I'm getting fed up...

[Beeker]

What kind of fish can peacefully fit in a 20 gal with a ram, 4 tetras, and 2 sparkling gouramis and take care of about a thousand snails?

[wataugachicken]

you could get a couple or three small clown loaches (have to QT them first, they usually have ich). let them eat the snails and fatten up, then return them to your LFS. you may not be able to sell them back for more, or even get all your money back, but they will get rid of the snails. you can't keep them though, they get way too big for a 20g. loaches in general seem to go crazy over snails, you may want to look up some smaller species.

[phoenix]

Have you tried other methods of snail removal? I've never tried to get rid of my snails but I've heard that if you leave a piece of lettuce in your tank overnight the snails will collect on it. That way you can remove a whole lot of them at once and with very little fuss.

[Ryank327]

Check out this thread It should help some.

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34190&highlight=mts+snail+problem

[Holly9937]

you could get a couple or three small clown loaches, let them eat the snails and fatten up, then return them to your LFS.

Not a good idea :thud: !! There are much simpler ways to get rid of snails than that. Plus its never a good idea to buy fish you can't properly house! I'm sure you know that though Beeker :) The thread should give you some more ideas! good luck

[jaylin]

Kuhli loaches will eat snail eggs and little snails, and they won't outgrow the tank like clowns will.

[knashash]

try a couple female dwarf puffers...the only thing I might be worried about is them attacking the gouramis...but im pretty sure they would be fine with the tetras and the Ram..and they would love your snails

[zacdl]

They make a chemical additive that stops reproduction. It does not kill the snails, but they wont have any more snails.

This might be a good idea to use after you find a way to get rid of them, this will keep them from coming back (in case you missed a few).

[SKAPSYCHO]

In my experience, loaches are amazing at wiping out snail populations. I used to have a 20 gallon with a yo-yo loach and I would sometimes drop snails in there for him/her to eat. It took about 5 seconds for the loach to find and devour any single snail. That equates to 720 snails per minute, assuming the loach is a bottomless pit! Just a suggestion... and it would be a frency to see! Plus, you could keep the loach in there permanently. Yo-Yo's are peaceful and stay around 3", I think...
Cheers,
~Matt

[Ripples]

Erm - have you considered trying to control the snails in a slightly different fashion? It sounds like you may have an excess of nutrients in your tank. Try feeding the fishes less (yes I know - they look at you, suck their tummies in and try to look starving!) and do more gravel/sand vacs to get anything up from there. This, combined with regular water changes should *control* the population (won't stop them I'm afraid).

I say this just because I had exactly the same problem in my 29g. Got strong willed on the food thing - and noticed a rapid decrease in snails. (The lettuce trick never worked for me)

R

[greendeltatke]

I've noticed that baby snails don't stick around long in my tank with amano shrimp. I don't know if they eat them or out-compete them. Also, did you blanch the lettuce a bit before you put it in? My vegetable clips always have snails on them.

[yohkos]

I just scoop mine out every other day or so with a fish net. Right now after doing this for a couple of weeks I hardly have any snails. I know they will repopulate again and again I will scoop them out.

I read on the net a lady would crumble old lettuce on the top over the weekend and then scoop them all out. Using a regular fish net makes it easy and you get a lot that way. I have to do the same thing with the duckweek, grrrr.

Good luck,
Kim

[maaltan]

hmm. My black kuhli's never touch snails. Even if i crush them. The stripey kuhli's might be different though. Or maybe mine are just being annoying since thats what i bought them for. :)

The yoyo loach is a good bet. it was listed somewhere as one of the top 5 snail control fish. It might eventually wipe them out though. I have never had them before but I plan on it when the kuhli die.

Dwarf puffer yes. It will eat snails like there will never be any again... literally. IF you can get them to eat in first place. One problem though. These are devil fish. Very aggressive and territorial. The will eventually destroy anything in the tank with them. Some might disagree because puffers have the most personality of fish ive seen. some are nice and very tolerant. Mine is evil incarnate. It has has raped and shredded 5 female puffers i tried to put in with him. He is in solitary confinement for life now.

I would never use chemicals. Most are copper based and can become fixed in the tank to be released at a random future time. Basically, never plan on having any inverts ever live in that tank again if you do. If there is a new product (someone mentioned something that prevented breeding), might be worth a shot. I wonder if its a one shot medicne that destroys the reproductive organs or if its a regulatory hormone that must be dosed continously(IE "the pill" for snail).

ROFL .. that brings an image. they have a birth control "patch" now also. thousands of little snails with a little patch on thier shells. yes i know it requires dermal contact, but the visual doesn't work if its inside the shell :)

[Ripples]

God that has me laughing. Actually - even the concept of each little snail having its packet of Monday to Friday pills is quite amusing. Imagine 'Bert. I've missed a pill. We could be parents of thousands by the weekend'. Oh god - I've just moved onto pregnancy tests too.

on a more serious note - I'm with the above. When in the midst of my over-run, I tried one of the chemical treatments with several effects:
1) lots of snails died, rotted and caused an ammonia spike
2) but not all snails died (particularly malaysian trumpets - which apparently can seal their 'doors' and stay safe until the coast clears.

Result? Sick fish, water changes and no change on the snail front (back as it was within 2 weeks).

Ho hum.
R

[mooman]

Skunk botias will eat snails as well. Feed less, frequent water changes, and good algea eaters to outcompete them should keep them under control. I like having a few snails. gives my tanks some depth. Every once in a while I crush the pond snails agianst the glass and watch my angel devour them.

[sumthin fishy]

Try feeding the fishes less (yes I know - they look at you, suck their tummies in and try to look starving!) and do more gravel/sand vacs to get anything up from there. This, combined with regular water changes should *control* the population (won't stop them I'm afraid).


This DID get rid of the snails for me. I used to have a DP, so I'd get a few snails when I saw them at the lfs. I would slightly overfeed so they would be able to reproduce. Sadly she died:( Since I don't overfeed now that the need to do so is gone, the snails have completely vanished from my tank. It only took 3-4 months.

[Emg]

Yoyo loach don't get very large and they love snails...

sorry if someone already mentioned them...I'm in a hurry and didn't have time to read all the posts... :o

[Beeker]

The chemical method is out, I don't want to mess with that. I can't see how I could put something in the tank that is meant to kill something but yet it won't harm the fish. The lettuce method is out because there are plenty of other plants for them to munch on. The overfeeding thing is uncertain because I could have sworn I was giving them the right amount, but then again, there are plenty of plants to munch on. I need more information on that. Also, I need more information on these fish. :help: :duh: :help: :duh:

[TorturedSOUL]

Skunk botias will eat snails as well. Feed less, frequent water changes, and good algea eaters to outcompete them should keep them under control. I like having a few snails. gives my tanks some depth. Every once in a while I crush the pond snails agianst the glass and watch my angel devour them.

I was going to say the same thing. I like when they chatter.

[phoenix]

I guess I don't understand why you're saying that the lettuce method is out. Are these snails actually eating your plants? Even if they are I think they would still fall for a piece of blanched spinach or lettuce. Mine go around all day eating other things (algae), but as soon as I put any kind of semi-prepared veggie or tablet into the tank they hunt it down and start eating. You've had several good suggestions but if you're not willing to consider/try any of them I don't see an immediate end to your frustration.

[jaylin]

I can't see how I could put something in the tank that is meant to kill something but yet it won't harm the fish.

Some critters are very selective about what they'll eat. They love escargot but won't touch fish. (I'm kinda the same way ... )

[Galaxie]

Snail trap: put an algae tab in a small container with a few 1/4-inch holes. Leave it over night, next day.....pull out a couple dozen snail feasting on the algae tab.

I just take them out of my community tank and put them in with the Oscar. He finds them even if they make it to the substrate.

[Beeker]

I am curious about the Yo-Yo loach and the skunk botias. How big do they get? Any info on how they would co-exist with my other fish? What do you mean by "chatter" when talking about the skunk botias? What type of algea eater is recommended for my tank?

As far as the snail trap goes: what do you do with the snails once you catch them?

A quick bit of history: I ordered Japanese Trapdoor snails. They are wonderful and I will be keeping them. However, one Ramshorn snail was in with the Trapdoors. I didn't think one would cause much of a problem. :duh: Never again. I also bought some plants from my LFS and ended up with a never-ending supply of pond snails. How can I prevent that from happening in the future?

Thank you all for your advice.

[FreddytheFish]

yoyo info- www.loaches.com/species_pages/botia_almorhae.html

skunk info- www.loaches.com/species_pages/botia_morleti.html

[Radek]

What do you mean by "chatter" when talking about the skunk botias?

The botias make clicking noises when they 'interact'. The bigger the botia is, the deeper and louder the click



I also bought some plants from my LFS and ended up with a never-ending supply of pond snails. How can I prevent that from happening in the future?

You could try rinsing the plants and manually removing the snails prior to putting them into the tank. Sure, it'll take some work, but better to do a little work now than a lot more later :D

[Puffernewbee]

Do you know what kind of snails they are? Are they your standard pond snail (ramshorn, the round shell) or are the MTS's (shell looks like a unicorn horn).

[fish_breeder_05]

angels and kribs

[fish_breeder_05]

The botias make clicking noises when they 'interact'. The bigger the botia is, the deeper and louder the click




You could try rinsing the plants and manually removing the snails prior to putting them into the tank. Sure, it'll take some work, but better to do a little work now than a lot more later :D
puffers will do the job, but they are fin bitters so you might want to move the fish to another tank, get a puffer or 2, let them fill up on snails for 2-3 days then trade the puffers back to the store. then yor your infestationmis gone :clap:

[Radek]

puffers will do the job, but they are fin bitters so you might want to move the fish to another tank, get a puffer or 2, let them fill up on snails for 2-3 days then trade the puffers back to the store. then yor your infestationmis gone :clap:

It's been established already in this thread that that's not a great idea

[Beeker]

Do you know what kind of snails they are? Are they your standard pond snail (ramshorn, the round shell) or are the MTS's (shell looks like a unicorn horn).

I want to get rid of the Ramshorns (the round shell) and pondsnails (the unicorn horn shell). I also have Japanese Trapdoor snails, but I want to keep those. Also, it seems like the Ramshorns are occasionally attacking my Japanese Trapdoors and killing them.

Is there a fish that will do the same job that will fit in a 10 gal. tank?

[wataugachicken]

ramshorns have a flat spiraled shell (squint a little - it looks like a ram's horn), pond snails have those rounded oval shells and are speed demons.

why not use the lettuce method, and throw the trapdoor snails back? freeze the rest.

[telecubby]

only get 1 skunl loach though. they are realy cool .I lost one for 2 weeks & thought he jumped but I caght him peeking out of a shell that had the end knocked off it.Never though to look in there b4.. little sneeker.The whole time he was lost in my refugim he was eating all my small snails! True snailer& you dont need a small school of them to do the job.,Skunk loaches, though friendly are intolerant to their own kind(like red tail black sharks)I use one in a much larger tank with 5 zebra loaches & a few black kuhlis a few kuhlis & a few platinum kuhlis .Never had snails but am curious about yoyo loaches wich do a similar job with differant personality(little bigger)I never know how many kuhlis are actualy in there though.