please gimme your moral input here

[tropicfishman]

ok, my old ramshorn snail I had that I named FFFFFrederick..yes its spelkled that way..liek a purr lol anywyas lol I got rid of him becuase he would uproot my plants. I gave him to my cousin and he put out a ton of babies in her tank...more than she wants! so I was thinking of catching the little critters, about 10 or so, and taking them to my clown loaches as a snack. Does this seem cruel? she's just gonna flush them, I don't have anything big enough to riase them or I would, my 29 is full, the plecos have the 10 gallon for now, and I have small 2.5 gallon coming in I want to use for bettas. iono I just feel kinda bad for killing such a small cute little critter, but I know my loachs would love them...this is a bummer

 

[SparKy697]

I just don't see the problem. This is the way the natural world works.

Unless you are a vegetarian, the meat you are eating was once an animal that somebody would likely view as "cute".

Have you ever read the labels on your fish food? Odds are that there are little critters mixed into the formula somewhere already.

Bon Appetite

 

[kickeralpine]

do it them snails mate like rabbits anyways iv removed over 200 from my tank so far lol its better the flushing them

 

[kennef]

snails are indeed useful as food for loaches, its not a moral dilemma unless you make it one.

 

[plecoperson]

From the biggest sap in the world:

Feed 'em to the loaches!

They make short work of the snails, and it's kinder than flushing them. If there are future unwanted snails that your loaches can't handle, freezing is the better option for snails.

Bon appetit indeed-

 

[Devilishturtles]

I don't see the harm in feeding them to your loaches either. Nice tasty snack.

 

[kansei]

Feed the loaches - they deserve it

 

[courtnee]

Maybe this will help you.

I am a BIG TIME snail lover. I think they are the greatest thing. I love apple snails (just one) = no babies to stress over what to do.

I let my daughter get a little black snail, how bad can it be right? She goes missing and the next thing I know when I take a REALLY good look in my tank I have TONS and I mean TONS of these TINY snails. OMG!

I thought about it a few days and decided I can't let it go on. I cant flush them and well ..... I became the proud mom of Clown Loaches.

I felt bad putting them in there at first. I got over it pretty fast though and love the big apple snail I do have and spoil. I could of flushed them or what not but in the end

I let nature take its course.

Loaches are fat and happy.
My tank is not infested with snails

 

[LandGhoti]

From the vegetarian point of view (mine ), feed them to the loaches! It's nature.

 

[severum mama]

I also am mostly vegetarian, but I can tell you that my loaches LOVE snaily snacks!

Here's how I look at it: You have to do something with the snails, otherwise they will just take over your tank. If you have to get them out of there anyway, then at least something good comes out of it by feeding your loaches, versus flushing or freezing. My SA/CA tank loves them too.

 

[Zagz]

I agree feed them to the loaches. It's food to the loaches and it solves the snail population problem.

 

[tropicfishman]

I've jsut never fed anything live food lol I'm going to do it though..thansk for the encouragement !

 

[cabezon]

I had a huge snail problem until I got a yo yo loach, then I had a huge yo yo. now I raise snails to keep the yoyo happy. he will eat as many as I put in.

It's not morality, it's their food. I am respectful of the animals that I eat, but it's life.

 

[coldmachineUK]

I had a huge snail problem until I got a yo yo loach, then I had a huge yo yo. now I raise snails to keep the yoyo happy. he will eat as many as I put in.

It's not morality, it's their food. I am respectful of the animals that I eat, but it's life.

I totally agree! Well said, especially the last part (I'm an ex-vegetarian but only because I ended up unhealthy and unwell on my veggie diet lol)

Loaches love snails, and I regularly feed snails to my puffers too, it's just part of the way things work. I'm not sure I would ever keep a fish that was a piscivore and needed live feeder fish, but that's just my personal view: I wouldn't criticise someone for having a piscivore.