Dang, I found snails... now what?

[jimenezlee]

Let the snail wars begin!

I just ordered a bunch of assassin snails to help me fight off the invaders... lol

It will be fun seeing these annoying critters running for their lives! If I catch a good scene I will try to post a vid. Now I don't want to keep catching any of them to make sure the assassins have plenty of food. Which I don't think will be a problem, I believe the pond snails had a mating event in my tank last weekend and I saw literally hundreds of larvae up and down my tank walls.

 

[jetajockey]

I put a dozen assassins in one of my tanks that was overrun with pond snails and it really didn't put much of a dent into the population until I started removing them manually. They seem to spend most of their time buried in the substrate but they definitely help with population control.

 

[jimenezlee]

Yea, the guy I'm getting them from said a dozen would take about a year to control the population in my 55 gal... Jeezz... now I know why people don't like them.

 

[Philly33]

Get a Yo Yo loach. Gets to 6" max. I bought one for my son's 10g that had 30+ snails. In 3 days all gone. Once big enough the Yo Yo will join my 90g.

 

[becrac16]

I have had issues with snails as well, ever since some hitched a ride from a plant to my tank. I freaked out about them too the first time I saw them, but none of them grew to be anything near full size. They almost all died (snails prosper off of dying plant matter and overfeeding) but every once in a while a new crop will spring up, usually after I am gone for a while and the automatic feeder takes over.

I am glad I didn't order any assasin snails, because they will all die if you just don't overfeed and take out any dying plants. And they're always a good reminder if I am overfeeding. When I start to see a bunch of new little ones, I know that I'm feeding too much and to cut back, and they all die pretty quick. But yeah, you could remove them, but like I said none of mine grew to a large size and yet they must leave eggs behind...

Just a little bit of my experience!

 

[Pecktec]

Like jetajockey said, when you see some baby snails on the glass smoosh them against the glass. The fish will eat them and hopefully that will give the crayfish a taste of the snails

+1 on that. People spend so much on nutritious fish food when all to often they are throwing away the stuff they are producing themselves. Snails are a natural part of a planted tank. The only alternative may be shrimp but snails out breed them buy quite a bit. I have a dwarf puffer that I got to eat them. Now I have to add snails. Check it out on my YouTube page. Probably to small for your tank. Yoyo loaches are cool and stay small. But mine likes flakes better. Your crays will like them especially pre crunched.