Snail population control

[somecallmedaniel16]

Hello all!

What are your preferences for controlling snail populations? Less than a month ago I got some plants, some common snails, and a blue mystery snail. The common snails are already multiplying and I don't know if it could become a problem. I think I've heard clown loaches eat small snails.. Petsmart uses goldfish because they eat snails but goldfish are cold-water. One guy at the lfs suggested taking them out but it could be a hassle, and I'd prefer not to kill my own animals, but if necessary I will do it. Any other suggestions?

Daniel

[joy13]

Clown loaches get very large and should be kept in small shoals. I actually like to have snails in my tanks, they are good indicators if you are over feeding and the water quality. I find if my MTS are out during the day I know there is something wrong with the water usually I just do a PWC. If there is a lot of snails then you are probably overfeeding.

[mgamer20o0]

most people like snails. i wouldnt add clown loaches. you might want to try assassin snails. they will eat other snails but breed slowly.

[somecallmedaniel16]

haha never heard of them they sound neat. never seen them at a store but I'll keep an eye out.

[mgamer20o0]

hard to find in lfs. they are pretty new to the hobby.

[Smitty]

Well, I was going to start my own thread but figured I'd piggyback if you don't mind!

I think I have a snail issue as well. I'm feeding a pinch of food (little round pellets) every other day-basically it never hits the ground because the fish gobble it up in about 5-10 seconds.

Regardless, I have what I think are MTS all over. They stay in the sand during the day and come out at night. I did some cleaning up and got maybe 1/4 of them:



Should I just leave them alone?

Anyone want these?

[HN1]

I like snails, especially MTS. But...

If you want to remove them, throw a weighted leaf of lettuce in at lights out. In the morning, remove it with the snails. Easy peasy.

[kaiofcanada]

This isn't a proven method but it sure beats using chemicals that are bad for the tank or really don't work. It's liek a combo attack...First get some snail eaters (get back to those soon) and just get some spinach or romaine lettuce, blanche it and put it in the tank just after lights out. You can tie it to a rock or piece of cotton to make it sink to the botton. Be sure you get up before lights come on in the morning to remove the spinach or lettuce with all its hungry little snail friends. Do this every night until your population is under control. This does require persistence btw, so be patient.

The snail eaters you might consider to keep the population in check are indian dwarf puffer, clown, yoyo, zebra (smallish), chain (smallish) or skunk loach (small good snail eaters but can be aggressive).

Smails do have some advantages. A controlled population can actually be a nice part of your tanks cleaning crew.

[HN1]

I think a 20 lacks enough legth for most loaches other than kuhlis or dwarf chains.

[buddha_red]

I used to own a loach tank, i found the skunks to be pure mean. A yoyo loach has teeth, useful with MTS. they dont grow really fast and they can be quite animated when the weather is fixing to change.

A lot of good information on this thread.