Ramshorns OUT OF CONTROL!

stephybabe88

stephybabe88

AC Members
Aug 8, 2010
502
1
18
Texas
A few months ago I decided to give live plants a go for the first time. I ordered several different types from someone on here. After I got them, I split them between my two tanks. To my surprise I found two hitchhikers. One of them was a ramshorn and the other was a more pointed version.

Shortly after, the ramshorn started breeding like mad! At first I thought it was kind of cool. However, now they OUT OF CONTROL! There are probably a hundred or more in each tank and they are destroying my plants.

I have done some research on here, and I am planning on getting some zucchini and getting most of them out, but I am concerned about what I do with it after I take it out of the tank covered in snails. It seems so mean to just throw it away. Wont they suffer?? This is what has stopped me from doing it sooner, but they are just destroying everything, so I need to get them out. Any suggestions?

Also, any suggestions for the eggs left behind? One of the tanks has 2 dario dario and a couple ghost shrimp. The other is a community tank with no other inverts in it.
 
Get some assasain snails, they will wipe all of the snails out eventually and it would be "humane". You only need 2-3 per tank and they should take care of it, it might take awhile. It is possible for them to breed in freshwater, but you'll only get a couple of babies.

Good luck!
 
Feed less they can't reproduce if they starve. You also need to freeze them before you throw them out. If you shipped I would gladly take them off your hands.
 
Agreed that overfeeding will make a snail infestation worse, but c'mon. You could feed absolutely nothing, to the point where the fish starve, and the snails would still be happily munching along and breeding to beat the band. They have done so for millions of years in the wild and will continue to do so in your tanks.

Anything that breeds heavily and lacks a predator will get out of control. Use the zuchinni 'n' freezer method (or ship them to Ratlova! :) ) but accept that you will probably have to repeat the process every few months. Same reason they travel on even the most carefully inspected plants, you can never find every single egg and it only takes one to restart the process.

(At least I had only one extremely tiny MTS come in with some baby shrimp of all things, and now I have quite a few of them. They will have sex as adults but seem capable of reproducing without it if necessary.)
 
Destroying plants? Always thought Ramshorn and Pond Snails tended to be plant-safe. I know my wild Apple Snail will rip apart any plant/vegetable I put in the QT tank, but never had a problem with Ramshorn, Pond Snails, or MTS hurting plants. Sounds like overfeeding isn't a big problem if they are going after plants.

You can basically;
1. Sell/give them away. Puffer owners (that haven't set up their own breeding colonies) are always looking for snails.
1a. Set up a puffer tank and be happy that you don't have to go through the trouble of creating a snail breeding colony. :D
2. Destroy/dispose of them. If it doesn't gross you out a whole lot you can squish them in the tank. Think of it as a treat for the fish.
 
user_name said:
Get some assasain snails, they will wipe all of the snails out eventually and it would be "humane". You only need 2-3 per tank and they should take care of it, it might take awhile. It is possible for them to breed in freshwater, but you'll only get a couple of babies.

Good luck!
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Adding stock to control a maintenance issue is never a good thing to do. I had a 30 gallon tank that was a spixi snail breeding ground, I added 4 assassins and a year later I now have a 30 gallon assassin breeding tank. From those 4 they completely wiped out a tank of about 200 spixis and I am now feeding them rams horn from another tank. They do reproduce they just take a little longer to get going than most.

Feed less and up your gravel cleaning and you will see a dramatic decrease in their numbers.
 
I have a puffer tank, and I also have 4 other tanks which are completely overrun w/ ramshorns, to the point that I believe theyare somehow contributing to the damage of my beloved colored apple snails. I've been feeding them to the puffers, but had trouble keeping the population down because alot of them were too big for the puffers to eat, and I didn't have the heart to smush them to feed them to the puffers. That changed like 3 days ago. If they would've been smaller,I would've fed them to the puffers a long time ago, and the puffers would have smushed them, anyway. It doesn't feel so nasty if you crush them while they are under the water in the tank you're feeding them to. Hey, it's either them or the apple snails, and they were bought as a food source to begin with. I spent way more on the briggs, anyway, so I just suck it up, put on my big girl panties, and smush 'em,lol
 
I also thought the ramshorn were cool... in the beginning. Now I vacuum them up and throw them out with the old water. I'm getting rid of ALL of them. Looks like the mts are getting overpopulated too. Sigh...
 
I agree with mass evacuation, a lot of assassin snail breeders need ample amounts monthly. I being one >_<.
 
alot of them were too big for the puffers to eat
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Just crush them, so the puffers can get at the meat. There are tons of folks who would buy them from you at my forum. Put an ad in the Classifieds.
 
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