Anything I can do about these snails...?

  • Get the NEW AquariaCentral iOS app --> http://itunes.apple.com/app/id1227181058 // Android version will be out soon!

Toro Driver

AC Members
May 9, 2003
144
0
0
58
Minnesota
Visit site
We have three red claw crabs in our fifty five gallon. We get snails eggs on occasion with new plants. The snails never make it a day. The red claws crunch them into nothing as fast as they can hatch. If you have a large snail like my rams horn or an apple snail they're two big to be bothered by the crabs. A crab will use your large snails as an elevator to the top of the tank if given the chance though.
 

bizzy928

AC Members
Mar 12, 2003
85
0
0
Visit site
Originally posted by Toro Driver
We have three red claw crabs in our fifty five gallon. We get snails eggs on occasion with new plants. The snails never make it a day. The red claws crunch them into nothing as fast as they can hatch. If you have a large snail like my rams horn or an apple snail they're two big to be bothered by the crabs. A crab will use your large snails as an elevator to the top of the tank if given the chance though.

Do you give your red claw crabs air space to breath?
 

Innes

AC Members
May 28, 2003
13
0
0
41
piranha-fury.com
snails cannot survive in acidic waters - if you can slowly lower your pH to about 6.5 (assuming your fish can handel this, I don't know what you have) they should soon die off - then you can slowly raise the pH again
 

bizzy928

AC Members
Mar 12, 2003
85
0
0
Visit site
Originally posted by Innes



In my experiance you don't need to as they are great climbers and will find a way to the surface even if they climb a filter or a heater wire
As long as they can get out :)

Some aren't good climbers and you need to assist them every so often.
 

ChilDawg

Math is sexy.
Dec 26, 2002
4,249
0
36
42
Byron and Normal (IL)
hometown.aol.com
Originally posted by Innes
snails cannot survive in acidic waters - if you can slowly lower your pH to about 6.5 (assuming your fish can handel this, I don't know what you have) they should soon die off - then you can slowly raise the pH again
I was all ready to disprove this, because it just sounded ludicrous, but I can't...except in one case. MTS may survive bouts of acidic water...the die-off which may or may not happen is related to the inability to properly grow and maintain their shells in acidic water (from what I've found) so it seems as though you might need to do this for a longer period of time...that could be stressful to any fish to have the level of acidity changed threefold or more for an extended period of time and then reversed.
 

Tim Bo

Does fuzzy logic tickle?
Apr 11, 1999
333
0
16
Copenhagen, Denmark
hjem.get2net.dk
I wouldn't recommend fiddling with the pH at first...try the above mentioned possibilities first. Too many snails is also partly a sign that there is 'enough' food for them to live off; increased snail populations represent an imbalance in the tank, so you also might want to try slightly decreasing what you feed the other tankmates. Excess flakes etc. will be munched on by the snails.
 
Last edited:
zoomed.com
hikariusa.com
aqaimports.com
Store