What eats snails?

[F1shkeeper]

I have a small tank in wich my big snail keeps popping out babies pretty much every day. I was hoping you guys could tell me what kind of fish is a good community fish that eats snails?

[BeelzeBob]

my dwarf puffer kills them relentlessly.
but puffers are generally pissed, and just nip at everything.

[born2lovefish]

Clown loaches eat snails. I have also heard that most loaches do.

[DeputyChiefJR]

I eat snails, sauteed in garlic butter

[Dangerdoll]

small tank as in"how small". When hearing the words "small tank", clown loaches do not come to mind due to them needing larger tanks.... they get big and need lots of room. With a small tank, you might be interested in FW Dwarf Puffers...BUT before deciding on those, it's important to know what else is already in the tank...

[patoloco]

French people eat snails... but they call them scargot.

Considering you have no agressive fish in there, mrobably kuhli loaches could be a good adition, but we really need to know how big and what else is in the tank

[savo318]

i have a small tank and so brought a clown loach, ihave two now, but the good news is my snail epidemic is no more. go for the clowns they eat snails and are great characters to have in your tank

[Dangerdoll]

I will say it again, clown loaches do NOT belong in a small tank. These fish max out at approximately 12 inches, maybe a smidgeon under. When you say small tank, "how small" are we talking?

[Roan Art]

I echo DD: clown loaches do NOT belong in a small tank. 75g MINIMUM.

IME kuhlii loaches do not eat snails. I have three that have never touched a snail in my 36g. I take the snails out of there and feed them to my clowns in the 75g.

Roan

[wesleydnunder]

Some kuhli loaches will eat snails. Mine do.

Mark

[Roan Art]

Some kuhli loaches will eat snails. Mine do.

Mark
Maybe mine are too well fed then? :) Dunno. All I know is that I have a 36g with three kuhliis and a crapload of pond snails and MTS. The MTS can stay, but I have to take the pond snails out. The 75g with clowns has snail shells all over the bottom of the tank.

What kind of kuhliis do you have? The stripey kind or the blackish ones?

Roan

[wesleydnunder]

I have the striped ones. A month after I planted my 125 the tank was covered in those little pond snails. Literally hundreds. It seemed like they multiplied daily. About three weeks ago I added six kuhlis that had been in quarantine since I planted the tank. I was gonna add 'em anyway as I love to watch them slither thru the glosso. Since introduction I have maybe 3 dozen left scattered around the tank and little empty snail shells on the bottom. The smoking gun came a week or ten days ago when I actually saw one of them sucking on the opening of a shell. Too bad the little suckers don't eat staghorn algae.

Mark

[thesydmonster]

I have to chime in with you all and agree that clowns don't belong in small tanks.

I have kuhli loaches in my 29 gallon tank, the striped and black ones, with red ramshorn snails and they don't seem to eat them. They also don't bother my tiny red cherry shrimp. My botia striata (zebra loaches) do eat snails quite well though and only grow to about 3" but are VERY active.

[NeedlsslyComplx]

My personal, all time favorite snail killer is the pufferfish.

If your fish tank is swarming in snails, drop in one puffer fish. Remove the next morning, because by then, the snails will all be eaten.

While there are snails, the puffer fish (in my personal experience) will ignore the other fish. They will also patrol your live plants like mad looking for baby snails. They will eat snails as big as they are.

MTS warning - If you have Malaysian Trumpet Snails, their shells are too tough for puffers once they're older. I hate MTS, and never buy plants from any store that has MTS in their tanks. The really big ones, if I remember right, also have a trapdoor that prevents clown loaches from eating them.

But, quick list from my experience:

What I have kept in a community tank:
Bettas (some)
Firemouth Cichlid (These can get... 5-8" I think)
Puffers (Are curious, and have no hands. Thus, instead of touching everything, they bite everything. Can be hypnotized with a stopwatch to obey your plans for world domination.)
Red Clawed Crabs (Can be ok with a community tank, if no one is sleeping on the bottom, though I never personally had a problem.)

Not community safe:
Crayfish (will also eat your plants, your fish... your wallet.. but they make really cool dens)
Piranahs (Not community tank safe, generally)
Oscar (Way to big, and bulky, for a small tank.)

[Joseph1391]

Yoyo loaches like to eat snails.. My sister in law has a chanel cat fish and he likes to eat snails..

[joephys]

Isn't it generally Botia loaches that eat snails? Clowns, skunk and yo yo loaches, (which btw, skunk and yo yo stay under 6 inches). There are others, but I think these are the most common.

[Joseph1391]

well i guess if you have a small tank a chanel cat fish is not a good choice.. sorry about that.. i just now read that it was a smaller tank

[Dangerdoll]

when I had my 55 gallon, I had a nice school of skunks that kept the tank under snail control too, but I've heard that they could be troublesome and I my guess is that's probably correct however, I've never had the problem myself.... though my tank was fully loaded with plants and caves.... so I rarely saw them in the open none the less picking on other fish.