snails

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Kerbchek

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Mar 20, 2008
Messages
30
Location
Iowa
Hi,
Maybe this question should be posted somewhere else, or has already been asked... What's the best way to get rid of pesty little snails that have COMPLETELY overtaken my 55 gallon community tank...

Are there snail killer chemical that anyone recommends... I rarely put medicines in my tank unless I absolutely need to. My fear with not using a chemical is that even if I completely empty the tank and scrub everything, I'll somehow miss some eggs and they'll end up being right back in there...

Is there a community fish (that gets along well with gouramis, red tailed sharks (or rainbow sharks... can't remember what they are), tiger barbs, a pretty big common pleco, buenus aries, and a few rainbow fish...) that will eat snails.

I've been pulling snails out and adding to my dwarf puffer tank and in with my synodontis eupters... they seem to enjoy the snack... but I don't want all the snails in that 55 gal. anymore...

Thanks...
 
Manual removal is a good method, bait the snails with lettuce or zucini and after lights out for awhile, turn them back on and they should cover the food so you can remove many of them. Its a lot of work. Also remove any that you see or squish them against the glass. I was lucky that I had a few when I got new plants and I started squishing them, ended up killing ~30 of them and have not seen any in 2 weeks.

But since they are all over its going to take some work on your part.

The chemicals that kill the snails have coper and will harm any inverts and last a LONG LONG time in your tank so even putting inverts in 1 year later may not work.

Loaches are great at eating snails, you may be able to add a couple and then after the snails are all gone sell them back to the LFS.
 
Loaches are great at eating snails, you may be able to add a couple and then after the snails are all gone sell them back to the LFS.

Thanks, when you say "loaches" are you refering to clown loaches? I've been wanting to get some - I've seen where people have had them successfully with Frontosa... which is the tank I was going to put them in. If clown loaches will work with my community fish, I could buy some, then when the snails are gone, put the clown loaches in with my fronts...

...or would it not be advisable to put clown loaches in with the gouramis & other mellow guys I have...??

Thanks again.
 
Yes Clown loaches, I dont know much about them or the compatibility w/ other fish and they do get big, wait for an expert to post more insight on this. but they clean up snail populations very fast.
 
ok, thank... yes, I heard they get big, the tank I was considering getting them for is 135 gallons - I also heard they like to be in groups of at least 3... I wonder if anyone else has had experience putting Clown Loaches with other cichlids... I should post that in a different section....

thanks.
 
Also Yo-Yo loaches are smaller and eat snails so that is an option also, but seems that if you can get small clown's then when the snails are gone you can move them into the 135G. It may be a good idea to start a small 5G or so tank just for snails so you can feed the puffer and loaches, you could put some RCS(red cherry shrimp) in there also so it would not be just a snail tank.
 
Some wrasses and hermits and reduceing any and all algea sources.
 
I highly recommend getting yo-yo loaches. They are the BEST snails eater I have seen. I purchased several when my 29 gallon tank was overrun by snails and in less than a week there were no visible snails remaining! For a 55 gallon tank I'd recommend at least 3 of them. Clown loaches are good for snails too but they will get larger and will eventually need a bigger tank but if you were planning on putting them in a 135 eventually that'd be fine instead of the yo-yos.
 
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