Hi all,
I'm very happy to have my 125L planted tank running for a few months. I have a few concerns regarding my Snail and Guppy populations which are growing rapidly and wondered what peoples advice would be regards controlling them.
First the snails, they are spotted ramshorn snails, I added three adults and they do a good job of eating algae that the fish don't take care of. Problem is, in the past week I started seeing some babies and now I suddenly have an explosion of them. I haven't counted but there must easily be 50+ small snails all over the place. What's the best way to control but not completely eliminate them? I was thinking of getting Assasin snails but without having any experience I'm not sure how many I would need, whether I would have a similar population problem with them if I have more than one, etc? Would appreciate some experienced guidance on this.
Second the Guppies. It's really nice to have livebearers, my wife an I both like to see the fry swiming around, we only have one batch of fry at the moment (approx 10 of them) but I can forsee issues with overpopulaton if the 4 females we have keep popping out 10+ babies each every month. I see my options as being:
1) Introduce a predator or predators. My preference would be a pair of golden rams but I would consider a single or pair of angles if the rams would be ineffective at controlling the guppies (particularly while the rams are young). We want some fry to survive but don't want to be over-run. Also have concerns either of these would eradicate the cherry shrimp from the tank, I put two of my cherry shrimp in my 40L tank a few months ago which is home to a single ram. Haven't seen the shrimp since although some baby red shrimp have appeared so perhaps they just went in to hiding.
2) Remove the male guppies. This would be a shame as they are attractive. I also understand the females store sperm so can keep popping out little miracles for up to 6 months without males being present. So this doesn't seem like a good solution.
3) Keep a dedicated tank for the excess guppys and sell them on eBay. Not sure what would be required for heat-sealed brethable bags so that I can safely post them without leaks or deaths if the delivery is delayed for a day or two. Perhaps a lot more hassle than it's worth given how cheap guppies are.
Would really appreciate your input.
Thanks.
I'm very happy to have my 125L planted tank running for a few months. I have a few concerns regarding my Snail and Guppy populations which are growing rapidly and wondered what peoples advice would be regards controlling them.
First the snails, they are spotted ramshorn snails, I added three adults and they do a good job of eating algae that the fish don't take care of. Problem is, in the past week I started seeing some babies and now I suddenly have an explosion of them. I haven't counted but there must easily be 50+ small snails all over the place. What's the best way to control but not completely eliminate them? I was thinking of getting Assasin snails but without having any experience I'm not sure how many I would need, whether I would have a similar population problem with them if I have more than one, etc? Would appreciate some experienced guidance on this.
Second the Guppies. It's really nice to have livebearers, my wife an I both like to see the fry swiming around, we only have one batch of fry at the moment (approx 10 of them) but I can forsee issues with overpopulaton if the 4 females we have keep popping out 10+ babies each every month. I see my options as being:
1) Introduce a predator or predators. My preference would be a pair of golden rams but I would consider a single or pair of angles if the rams would be ineffective at controlling the guppies (particularly while the rams are young). We want some fry to survive but don't want to be over-run. Also have concerns either of these would eradicate the cherry shrimp from the tank, I put two of my cherry shrimp in my 40L tank a few months ago which is home to a single ram. Haven't seen the shrimp since although some baby red shrimp have appeared so perhaps they just went in to hiding.
2) Remove the male guppies. This would be a shame as they are attractive. I also understand the females store sperm so can keep popping out little miracles for up to 6 months without males being present. So this doesn't seem like a good solution.
3) Keep a dedicated tank for the excess guppys and sell them on eBay. Not sure what would be required for heat-sealed brethable bags so that I can safely post them without leaks or deaths if the delivery is delayed for a day or two. Perhaps a lot more hassle than it's worth given how cheap guppies are.
Would really appreciate your input.
Thanks.
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