Aquarium Snails

[lnasser]

Is there a device or an easy way to get rid of snails in my fish tank?

 

[TMaier]

What kind of snails. Pic plz.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Chest Rockwell]

The best way is assassin snails. I had hundreds of pond snails in all my tanks from transferred media over time, so i bought 3 assassin's and they spawned and over 3-4 months no more pond snails. Now all I have left are maybe about 15 assassin's left which I can easily remove, but I will leave them in there and over time they die off cause of no food.

 

[ICoolGuy]

I also think assassin snail is the way to go but I suggest only getting one.

 

[lnasser]

Thank you. I will try that

 

[TMaier]

The problem with assassin snails is that when they have killed and eaten all of your pest snails, what will they eat? I just don't think I could leave something in my tank and watch it slowly starve to death.

Try to rehome it?


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[ICoolGuy]

Assassin snails eat carnivorous pellets, blood worms and other insects if trained and as far as them consuming an entire population of pest snails it can take several months and if you really wanna keep the assassin snail alive keep some of those pest snails alive maybe in a different container.

 

[TMaier]

Months? Thats a long time to wait to rid yourself of a snail problem.

I use food(lettuce, cucumber, zucchini) on a dish in the tank before lights out at night and in the morning before the lights come on I remove the dish full of snails.



Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Potluck]

Yoyo loaches, i don't know what Size tank you have, you can also sink a few pieces of lettuce, turn your lights off for the night and take the lettuce out the next day be careful as the lettuce will be covered in them don't want to knock them off back in the tank.

Yoyo loaches get up to 6.3 inches and they are schooling so you need 3-6 of them

Sent from my SM-G930P using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[ICoolGuy]

It makes a great addition to your stocking and also requires less manual work and they are amazing to look at while hunting their prey. They are also a permanent solution for the problem.

 

[Coyne]

Manual removal is probably the quickest way. They sell various snail traps online and in some pet stores, but its easy enough to make your own out of a small water bottle. A quick Google or YouTube search will show you how.

You can also just pluck them out with your fingers or planting tweezers. Personally, I'll grab and squish pond/bladder snails and my fish will usually eat the freshly killed meat.

Get Assassin Snails or Loaches if you want to keep that type of animal. Getting rid of pest snails should be a secondary benefit, not the primary reason IMO.

 

[Potluck]

Yeah you also risk trapping your fish, the cheapest safest way is to counter sink lettuce or blanched cucumber /zucchini, and your fish will eat them also, I always blanch mine in prime to make sure there's nothing on or in the veggies, the downfall of this is it clouds the water, not a big deal a small water change will fix that, you can also hand pick which is tedious if you have an abundance, they will never leave as fish eat the eggs and then the eggs come back out in their waste, if you have a bigger tank yoyo loaches eat them, assassin snails eat them but after the snails are gone the Assassin snails will starve (you can't do both assassin snails /loaches loaches eat ALL snails) if you have an abundance of snails like i did hand picking wasn't an option I bought 2 clown loaches which I know i will have to return cause they get way to big for my tank, but if you have a good size tank like 55+ gallons yoyo loaches will be fine.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Buckfins]

What if you have Tiger Nerites AND pond snails? I HATE pond snails and I picked up a couple of hitchhikers somewhere. There aren't bad as I do not over feed but I have picked a few big ones out of my tank so I know they are there and growing. Would assains hurt the Nerites? I have a 60 gal so I may go the route of loaches.

 

[Potluck]

Yes, assassin snails don't feed on flakes ect ect they feed on snails I do believe onky so if you get Assassin snails you can't have any other snails and you can't go with loaches cause they also eat all snails.

Best would be to hand pick the pest snails cause counter sinking lettuce would also attract your nerites.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Feed fish twice a week with non flake foods for about 2 months. I've starved mts to death before, the whole population.

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Potluck]

You don't have to Starve the fish, if you just have a few hand pick them out and all will be well.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[enrgizerbunny]

You don't have to Starve the fish, if you just have a few hand pick them out and all will be well.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Aquarium Advice mobile app

It takes about 2 weeks for most fish to starve to death, so feeding every 4 won't hurt them.

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Potluck]

He only has a few no need

Sent from my SM-G930P using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Buckfins]

I don't think I could feed my fish THAT little....lol. I would feel horrible.

 

[Potluck]

You don't need to, just hand pick the snails is tedious but it works

Sent from my SM-G930P using Aquarium Advice mobile app