Any ideas for snail eating fish

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ggrowney

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Apr 8, 2006
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I have a planted 12g bow tank with 2 corys and 3 neons. I have a snail population that just appeared (over 4 weeks after last plant was added?? who knew). I don't mind the, but thought it might be neat to use them as a food source. I have read about some loaches that like them. Is there anything appropriate for a 12g setup?
 
Lots of loaches grow to be pretty big and like to swim in shoals. You could try bengal loaches but they do get to be 4 to 5 inches big.
 
Upside down catfish might eat snails. I had loads of snails in my tank and since adding a marbled synodontis (relative of upside down cats) they all seem to have gone, except my 2 dwarf apple snails.
 
You are already close to your bioload capacity. I'd stay away from loaches considering the size of your setup.

Snails are not that bad. If you don't overfeed, thay will not reproduce so fast.
 
Originally posted by patoloco
You are already close to your bioload capacity. I'd stay away from loaches considering the size of your setup.
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Loaches will get too big for your tank and overload the bioload, but otherwise you are nowhere near to the bioload capacity of a 12gal with 2 cories and 3 neons. Other than upside down cats? and dwarf puffers (which you should not get for a community tank anyway), most snail-eating fish get too big for a 12gal. You could try a betta, as they are reported to sometimes eat snails. If I were you, don't get a fish to eat the snails and instead get some more cories and neons, as they like being in groups.
 
My guppies eat snails when they are babies... >.> They just slurp them up shell and all ..

They only get'em when they're very small but i've noticed a dramatic drop in snails since introducing a male and two females. They also eat algae :o
 
To get rid of them without getting a "snail eater" just put a peice of lettuce in there overnight and in the morning they should be all over it. Then just remove the lettuce. Keep doing that and eventually you will have a managable amount of snails. If you dont overfeed after that, you shouldnt have a problem with them taking over the tank.
 
jodimartin2003 said:
To get rid of them without getting a "snail eater" just put a peice of lettuce in there overnight and in the morning they should be all over it. Then just remove the lettuce. Keep doing that and eventually you will have a managable amount of snails. If you dont overfeed after that, you shouldnt have a problem with them taking over the tank.
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I don't have a freakish amount of snails, but they are pest snails and do bother me a bit - especially since I no longer have any live plants and the snails have been living in there for years now since hitching a ride. I'm going to try that lettuce bit. I try to pick them out when I do water changes, but for some reason the majority of the snails seem to go into hiding right around that time...
 
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