Lots of snails in my guppy tank.. how can I eat them?

F

fishmonger

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Sep 6, 2006
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Hello,

I have lots of tiny snails in my tank (at first my dad thought it would be a good idea since they eat algae) but now the snail population outnumbers the guppys and it's really nasty to look at.

I hear clown loaches are good as a snail control, but seeing them at the LFS they don't seem very "anti-snail" like.. do they really eat them and if so, where are their teeth!? Any other suggestions on how to control my snail infestation or what eats these buggers?
 
No clown loaches...they need large tanks...180 gallons+. Its generally not a good idea to get any fish JUST to control snails anyways/

Simpley place a leaf of lettuce or a slice of cucumber in overnight. In the morning they should be all over it. Then just take it out and dispose of them.
 
jpappy789 said:
No clown loaches...they need large tanks...180 gallons+. Its generally not a good idea to get any fish JUST to control snails anyways/

Simpley place a leaf of lettuce or a slice of cucumber in overnight. In the morning they should be all over it. Then just take it out and dispose of them.
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But my pleco will eat the lettuce and I also have mouse fishes..
 
Place a slice of cucumber in the tank. Wait an hour or 2 and remove the slice and all the snails that are on it. By removing them in large numbers you can get the current population under control. If you reduce your feeding so that there is no left overs in the tank, the remaining ones won't breed totally out of control and they will be easy to control. Restricting feed is the best and most reliable form of control short of poisoning the tank.
Snails and most other invertebrates are very sensitive to copper. If you use a copper snail killing compound, they will be controlled but you will not be able to ever use the tank for any inverts. In my opinion, that is just too drastic a measure.
 
Yea and i dont reccomend the copper.. nothing smells worse than a dead snail... or 200 dead snails.

Just control feeding.
 
SpockthePuffer said:
If you happen to be in Pittsburgh, PA I will take them for my puffer! lol
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I have a GSP in my other tank, I didn't know puffers eat snails b/c I used to own 4 other GSPs and fed them snails and they all died. Their bums looked like it was constipated so I assumed it was the snails I fed them and they couldn't digest it. Now my little puffy only eats bloodworms and he's doing great!

I'll try the lettuce idea, but I suspect it won't work as my monster pelco will eat it before the snails. By mouse fish, I was referring to these guys. (my sister calls them mouse fish, b/c they look like mice and run around like them too!)

According to wiki:

Clown loaches are also regarded as a natural way of controlling an infestation of small snails in the aquarium. This being said, a person considering them for this purpose must also consider their future needs with regard to a large aquarium. A person getting clowns to remove snails in a smaller tank might be better served with one of the many other botia species that are as effective at the task but remain much smaller. Despite that utilitarian purpose, clown loaches are usually kept for reasons of appearance and personality.
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What other species is this article referring to? I'm interested. :)
 
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