Overrun With Snails

[JezTaylor]

I got myself a new plant about 7 weeks ago. A short while later, I noticed a snail casually making his way around my tank. Then 2. Then 4. Then 8. The other day I counted around 30, and no doubt there were many more in there that I couldn't see at that moment.

• Is this a problem? Presumably if they keep on breeding at this rate, yes. I only have a 64l tank.
• What can I do about it? There's a pond nearby where I could relocate them, but would they survive?

Grateful for any advice, thanks.

 

[Livewire88]

Hello, 
 
It only takes 1 snail to hitchhike into your tank and before you know it you will have hundreds, The way I get rid of them is to drop a piece of lettuce in the tank over night, then in the morning it will be covered in snails, remove it and repeat till the snail numbers drop. You may find you will never be able to get rid of every single one but keeping the numbers down is the key. 
 
And I just chuck them down the garden drain, but you can do what you like with them. 

 

[Zante]

Snails are usually good scavengers, they eat dead leaves, dead fish and left-over food. It is usually good to have them.

You are experiencing a population explosion because they are finding loads of food. Once the accumulated "snail food" starts dwindling the population should adjust itself. In any case you control the snail population by controlling the amount of food they find.

 

[the_lock_man]

A snail population explosion is usually indicative of overfeeding.
 
I used assassin snails to erradicate my pest snails.

 

[laurac94]

Yep I agree with the lock man, I reduced my pest snail population by reducing feeding, increasing the amount of gravel vacuuming and I got 4 assassin snails for my 180 litre. This didn't completely rid the tank of them but reduced them to manageable numbers.
There is a plus of having some..they eat algae which helps in those hard to reach spots

 

[Megalodon]

learn to cook french cuisine?
 
lol,seriously if you have the room the and the correct tank mates i hear loaches think they are tasty treats.I also hear assassin snails are efficient.

 

[Arcticfox1977]

I had 4 the I noticed another 3 babies. Found 2 separate egg pockets. Took 3 big snails out and the 3 babies with the egg pockets. I've left 1 snail in as they do a great job on the algae.

 

[The J man]

I had a ramshorn snail explosion in my 30 gallon tank and my Rosie Barbs took care of the problem no worries there used to be around 200 and now there is about 2 to 5.

 

[NickAu]

Snails are usually good scavengers, they eat dead leaves, dead fish and left-over food. It is usually good to have them.

You are experiencing a population explosion because they are finding loads of food. Once the accumulated "snail food" starts dwindling the population should adjust itself. In any case you control the snail population by controlling the amount of food they find.

Spot on,

Snails in your tank are not a bad thing they keep the tank cleaner that we ever could, Contrary to some advice do not remove or trap them just leave them be, By removing them you are just extending the time it takes the snails to eat all the food and for the population to stabilize.

 

[marnold00]

I second the use of assassin snails! I had about 20 pest snails so i added 2 assassins and in a couple of months the snail problem had gone 70l tank with a 60cm x 30cm footprint

Id recommend 2 or 3 assassins theyre inexpensive, look super cool, require a mate to breed unlike pest snails so youre not going to be overrun at all, and they burrow into the substrate which is good kf you have sand they hunt by sitting under the substrate and waiting for a snail to go past. I only ever see one of mine, turbo, when hes eating. Gary is always crawling about all of the tank though. I love my assassins!