"Clean Up Crew" options

[redruckus]

i have a 40gal tall lightly planted pirahna tank that i recently moved because of renovations to my house but i have been thinking about this for a long time.. what would be some good live tank cleaners that i could put with pirahnas i recently went to my trusted LFS and got about 30 small ramshorn and common snails. i put them in the tank I havent see a single one of them, but see a few empty shells on the bottom of the tank. the first day or 2 a few of them wer at the surface but later in the day seen them going back down the glass and havent seen them since. i was wondring what would be some other options for a good clean up crew because i do bi-monthly water changes and have a good filter but i know ther are little bits of food that i cant scoop out of the tank. would some kind of shrimp be a good option or would they just end up being expencive food?

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Malaysian Trumpet Snails.

I think you will see your other snails again though, they need a bit of time to breed, etc (if they aren't all dead already).

 

[redruckus]

will the malaysian trumpet snails do good in softer water? i think mine is around 6.5 last time i checked..from what i read the like hard water like 7.5+.. also they will seek out and eat little bits of what ever cheep cut of meat that the pirahnas dont eat and eat it and not mow down on marimo algae, java moss, and java fern that im actualy sucessfuly growing in my tank dispite priahnas being notorious for destroying all plants not floating

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Yeah I don't think you'll have any water or food-finding issues with MTS. I have them in my Oscar tank for anything the Oscars and Silver Dollars miss. They get everything.

 

[redruckus]

i was thinking assassin snails because i knew they eat meat instead of plant matter but they are imposible to find where i live so im porbably going to aquabid on some MTS i seen some nice coloured ones on ther the other day

 

[Morgie]

MTS constantly dig around in the substrate so you probably won't see them too much.
Also just as a warning common and ramshron snails will eat your plants if your tank is planted.
And be careful! Snails can easily overrun a tank because they are both hermaphroditic and prolific breeders.
Shrimp would probably be tasty snacks for your fish.
If you want to go for a vertebrate clean up crew corydoras are probably the best, they get along with pretty much every type of fish but I'm not too sure about piranhas.

 

[redruckus]

ya ive tryed with a larger pleco but they ate it so i didnt even bother trying again that and it made soo much waste i needed to clean the tank almost every 3rd day ther was soo much poo on the bottom of the tank.. i dont mind scooping out a bunch of snails if it gets over run i have another 15gal comunity tank with a clown loach in it so it would be glad to get a snack..... will the ramshorns will eat the java fern, java moss and marimo algae?

 

[Morgie]

I doubt the algae would be eaten, but I had some common snails (accidentally) introduced to my five gallon planted tank and they completely destroyed one of my plants. Thankfully I've gotten them under control by now. You could probably research the ramshorns a bit more to see how picky they are with vegetation.

 

[redruckus]

from what ive read about rams horns the are ok with plants i know common snails are a big nucance i bough a bunch of indian fern as floating plant and they anialated it with in 2 weeks i dont think they eat java moss and java fern because it is a harder leafed plant as for marimo algea i have no idea

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Also just as a warning common and ramshron snails will eat your plants if your tank is planted.

I only had that experience with Ramshorns when they were starving.

They also bred according to the food levels available.

 

[Katorin]

Only time i have ever seen my snails eating the plants, are the dead or dying leaves. If the leaves are health, snails will leave them alone.

If you are concerned about snails breeding, get nerite snails, instead, they will leave little eggs all over the place, but the eggs need salt water to develop so no additions to the tank. They also do amazing with many different algae