i just got myself a new plant for my 55g mbuna tank and it was infested w/ snails, and i dont know what to do. Should i keep them for a bit of algea control? should i kill them? If so, How? Is there a way to kill em w/o the use of those snail-x chemicals? i heard those can hurt your fish. I don't know what to do. They are kinda cute though, but idk if they are good.
Snails in My Malawi Tank! Help
- Thread starter AlwaysConfused
- Start date
Unless you just don't like them, I'd leave them alone. either way, I wouldn't use snail killers for the reasons you stated.
Snails IMO are awesome. the population explosions you hear about are generally due to less than clean tanks. snails will breed to the level of available food and then stop/slow reproduction. They are IMO underrated for alge control as well, but remeber that algea is the same as excess food for a snail. Any excess food source will result in excess reproduction. I raise snails in a couple of tanks, and it is a constant battle for me to create a population explosion without lowering my maintenance standards. If I back off on food, they quit laying eggs almost immediatly.
dave
Snails IMO are awesome. the population explosions you hear about are generally due to less than clean tanks. snails will breed to the level of available food and then stop/slow reproduction. They are IMO underrated for alge control as well, but remeber that algea is the same as excess food for a snail. Any excess food source will result in excess reproduction. I raise snails in a couple of tanks, and it is a constant battle for me to create a population explosion without lowering my maintenance standards. If I back off on food, they quit laying eggs almost immediatly.
dave
All good info. Plus the mbuna will probably start to eat them if they figure out how tasty they are. Try crushing one snail and leting it float down to the bottom. The fish will eat it pretty quickly.
Yeah mine like to try and eat the snails. They arent always successful but its fun to watch them try..... Snails dont do any harm to the tank and the fish will most likely keep the population in check. If you really wanted you could add a couple clown loaches (veerrrrrry slowly i might add b/c of different water chemistry) that would eat up all the snails.
