what fish eat snails?

[AngelaOlsenFan]

I've got a major snail problem in my 25 gallon. What fish will eat snails? I only have one danio in the tank right now; he'll try to eat them sometimes, but just spit them out.

 

[hsherman1986]

kuhli loaches will, and are the only fish i can think of off the top of my head that will and fit in your tank.

What kind of snails are they? Do they have a round shell, or a spiral/cone shell? If they have a spiral/cone shaped shell (called MTS), not many fish will eat them.

Also, instead of purchasing a fish to solve a problem, you could always throw a piece of lettuce in the tank at lights out, and in the morning, take it out and thorw the snails away with it. The snails will be all over the lettuce in the morning, and it will make it easy to get rid of them. If you don't get all of them the first time, keep doing it until you get most of them if not all are gone.

HTH

 

[rich311k]

I agree I think your best bet is to try the lettuce leaf trick and to manually remove as many as you can. Can you describe the snail or even better post a picture? If you limit your feedings the population will not over take your tank. They can only reproduce to the amount of food available to them.

 

[bs6749]

Basically any type of loach will do the job, however some loaches, such as clown loaches, will grow far too big for a tank that size. I would recommend yo-yo loaches as I have had GREAT success with them removing snails. My problem was cleared up in a week and I was tossing out 75/day before getting them. They will work on any type of snail, even the MTS as described above. You should get 2 yo-yos in my opinion.

 

[AngelaOlsenFan]

Thanks for the responses!

This is the only pic i have of one:
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a55/sin_ful2/sna-1.jpg

I think it's the same as this one:
http://www.tropicalresources.net/ph.../images/profile_pics/fish_profiles_acuta1.jpg

 

[hsherman1986]

doesn't really look like MTS to me. I think your best bet will be to do the lettuce trick, and cut back on your feedings a little bit. Your fish own't starve, i promise

 

[zenkatydid]

looks like pond snails - same type i have, i love em

 

[Michael]

With only one danio in the tank you need some fish. You can't go wrong with a Yo-Yo Loach's or Polkadot Loaches (Kabotia's). I would get at least 3. Some other fish should be added besides bottom dwellers. The Loaches will take care of your snails and add a lot of life to your tank.

 

[lovemybarbs]

My rosey barb loves them. I find rosey barbs will eat anything.

 

[Blazeherd2306]

Yo-yo loaches love to eat snails and should go good in that tank.

 

[AngelaOlsenFan]

^^ I'll definitely get an eye open for yoyo loaches, although I live in a small city, so we don't have much fish selection.

 

[tropicfishman]

the almighty clown loach gobbles them up like a kid and candy, they love baby snails

 

[hc8719]

the almighty clown loach gobbles them up like a kid and candy, they love baby snails

and also love, getting really big, real fast

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Here's a snail buster, and they stay small, about 2-2.5".
http://www.loaches.com/species_pages/botia_striata.html

 

[Michael]

Striata's get to 4", same as Yo-Yo's & Kabotia's