Snail Advice!

[donnylad1980]

Hi Guys,
 
Quick bit of advice. I have an 11 gallon tank that's settled nicely with 3 small mollies, 1 platy, 1 Gupppy, 1 Pleco and 1,476,456,242 snails!!
 
I've never put any snails in the tank, but 2/3 tiny ones stowed away on the various plants I've got in there. But, in a very short space of time, a couple have grown quite big (about the size of a 5p coin) and they've bread like wildfire. There's now probably circa 25 in there. I know they can be good at getting rid of waste, but what are the downsides? I can start removing some, but what would be a good amount?
 
Many thanks in advance!
 
Adi

 

[DrRob]

Snails are a pain or a pleasure, depending on your point of view. Personally I find them annoying, but not annoying enough to do what is required to totally eliminate them.
 
As a general rule cutting back on feeding somewhat gives good results (although it'll never get rid of all of them) as they must be eating something and the fish will tend to get to the food first.
 
Otherwise physically removing them is somewhat easier if you put something like a lettuce leaf in the tank overnight and fish it out and throw it away (with it's associated snail load) in the morning.

 

[the_lock_man]

I keep Assassin Snails, which do a very good job of eating pest snails. If you've only got 25 pest snails, a single assassin will get rid of them completely in a few weeks.

 

[Gilli]

If you are not squeemish pick them out squish them between yur fingers and drop them back in - the fish will go mad for them and they are free fish food. Do it to all of them as there will be eggs around which will hatch for a new batch!!

 

[Chad]

I recently purchased 5 assassin snails for my tank. They are great for getting rid of pests!
 
That said, I've also done what Gilli said and turned them into fish food both for puffers and ground up. I don't use my fingers though, I use my large plant tweezers.

 

[LiamGoodaire]

I had the exact same problem back when I first got into keeping fish!
Very annoying if nothing else and ruin the tanks image!
I tried all sorts but the way which I got rid of them was this:
I transferred all of the fish out of the tank, removed all the decor and rinsed then left in hot water to soak, replaced all the substrate, rinsed all the filter and left to soak in hot water (I found small snails in the motor with loads of eggs, they'd obviously hatched in there) I then rinsed the tank and emptied it completely and didn't add back and plants!
I also bought 2 assassin snails then as a precaution which were required as some eggs were somehow left over, I presume in the lid, however they weren't around for long!
I still have 1 assassin snail alive today and he happily moves around the tank and eats any left over food!
Unlike the pest snails they look quite cool too and do a good job!
Hope this helped!

Liam Goodaire

 

[OregonCoast]

Hi Guys,
 
Quick bit of advice. I have an 11 gallon tank that's settled nicely with 3 small mollies, 1 platy, 1 Gupppy, 1 Pleco and 1,476,456,242 snails!!
 
I've never put any snails in the tank, but 2/3 tiny ones stowed away on the various plants I've got in there. But, in a very short space of time, a couple have grown quite big (about the size of a 5p coin) and they've bread like wildfire. There's now probably circa 25 in there. I know they can be good at getting rid of waste, but what are the downsides? I can start removing some, but what would be a good amount?
 
Many thanks in advance!
 
Adi

Set up a 20 gal tank with 3-4 dwarf puffers and 2 otos! Dwarf puffers love snails!
I just aquired 4 Ramshorn snails for my tank and they have already laid quite a few eggs around the tank. So I am preparing for quite the snailinfestation. but..perhaps my betta Meep would love a good snack now and then if I squish it for him

 

[donnylad1980]

Hi Guys,
 
Some great tips there. I did a water change last night, and while I was at it, I took all the rocks and plants out and cleaned them off. I got about 20 snails from that! I'm gonna look into these assassin snails. The name alone is reason enough to own one!
 
Thanks guys!