Help!

[Kazhed900]

Hi, My name is Karen - am new to the forum and have had my first tropical tank with Mollies and Platies now for about two or so months. I bought some live plants about a month ago and now not only have an explosion of snails but have just discovered this creature that looks like a Praying Mantis in my tank. What is it? It is a beige type colour (sorry - not sure how to insert images from my pc onto here) and is about 5mm long. If anyone could give me any advise on what to do with it and the snail invasion, it would be greatly appreciated. I have heard about introducing a Clown Loach into the tank but we also have lots of baby Mollies and I am worried that it will eat them as well (I must be doing something right as we have an explosion of life!)

 

[ALEXF]

hello and welcome to the forums.

If i had to guess with out knowing or being able to see it i would guess it to be a shrimp or some type. And if it is a shrimp they are absolutely harmless. also i didnt quite understand what you ment about the clown loach

 

[Kazhed900]

hello and welcome to the forums.

If i had to guess with out knowing or being able to see it i would guess it to be a shrimp or some type. And if it is a shrimp they are absolutely harmless. also i didnt quite understand what you ment about the clown loach

Well that's glad to hear! It's just that we have at least 9 baby mollies and also two of my Platies are pregnant as well

When I was looking at things on the net - there were lots of suggestions to buy a clown loach to get rid of the snails. The thing I am worried about is whether or not they would eat the fry. I don't want to buy one and then discover that the babies are gone. What is the best way to get rid of the snails - I know that there are at least 40 baby snails - they're the ones that I could see any way

 

[ALEXF]

i definately wouldnt put a bigger fish in as bigger fish eat smaller fish. best way to get rid of the snails (which is nearly impossible) is to put some sort of treat cucumber or something in the tank when lights are out, give them a little bit to discover it they will all end up in one spot and just remove, do this nightly til none show up. but from what i understand they breed like crazy so just because you think you have them all give it a few days and do it again as to give the eggs time to hatch.

 

[Kazhed900]

i definately wouldnt put a bigger fish in as bigger fish eat smaller fish. best way to get rid of the snails (which is nearly impossible) is to put some sort of treat cucumber or something in the tank when lights are out, give them a little bit to discover it they will all end up in one spot and just remove, do this nightly til none show up. but from what i understand they breed like crazy so just because you think you have them all give it a few days and do it again as to give the eggs time to hatch.

Cool - will try that and hope for the best! Will let you know how I go! Thanks

 

[Bastables]

don't put in a clown loach they grow to 30-40cm and will tend to get lonely or agressive unless there is a shoal of 6 of them.
If you really wanted to put in a loach a zebra aka Botia striata is a better option as they only get 10cm. They still need about 5 of them though to feel all is well with the world.
Zebra

Ni ether of the loach's will eat teh little mollies

 

[ALEXF]

i dont think she wanted to put on in for the sake of putting one in but for population control of the snails.

Good luck and yes let us know how it goes for you.

 

[guppy fan]

Just to let you know, useualy those types of snails are hermaphridites. In other words one snail can breed with itself. So, I wouldn't reccomend keeping one to keep algy under controle. Good luck. I hope you get rid of them soon. Oh, and welcome to the forums!

 

[OldMan47]

I think you have already gotten the right answer for snail control. Snails will quickly find almost anything green that you put in the tank and in the morning they can be removed along with the greenery. If the thing you saw in the tank is not a snail or related to snails it might be a hydra. They are about the size you specified and will look sort of long and thin and one end will be anchored to something in the tank. If that is what you have it would be best to remove it.

 

[Corleone]

If it looked like a praying mantis, it could have been a dragonfly or damselfly nymph, though at that size it would be almost newly hatched. Does the image in this thread look anything like it?

I'd remove it, whatever it is. It's not a danger to adult fish, but it will likely take fry before too long. Unless you're sure its a shrimp, in which case it's probably safe, but I haven't heard of anybody besides myself getting unexpected shrimp on new plants.

 

[Kazhed900]

If it looked like a praying mantis, it could have been a dragonfly or damselfly nymph, though at that size it would be almost newly hatched. Does the image in this thread look anything like it?

I'd remove it, whatever it is. It's not a danger to adult fish, but it will likely take fry before too long. Unless you're sure its a shrimp, in which case it's probably safe, but I haven't heard of anybody besides myself getting unexpected shrimp on new plants.

Yes - that is exactly what it looks like! And now I can't find it (for the time being anyway!) I think I have decided to never buy live plants again. Not only do we have a snail invasion but now a dragonfly invasion! Do they breed like the snails?

 

[Corleone]

No. Dragonfly larvae actually take a long time to mature - 3 months at the minimum, several years for the largest species. It'll have to mature and find a mate to make more. If it was only 5mm long, it may have gotten eaten by a fish.

What kind of snails are they, too? Many people like having Malaysian trumpet snails in a planted tank - they move gravel and keep plant roots healthy. You could go with a couple of the smaller loaches (I like skunk loaches, myself) to control the population - they probably won't wipe it out entirely on their own, but keep it down to where its useful but not a nuisance.

Edit: You don't need to stop getting plants. Invest in a quarantine tank, and use it for plants as well as fish. Check them for eggs, quarantine them for a few weeks, and if all is still clear, then put it in your tank.

 

[Kazhed900]

No. Dragonfly larvae actually take a long time to mature - 3 months at the minimum, several years for the largest species. It'll have to mature and find a mate to make more. If it was only 5mm long, it may have gotten eaten by a fish.

What kind of snails are they, too? Many people like having Malaysian trumpet snails in a planted tank - they move gravel and keep plant roots healthy. You could go with a couple of the smaller loaches (I like skunk loaches, myself) to control the population - they probably won't wipe it out entirely on their own, but keep it down to where its useful but not a nuisance.

Edit: You don't need to stop getting plants. Invest in a quarantine tank, and use it for plants as well as fish. Check them for eggs, quarantine them for a few weeks, and if all is still clear, then put it in your tank.

Oh cool - I hope so! Three of my fish are pregnant!

That's a good idea actually - it's something that I have to look into getting - especially with all these pregnant fish. We have a 90 litre tank with five adult fish, five big baby fish and three little baby fish - would that size tank support any more fish? We are giving away some of the babies to a friend of mine so that will ease up a little bit.

I am not sure what kind the snails are but I do know they are not the Malaysian trumpet snails - these ones look more like your garden variety type - their shells are a little bit clear and have dots on them.