Aaaah A Snail!

[ATK!!!]

i woke up today to tend to my shrimp and suddenly i spotted this tiny snail at the bottom of the tank, it was rather speedy so i only got some rubbish pics with my phone before it disappeared. I was wonderin if they can breed on their own or if someone know what speices it is

i'll get some better pics by tommorow

 

[matt_storey]

POST REMOVED DUE TO BEING BAD ADVICE.

Sorry

 

[onebto]

get rid of it! they spawn like mad!!! chances are you have another 10 smaller ones in there. If you dont mind them, but want to keep them in control buy a few clown loaches - they love them!

there are positives to them - they can help clean the tank


all in all i just find them to be pests!

NO! NO! NO!

Please do not "buy a few clown Loach" just to sort your snail problem out and recommending you do is a completely irresponsible peace of advise matt.

Why not Clown loach need to be in a group of there own species, Like all fish they require a specific environment that may or may not match your tank and inhabitants, they can live for 10, 15, 20 years plus they can grow to 10 to 12 inches in size eventually and they need a big tank moving to adolescence.

There are many other ways of getting rid of snails. Clown loach are mercenary and very efficient in dealing with a snail problem but unless you want to keep Clown Loach then it is a stupid idea to get them for any other reason.

Regards onebto.

 

[Verminator89]

get rid of it! they spawn like mad!!! chances are you have another 10 smaller ones in there. If you dont mind them, but want to keep them in control buy a few clown loaches - they love them!
there are positives to them - they can help clean the tank


all in all i just find them to be pests!

Pretty much the worst advice you can possibly give someone off the top of your head without taking numerous specifics first!

A single Clown Loach is potentially a 12" fish, these fish are one prone to stunted growth if kept in a tank too small - and this is cruel. These are big fish as my grand-father had a 9" one in his 6ft a few years ago. Albeit they are amazing snail eaters, i had a shoal of 5 that loved munching on snail infestations, but to keep 5 of these you would need atleast a 5ft tank IMHO. Some would say that is to small still.

To the OP. There are other alternatives to get rid of these pest snails if you do not like them. To answer your question they do breed on their own, and at an alarming rate. Matt is right in saying you probably already have a zillion minute babies 'snailing' around undetected. So if you want rid of them, you have a few options.

1) Manual removal. Timely, but can prove relatively effective over a period of time. Unfortunately doesnt remove them 100%, or is highly unlikely too.

2) Chemical treatments to kill snails. However, these may prove to be harmfull to shrimp - so ALWAYS read the label on these products.

3) Cucummber slices weighted down during lights out. This is my favourite for getting rid of them. During the night the snails seem to gather on it, so remove it as early as possible in the morning.

4) Sort of tied in with 3, but during lights out snails seem to gather on the glass and water surface in all my tanks (that have snails), and i find it easy to siphon the blighters out easily.

5)Ofcourse, Clown Loach are an option. If, and only if you have the space to accomadate fully mature adult clown loach!

 

[matt_storey]

sorry if i came accross the wrong way, but obviously only get the loaches if your happy to accomodate them!

 

[Verminator89]

Indeed.

 

[james_fish]

Steady on guys #92###(Blasphemy)

We aren't all perfect
Good to see you can put your hand up Matt.

EDIT: Sorry mods, didn't know that wasn't allowed Looks like it's me holding my hand up after all!

James.

 

[ATK!!!]

k thanks for advice, i am NOT getting a clown loach for the simple reason that my aquarium is completely unfit for them, however i do have shrimp in there already so i will have to be careful about what i add to the water, i have already put cucumber in the tank before i had this infestation but it caused one of my platy to become a huge pig and eat THE WHOLE THING. He was not well for a long time after that so i will not try it again

 

[onebto]

I do recall a few posts were people have used a waited down lettuce leaf as a sort of lure for the snails apparently it works quite well

Regards onebto

 

[Aqua Tom]

Asassin snails. Pretty & effective

 

[ATK!!!]

ok, one question, would they spend a lot of time burying in the substrate

oh and would they be with a pH of 8?

 

[Aqua Tom]

ok, one question, would they spend a lot of time burying in the substrate

oh and would they be with a pH of 8?

Yes & yes

I have a ph of 8.2

Snails are not actualy a problem as long as they dont get to plague proportions. They can be a helpful sign of your feeding regime. too much feed = loads of snails. Just right = a few.

 

[ATK!!!]

right, only one problem then, my substrate is ceramic gravel and is pretty rough (each is about the size of a marble) would this be ok?

Also i was just wondering if these strange round things that are growing on my plants are snail eggs, i felt them when i put the plants in and they were extremely hard...


sorry about the pics, they went a bit weird!

 

[kirsty2236]

I have snails and have had for a couple of years, never really thought about getting rid of them. A while ago when I had much less fish the population grew so I cut down on the food and now there are just a few that mooch around the tank and eat the algae. I quite like them so I guess they are here to stay I have no idea if they are a breed or anything but they look the same as the pictures. I used to have them on gravel and they didnt seem to mind and now I have them on sand and they're still happy.

 

[sXeLifer]

Supposedly after a week of weighing a large leaf of lettuce down at the bottom of the tank at night then flushing any sitting on the leaves in the morning will work, might take a while but works. Snails and lettuce = moths to a flame.