How do I get rid of snails

[Airborne173x]

While they are good snail eaters they are also aggressive and not suited to a community aquarium.

I disagree, maybe because mine was raised in a community environment it's the exception but I've had zero issues with my F8 and he currently lives with 5 zebra danios, 6 neon tetra and a sword tail and they all get along well. The F8 will move to a brackish tank in the future but he's having a blast in my community tank. He mostly paces the glass though haha


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Old Scales]

Look at Dwarf Chain Loaches. Ideal for a <55g tank. I have two that completely eliminated hundreds of pond and MTS's within a month. They easily switch to fish food about like Corys when all the snails are gone and they are really fun to watch playing around. OS.

 

[mrvincent]

I introduced assassin snails, they have ate all the others snails. They are cannibal and will eat themselve once all others snails are eaten.

Reduce feeding, snails will grow slower.

 

[Caliban07]

Assassin snails are the way forward. Even 2 will slowly reduce the population over a few months. My LFS will buy them back off me when the job is done and they breed very slowly.

 

[Brookster123]

Assassin snails work wonderfully ar eradicating pest snail populations or atlea at keeping them in check at the very least depending on tank size and snail pop..

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[mrvincent]

The problem with introducing assassins snails, is they will reproduce huge, there'll be some everywhere, but after a couple of months the population will drop a lot, as they starve.

I had thousands of them, now I only can see two of them, and they're big, so easy to remove, but I want to keep them, as they're great scavengers.

 

[dangreen7]

Hello folks, I have a similar problem with these little snails:
Do these snails do anything good for my tank such as eating waste or algae? Or are they a pest? I have noticed holes in some plants where something is eating them, could it be these guys as I have no other snails in my tank.

I was looking into getting an assassin snail but as my tank is border line overstocked atm I don't want to add it if it only eats small snails, will it eat waste and algae as well? Thx

 

[mrvincent]

I never count snails as bioload, except if it's a big big big one like pommaceas. (Or also called Apple snails)

 

[Fraser]

Yeah I never count them either.. Assassin snails are a great way to go, but they're very slow at it IME.


Fish are fun!! ???

 

[dangreen7]

Thanks for the help guys, will the assassins eat algae and waste like other snails too? And how many would you reckon end I put in a 6 gallon?

 

[Fraser]

I don't think they do, pretty sure they're carnivorous only. I could be wrong though. I keep hearing people say they'll eat pellets when other snails are gone, but I'm not totally sold on that..
As for the six gallon I'd go 1 or 2.


Fish are fun!! ???

 

[cfosgate]

Assassins are very good at keeping other snail populations in check. For <10 gal I would get two and two per ten gallons after that. They breed very slowly and will eat pellets or worms when the pest snail population is handled. Mine have bred once in the last year and have given me approximately another ten to put into other tanks.

 

[Coyne]

Assassin snails are not cannibalistic.

 

[cfosgate]

+1. My assassins have never eaten one another.

 

[Mama Karoti]

Assassin snails!

Agreed. They are effective and neat snails to have in their own right. I love my assassin snails.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[mrvincent]

2-3 is enough, they reproduce fast when there's food to eat.

 

[Niki86]

2-3 is enough, they reproduce fast when there's food to eat.

I agree, when I had them thy reproduced quickly I had 3 and within two months I easily had upward of 50

 

[Mama Karoti]

I agree, when I had them thy reproduced quickly I had 3 and within two months I easily had upward of 50

Wow! Interesting to read. I started with 3 in my 60 gal about 10 months ago and now have four. But my pond snail population wasn't that bad yet when I put them in. I see an occasional juvenile pond snail now, so now the assassins scavenge fish food. Seems like a good balance for now.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[mrvincent]

I agree, when I had them thy reproduced quickly I had 3 and within two months I easily had upward of 50

Me 2, and it quickly become in the 200+ population.

Now I can see few mini of them under the substrate and 2 big ones. They're attractive to the eye and do no damage to the plants.

 

[dangreen7]

Thanks for all the help guys, I will pick up a pair this weekend. And some pellets for when they finish off the little snails!