You're doing better than me, I have so many problems with ramshorn ID< that I don't even bother keeping the lil' guys. MTS Red and MTS Black are my only monopod companions.happychem said:
We Hates Them My Precious: Snailses
- Thread starter Harlock
- Start date
They breed like crazy in my tank, or at least used to. Although by "crazy" I just mean that there always seems to be a couple dozen visible at any given time.
I've heard that MTS' eat their eggs, but since the ramshorns tend to hang out higer up among the plant leave and floaters and the MTS' rarely leave the bottom few inches of the tank above the substrate, I don't see it as a problem. I can't grab a clump of floating riccia without having a handful of mm sized rhs'.
I've heard that MTS' eat their eggs, but since the ramshorns tend to hang out higer up among the plant leave and floaters and the MTS' rarely leave the bottom few inches of the tank above the substrate, I don't see it as a problem. I can't grab a clump of floating riccia without having a handful of mm sized rhs'.
I have finally been able to grow decent sized rams again. They always used to die off while still small. I added some sea shells to the tank (clam shells) and the rams have been getting much bigger.
I buffer the water with crushed coral since I do the CO2 thing, so I guess they probably benefit some from that.
TPIRman said:
Okay, Okay. All the feedback has helped me decide to allow the snails a chance to prove their worth. I still think they're kind of... ugly, but maybe they'll grow on me. I can always add a loach later. Thanks for all of the feedback and opinions, especially TPIRman for taking the time out for that informative post.
Nice Smeagol will be good to snailses, Yessss.
For now, anyway. *gollum gollum*
Loaches are social fish and they'll be happier in a small group. I'd go with at least 4 if you decide to go that way at some point.
I'm sure the snails have their own virtues.
I'm sticking with the loaches.
I'm sure the snails have their own virtues.
I'm sticking with the loaches.
i despise snails too
i thought that it'd be nice to have them, free food for puffers! but then...the snail pop kept growing, they kept pooing more...eventually i bought 2 loaches
who amazingly, not sure if purposely or not, eat the snails, but not ALL of them to the point that they are extinct in my tank
they seem to eat them at a rate that the pop isn't growing, but in fact remains steady
or maybe its my imagination, or maybe i need more loaches
and its annoying have snails infest your filter
i thought that it'd be nice to have them, free food for puffers! but then...the snail pop kept growing, they kept pooing more...eventually i bought 2 loaches
who amazingly, not sure if purposely or not, eat the snails, but not ALL of them to the point that they are extinct in my tank
they seem to eat them at a rate that the pop isn't growing, but in fact remains steady
or maybe its my imagination, or maybe i need more loaches
and its annoying have snails infest your filter
When I had my 29-gal tank (when I first started live plants) I got a snail infestation. And when I say infestation, I'm talking about the 11th Plague of Egypt. It was ridiculous. It eventually looked like someone had taken a weedwhacker to my tank. I decided that I hated snails and that it was my mission to destroy them all utterly, which is what I tried to do. I removed my fish and a couple of the plants that were still salvageable, and I bombed the tank with Had-a-Snail. It didn't work. I just had super-snails. So I picked them all out and put them down the garbage disposal. Just for good measure, I sold that tank and got a new one.
My 10-gal recently got snails that rode in on some new plants. At first I was flipping out, because I really liked the way the tank was looking (except the algae) and I didn't want to have to take apart another tank the way I had done with the 29-gal. But then I noticed that the snails were consuming the algae, and very quickly at that. So I decided to give them a chance and only annihilate them if the plants started getting chewed on. The snails have recently vanished from the tank (don't know where they went), but not a single leaf was harmed.
As far as clown loaches go, they are very good at eating snails, but do grow a bit big for smaller aquariums. I got a pair of clowns for my 46-gal out of ignorance to their size, but 4 months later the surviving one is still pretty small (3 inches). He hangs out with the cory cats all day. He does, however, have a taste for certain kinds of plants. I thought I had snails in there for the longest time and then I found out it was him snacking on the plants. So I removed his favorite snack (red tiger lotus) and started supplementing him with lettuce pieces, which he devours.
So anyway... sorry for the long post... just wanted to share some snail stories.
My 10-gal recently got snails that rode in on some new plants. At first I was flipping out, because I really liked the way the tank was looking (except the algae) and I didn't want to have to take apart another tank the way I had done with the 29-gal. But then I noticed that the snails were consuming the algae, and very quickly at that. So I decided to give them a chance and only annihilate them if the plants started getting chewed on. The snails have recently vanished from the tank (don't know where they went), but not a single leaf was harmed.
As far as clown loaches go, they are very good at eating snails, but do grow a bit big for smaller aquariums. I got a pair of clowns for my 46-gal out of ignorance to their size, but 4 months later the surviving one is still pretty small (3 inches). He hangs out with the cory cats all day. He does, however, have a taste for certain kinds of plants. I thought I had snails in there for the longest time and then I found out it was him snacking on the plants. So I removed his favorite snack (red tiger lotus) and started supplementing him with lettuce pieces, which he devours.
So anyway... sorry for the long post... just wanted to share some snail stories.
