Snail eating fish?

[Tukie2kie]

So i have a snail explosion in my 20gal tank, every day i see more and more, mixed int eh gravel, all over my decor, and the walls of the tank (especially at night) yesterday I went to mylfs to see if there was any fish that woudl eat snails and I ended up with a small clown loach (i know they get big but its small and I will later on be setting up my 29gal or my 30 gal tank this summer)
He has been eating the snails but there are so many that I think I should do something else besides have one snail eater.

are there any other fish besides clown loaches that would eat snails?

 

[Davy_Jones]

I would suppose eany carnivores fish may eat them (like cichlids), Maybe angels, not sure............

 

[Aquarium Freak]

Pretty much all loach species eat snails. I have found Clowns and Skunks to work best for me. Also if they are MTS the fish will have a tougher time controlling them as they are harder to eat. There are some chemicals you can use but I preffer not to and it may damage the Clown as he is scale less. I would take the Clown back and get a skunk or two instead they are smaller but also more aggressive. Also Puffers LOVE snails and need them to keep there teeth from overgrowing but they would have to be compatoble with your tank mates.
HTH

 

[Davy_Jones]

Yeah, Good thinking, I said carnivorus fish, but didnt think of puffers. I had a green puffer in a old ten gallon once. They tend to be aggressive to fish that are smaller then them.
But that was a good idea. While loaches are bottom feeders they would be please to eat snails.

edit
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Forgot to mention green puffers are brackish.

 

[neilanh]

My yoyos made short order of my pond snails

By the way, that clown loach is gonna be way to big, even for that 30 gallon you're talking about

 

[Corey]

Forgot to mention green puffers are brackish.

...and prefer essentially marine conditions as they mature, and need a LOT more tank than 10g (they get the size of a small football and are very active/territorial).
I would not recommend a GSP, or any puffer for that matter, for snail removal/a community tank.

 

[Corey]

I meant to edit the above post but ended up adding another one, now I can't figure out how to delete it.

 

[Tukie2kie]

So skunk loaches stay smaller? Im not worried about the clown loach getting that big too soon, its not even 2 inches and I have a few friends that have larger tanks that i coudl transfer him to if he got too big. I don't think i have ever seen a skunk loach at my lfs, but ill keep an eye open.

they arent trumpet snails, i duno what kind they are. But they are the sterotypical image i get when i think of a snail the largest one being a little smaller than a quarter (the shell) they are kindof brownish orange in color

 

[Davy_Jones]

Forgot to mention green puffers are brackish.

...and prefer essentially marine conditions as they mature, and need a LOT more tank than 10g (they get the size of a small football and are very active/territorial).
I would not recommend a GSP, or any puffer for that matter, for snail removal/a community tank.

Yeah, I took it back to the store, They lied and said it would fit, Did research and turned out it would outgrow the tank. It was a new stock there.

 

[Puriti]

Dwarf puffers are freshwater, they pick at snails

 

[Tukie2kie]

they arent cummunity fish though

 

[donk1667]

africans chiclids will eat them

 

[squealor]

I've never had to do it, but I heard if you put a leaf of lettuce in the bottom of the tank for a while, the snails will all climb on... then you just pull it out! That way, you don't have to buy a fish to take care of it for you.

 

[Davy_Jones]

That may have some truth. Some people tend to get alot of snails in natural tanks when buying live plants, (At Wal-Mart at least).
The tank at Wal-Mart would have grown black snail that where avalible to buy and small transparent babys.
When purchasing the plant it would be covered in baby snails that you wouldnt see until your right up on them.
Thats why when I start my natural 55gallon one day, Ill be purchasing from my LFS.

 

[Tukie2kie]

ill try the lettuce thing, there are literaly liek over 100 snails in my tank

 

[Jarred Darque]

It is almost impossibleto guarantee no snails on live plants when you buy them. If you dont want snails (which i dont know why, snails are almost necassary in a planted tank) you need to bleech dip the plants before putting them into the tank

 

[Corey]

You know, snails don't really hurt anything (unless they're eating your plants), and if you don't overfeed, their population shouldn't climb out of control.

 

[leoslizards]

they arent cummunity fish though

I heard Dwarf Puffers are docile compared to other puffers and don't require brackish water.

I had two clown loaches in my 30gallon tank and they took care of my snail problem. Adding a piece of lettuce would attract the snails and would make it easier for your clown loach to hunt them down.

 

[stephenk]

Pretty much all loach species eat snails

I have had great luck with yoyo loaches eating snails. My 3 completely eliminated my snail problem in a matter or days.

I would take the Clown back and get a skunk or two instead they are smaller but also more aggressive

I agree with taking the clown back. However, wouldn't the skunk also get too big for a 20 gal?

You may want to consider yoyo loaches as a smaller and less aggressive option.

 

[Corey]

I heard Dwarf Puffers are docile compared to other puffers and don't require brackish water.

You are correct about them being freshwater, but they can actually be one of the nastiest puffer species, very aggressive.