Snailsplosion!

[aseradyn]

I thought I'd share this, because it just makes me giggle every time I see the tank. Went from maybe a dozen large-ish snails to approximately 3 bazillion tiny ones almost overnight. Good thing the snails are aquatic, else they'd have taken over the house!

No mystery why: I've been over-feeding this tank big time. I got some new corys about a month back, and they've been refusing to eat anything I put in the tank, including flakes, pellets, wafers, and assorted frozen foods. So I started dropping food in right before I turned off the lights for the night... and apparently the snails ate well when my back was turned The corys are getting skinny and slow, but are finally starting to pick at what I offer, so hopefully the food will start ending up in the fish instead of as snail food!

 

[TMaier]

Wow that's a lot of snails.

 

[rileymc]

How long did it take for the snails to breed, lay eggs, and hatch?

 

[aseradyn]

I honestly don't know. I saw the population explode about 3 weeks after I started intentionally over-feeding. It wouldn't surprise me if they always lay a lot of eggs and I'm just seeing the results now because there's enough food for them all to survive.

 

[Brookster123]

You're laughing now.. Wait until they grow. You won't be able to see into the tank!

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[gilpi]

I would siphon them out asap.

 

[TMaier]

When this happened to me last March I had to tear the tank apart. Kept all the water, plants, rocks and my canister media.

Cleaned the tank and salted/boiled the substrate. Removed the dead bodies and rebuilt the tank checked everything for eggs. Then for 2 months did a dawn search for youngsters.

 

[aseradyn]

When I've had population surges in the past, cutting down the food supply has brought the population back to reasonable levels without any work from me. I don't see any reason this one should be different. I've no interest in exterminating them - I like snails.

I'm probably a bit weird in that I intentionally introduce certain types of snails and algae into new tanks. I like what they bring to an aquarium, aesthetically and functionally. I will never have a perfectly manicured, Amano-esque tank, no, but that's not really my style, anyway.

 

[TMaier]

I have 2 tanks dedicated to snails. One for ramshorns and another for mystery. Controlling the snailsplosions is a full time vigil.

 

[Toad]

When I've had population surges in the past, cutting down the food supply has brought the population back to reasonable levels without any work from me. I don't see any reason this one should be different. I've no interest in exterminating them - I like snails.

I'm probably a bit weird in that I intentionally introduce certain types of snails and algae into new tanks. I like what they bring to an aquarium, aesthetically and functionally. I will never have a perfectly manicured, Amano-esque tank, no, but that's not really my style, anyway.

It's ok, I actually PUT pond snails in my tank so I understand lol. Although the mts are the real kings of the tank. I'd love some ramshorns since they say they are good for plants (had a mystery snail that would literally mow the top six inches of jungle val :/ so did not like that) but they're illegal to sell in my state now

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[omni024]

Reasons why I keep yoyo loaches mine go nuts when they see a snail of any type lol

 

[schpanky]

Ha!!! SNAILSPLOSION!!! Best thread title ever!!! BEST.

 

[aseradyn]

It's been about a month since the Great Snail Explosion of 2017, and in that time I've fed my fish normally - that is to say, not greatly over-feeding as I had been in my effort to get the corys to eat. They're eating eagerly now, and the snails have been deprived of a major food source.

Here's the result:



Far fewer live snails, though quite a lot of empty shells. The KH in this tank is a few degrees lower than the tap water, though, so I'll probably just leave the shells to slowly become plant food.

Also, I guess it's time to learn how to properly trim my plants!