Snails in aquarium

ham_n_mustard

Hi Lads

i've added some potted plants to my tank a few weeks ago and i've started to see some small snails appearing around the tank ever since. in the last few days the numbers seemed to have increased. there's currently roughly 30-40 snails in the tank. most are about 0.5 cms in diameter. would ye recommend removing them? i'm kind of worried that they would be eating the same goodies my plecostomus is eating.

also, would ye recommend removing the plants as well?
thanks

fungun

remove them as you see them. or depending on what you want in your tank just get a fish that eats them

They can carry diseases so best to get rid of them.

fred funk }{

Snails compete for the same food as the Pleco so if you want a healthy Pleco remove the majority of them. Snails also keep the tank very clean so they're not all bad.

ham_n_mustard

Thanks lads, i was thinking as much. every time i look i seem to see more of them.

LawlessBoy

I had the same problem a few months back, got two cories into the tank. They feasted on them till there was only empty shells left in the tank:D

ham_n_mustard

i have a cory as well, he ignored them

Cookie_Monster

ham_n_mustard wrote: »

Thanks lads, i was thinking as much. every time i look i seem to see more of them.

and you will continue to see more and more, they're worse than rabbits.
no matter how many you remove they'll keep breeding and eggs are near impossible to notice and deal with.

I suggest some assassin snails, effective and cool. I bought 4 when my snails got out of control. Within a few weeks the problem was gone.

kylith

Won't you have the same problem with assassins?

fungun

assassins dont breed so fast - if he is talking about the type of little snails you get from plants then if you dont do anything you will literally have hundreds of them within a few weeks. I used go home and squash about 30 a day against the glass for about 2 weeks at one time!

Cories dont usually eat them as far as i know (at least not the species i have), but some loaches will

ham_n_mustard

assassin snails sound fun, i might have a chat with the lad in the local fish store and see what he recommends. thanks for the suggestions guys

Cookie_Monster

kylith wrote: »

Won't you have the same problem with assassins?

yes to a certain extent, I ended up with loads but:

1) they are useful so easy enough to give to other tank owners or sell for a couple of euro if you have too many
2) don't breed so fast (or at least if food is scarce they will not breed seemingly)
3) don't eat your plants so will die back without sufficient food (snails and left over fish food)
4) get big enough to be easily located and picked out should you want to.

fungun

have you still got spare ones, as per other thread a bit back?

paddy147

The Discuss and Congo Tetras love the snails in our tank.
We get the odd few snails in the tank from time to time (putting in new plants).

So when we do a 20% water cycle every 2-3 weeks,we crush the few small snails that we find in the tank,and the Discuss and Congo Tetras have a field day and have a feast.

We also have a few Assasin snails in there,and that has also helped,and the tank is lovely and clean as a result.

Cookie_Monster

fungun wrote: »

have you still got spare ones, as per other thread a bit back?

No, I gave up the tank and moved to the other side of the world a while back

Silverfish

I only get snails in the shrimp tanks, I squish them and the shrimp eat them.

Handy thing is putting a bit of lettuce in the tank overnight, in the morning it should have a good few snails on it, so chuck it out. Repeat until there's no more snails.

ham_n_mustard

Update....

i called in to the chap in underwater world in castltroy, limerick. he didnt have any assassin snails at the time, but advised on clown loaches. i added 2 to the tank yesterday and within an hour they had killed some snails....happy days.

fungun

great, clown loaches are great fish - you will love them

Sleepy

Have two clown loaches (one courtesy of fungun) and easily my favourites in our tank. One word of warning: they get very large and require huge tanks in maturity.

ham_n_mustard

good to know, i never asked this... i was more interested in their snail eating abilities.