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Plague of snails!!!

Joined
5 Feb 2012
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36
Location
Colchester Essex
Is there any sure fire way of getting rid of a plague of snails? Gunna buy some clown loach at the weekend as I have a community tank but I know they won't eat every single one.
 
Is there any sure fire way of getting rid of a plague of snails?

Yes, stop overfeeding and look up into cleaning up possible excess detritus, melting plants, etc.. that they can feed on. Once you resolve that, snails population will diminish to non-noticeable level.
If your tank is minimum 6x2x2, then getting a group of minimum 5 clown loaches is an option. They are extremely social fish and grow large if given a chance in life. If you want to purchase something smaller, then possibly assasin snails is an option.
 
As above, keeping a clean tank is a good way to keep a snail population in check, although some species will go after live plants, so obviously that's no help in that instance.

Please be aware of the requirements of clown loaches - plenty of people get them without realising what a large fish they are, and it's a real crime to see the state some end up in. As mentioned above, assassin snails are a good option (they breed very slowly), or a middle ground would be botia striata.
 
As sciencefiction said feeding less and removing excess food will combat the problem. Do you best to not add livestock to combat the snails unless you can provide the need for them. Clown Loaches as mentioned above are very social and require to be in groups and they can easily grow way over 20cm given proper care so combine that fact with their need of being around its own kind you can start to picture how big a tank you actually need. Assassins are a method to remove the snails but after they're gone you may even need to deliberately get some pest snails to feed them or get some frozen food for them to munch on.

Before trying to add livestock to solve you problem consider manually removing them, I know it may sound tedious but using livestock to resolve this would still take time and coupled with the fact that you got to feed them (they won't survive on snails alone) means you are likely to overfeed again. You could try to make a snail trap by putting some fish food inside a bottle cut in half in you tank on its side at night and you should find it covered with snail within time and then lift the whole thing out.

I have mentioned in another thread but I'll say it again. I keep pest snails in ALL my tanks to eat the potential excess food and therefore clean the tank, yet I don't get any infestations because I don't actually overfeed them and I do remove excess food if my shrimp and fish don't eat all of it but the snails are there just incase i miss some. If I do happen to spot their population increase I will feed less and you should find coupled with manual removal the population will get back to normal.

Michael.
 
I have had very good success with assassin snails... It's takes some time but they will eradicate a tank of pest snails. I have heard of them catching and eating shrimp as well though so be aware of that. Also they leave the shells behind so your water hardness may rise
 
Assasins will feed on detritus in the absence of snails to hunt. I've had them for donkeys years, and never had one eat a shrimp. A small group will be necessary to keep on top of their preys reproduction rate.
 
Assasins worked for me too, put six into my 270l and they keep the pesky snails under control. I think the heat has done some damage to them as well, since the hot weather I've definitely got less. And I've not seen any damage to my shrimp population either.
 
I'd suggest against introducing dwarf puffers, unless you can provide them with a tank of their own. They're not strong swimmers, so require a tank with minimal flow to be comfortable.

You might consider getting a small tank in which to keep them, then drop the snails from you main tank in as food. They're voracious eaters! Water quality is very important.
 
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I'd suggest against introducing dwarf puffers, unless you can provide them with a tank of their own. They're not strong swimmers, so require a tank with minimal flow to be comfortable.

You might consider getting a small tank in which to keep them, then drop the snails from you main tank in as food. They're voracious eaters! Water quality is very important.

My dwarf puffers have decided to start killing the cherry shrimp in their tank :'( Lucky they were all the low grade rejects i moved out the breeding colony. We knew this day would come.
 
I keep mine with cherries. They only pick off the baby shrimp, and leave the adults alone. They're intelligent fish, however, with individual personalities, so you'll never know how they'll interact with other tankmates.
 
+1 for Assassins.
I started with 3 about 2yrs ago, and have since sold on about 40 or 50, (which sounds a lot until you consider they cost nothing to breed), but I rarely see more than 2 or 3 at a time, and in a previous 60Ltank I could take out 30 pest snails every day for a while.
 
Agree with most above.

For your current problem start pulling them out and selling them or donating them here there are always people looking for them.
 
I'd read that Puffers need to be kept in a species tanks. Is that not the case?
Its highly recommended that they be the only species of fish occupying the water column. They are renowned for nipping at the fins of most fish - and they are pretty small so they make a tasty treat for anything with a mouth big enough to accommodate them.

The fact is each puffer needs its own territory to be happy and will nip at any fish that enters it. If your stocking/setup prevents them from establishing their own territory they probably wont nip but they will be sad puffers.
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