Who is eating my snails?

[JDogg]

i have recently noticed a lot of empty snail ( Planorbis corneus) shells in my tank. (75 gallon)

here is a list of the fish that live in this tank...

3 Angles: Pterophyllum scalare
2 Bolivian Rams: Microgeophagus altispinosa
2 German Blue Rams: Microgeophagus ramirezi
5 "Orange Flash" Cockatoo Cichlids: Apistogramma cacatuoides
7 Rummy-nosed Tetra: Hemigrammus rhodostomus
6 Cardinal Tetra: Paracheirodon axelrodi
5 Julii Cory: Corydoras julii
2 Rubberlip pleco: Chaetostoma thomsoni
3 Oto: Otocinclus mariae

i also have malaysian trumpet snails and there may be a couple of ghost shrimp living among the plants if my bolivians have not gotten them all.

who do you think is eating them? my guess is my female Apisto. i have never seen her do it, but many of the shells are near her territory.

 

[Devilishturtles]

My angelfish ripped any snails I put in my tank to pieces. Not sure if that is the culprit or not...

 

[Zagz]

Either the Apisto or the angels would be my guess.

 

[MyCatsDrool]

any of the four types of cichlids you have are most likely the culprit

 

[JDogg]

well i doubt it is the angels...just because i know my angels. could be the rams or apistos. they are not significaly effecting the population yet. so i am not too worried just curious.

 

[lmw80]

I think you have several could-be culprits and none of them are talking!!

 

[Jchillin]

I'd agree...all of the cichlids are suspect. They may not realize that the snails are there to perform maintenance duties and were not intended as snacks.

 

[bs6749]

Don't cory's have barbels? Loaches have barbels and they love snails...

 

[lmw80]

Corys do have barbels and while I am sure they would gobble up a snail outside it's shell, I doubt they would be able to actually get the snail out of the shell.

 

[bs6749]

Corys do have barbels and while I am sure they would gobble up a snail outside it's shell, I doubt they would be able to actually get the snail out of the shell.

But loaches, notorious snail eaters, have barbels and they aid in cleaning out the snail shells. Just a thought.