. I attribute this to the fact that the MTS burrow into the gravel and come out at night. Saving them from the onslaught of the mini-assasins. It actually looks like the little guys are "hunting" snails. They seem to sit almost motionless for awhile, then when a snail comes into view and they pounce, flip that snail right over tear out the inside in peices. Its kind of amazing since the snails are sometimes half the size of the puffers. In my opinion the best snail control ever. Also, I love their little personalities and appearance.

The only issue I have heard is that they love shrimp. My Amano shrimp are way too big to fall victim to the puffers. But, if you had very small amanos, cherry or red shrimp, I would not suggest the puffers. My small puffer about 3/4" long has taken off after a big female Amano I have, the shrimp scolded him and sent him on his way. But, that is probably because the shrimp is three times the size of the puffer. Equal size or smaller, the shrimp would have been dinner. Just thought i would let people know about a fish I haven't seen talked about much on these boards.

Also, if anyone with experience with these guys long term has anything to add, please do. I have only had these little guys for 7 weeks, or so.

[SnakeIce]

with puffers you may end up having to grow snails for them or get more from your lfs. they might suppliment their diet with what you feed the tank but snails and the like will be their staple

[SnakeIce]

there is a fish store in a church????? would make having a nonprofit statis kinda hard:D

[125gJoe]

Originally posted by DIYMatt
If anyone is looking for some snail population control, I would suggest Dwarf Indian Puffers. ..... Aren't all Puffers 'brackish water' fish?

I have a few snails, and remove some when doing water changes. They have never been a problem. Maybe the warmer water of around 85 F degrees keeps their population down (?) I'm not sure though..

[SnakeIce]

yes there is a true fresh water puffer, and if I remember right they stay small, an inch or two

[CharlesMTF]

Dwarf Indian Puffers are FW, aren't they? Anyone have any good links for more info on the DI Puffer? I'm not really answering anyone's question, but was never successful in finding any good info on these fish.

[TKOS]

Dwarf Indian Puffers are definatley freshwater. And they will go through a snail population fast so you have to be ready with more and more snails or other live food as they are super picky when they are young.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=21&pCatId=971

Ask Oriongirl because she seems to be the pro with these little guys.

[DIYMatt]

Hmmm....I was wndering if the snails would hold out. I still see a few MTS in the tank. Luckily I have seen both of my puffers eat frozen brine shrimp, not any of the flake or pellet, though. But, only if it comes right to them. They definitely don't go after the stuff like my other fish do. I'm going to try live bbs next. Unfortunately it's the only live food option I have at this point, without making several trips to the LFS each week to buy food. I'll see what happens, and let you know.

To me, I never really had a snail problem either. In the evening as the first of the two lights turned off, the gravel would like it ws "moving" with all the snails coming up and they would cover the glass in areas. Guests at my house thought that was a little creepy. The tank is in the living room, so I bowed to peer and better half)pressure and happened upon a solution, ooops. I also removed the undesireable snails at each water change. I just like to do whatever I can to limit the "work" of a tank. Also, I always prefer a natural solution.

[Richer]

Its good that you found your own solution to your snail problem. However, before a person new to this whole thing comes in here and tries your suggestion, I have a couple of suggestions of my own.

Getting snails with your plants is more or less a given. For the average keeper, it is difficult to ensure that your new plant is snail free. I believe there are products you can buy that you can soak your plants in before introducing them into your tank, but imho, I wouldn't touch that stuff. There are a few things you can try that are free, and will not do much (if anything) to your tank's bioload.
1.) Reduce on your feedings. Fish need surprisingly little food to survive on. You'd also be surprised at how much food can be missed by your fish (and yourself) and hit the bottom of the tank. My 70 gallon tank (with 2 angels, and a few misc. tetras) get only a pinch-ful of food once every other day, with a cucumber slice once a week for my clown pleco. They're all doing fine... in fact, I was watching one of my black skirt tetras scattering eggs a few days ago.
2.) Do a better job removing dead/dying plant matter. Snails eat these things too. If you are able to keep on top of the dead/dying plant matter in your tank, not only will your tank look better, but it will help control your snail population as well.

With a little bit of work, you should be able to control your snail population by limiting their food source(s). When you noticed that the snail population has stablized (as opposed to growing) remove them whenever you get the chance to. Eventually, your snail population should be quite small. This method won't kill off the snails in your tank, but it will reduce their populations. Snails are not all bad. They help keep your tank clean, and I always consider snails to be a good addition to a tank cleaning crew.

By all means, this method isn't easy. It requires more work than simply dosing your tank with chemicals (please don't ever ever ever do that!), or by adding fish (be it loaches, puffers, etc.). However, it is free, and most importantly, it does not add any additional fish bioload to your tank. That may not sound too important to some people, but in some tanks, the addition of a few more extra fish just isn't smart.

HTH
-Richer

[Locust]

As far as chemicals to kill snails off of new plants, potassium permangenate. Used in moderation, potassium permangenate has the benefit of being non harmful to fish (I've read of it being used as a treatment for parasites such as ich). As long as you don't over do it and rinse off your plant, there's no danger.

You can also use (heavily diluted) household bleach. If you overdo it you can kill your plant, but as long as rinse the the plant and use dechlorinator there's no danger to your fish.

Having said that, I just got loaches. But c'mon, they're cute. :D

[Trinity5]

At one point I was looking into freshwater puffers for my tank and I thought it would be neat to breed snails and have some snacks ready for them in the tank. Almost natural that their food lives with them and they can hunt it down on their own. Anyway, I remember reading that Malaysian Trumpet Snails have really hard shells and can crack puffer teeth. There were a couple of sites that confirmed this and suggested not having MTS in the same tank, just to be safe. If your puffers haven't bothered the MTS yet, maybe you're in good shape. However it is something to think about, cracked puffer teeth can cause a lot of problems for the little guys and may be more trouble than just removing the MTS. In the tank I have now I have tons of MTS, but I decided not to go with the puffers until I get a larger tank. I love watching them bury in the sand so I can understand your attachment to them, just thought I'd offer some insight!:)

[DIYMatt]

Thanks Trinity for the advice. I will watch my puffers closely. Actually, I have seen my puffers kill MTS snails. They flip them over and tear out the insides. Also, for whatever reason the MTS's in my plant tank have much softer shells than most. I can easily squish mine, but others in other tanks are almost impossible to crack. Also, they are definitely killing MTS's, but they are thin in numbers.