Snail Eating Fish

T1tch · Jul 14, 2008

Hey, I dont know if anyone can help but I have a 75 litre tank, I think its the cayman 60, and I have a snail problem. I've been looking around and all the fish seem to be either too big or nocturnal. I'm looking for a fish that will take out the snails but isnt too hard to keep, not nocturnal and isnt very vicious.
I hope you can help,
Titch

minxfishy · Jul 14, 2008

You dont have to have a fish to keep your snail problem down, you could always place some lettuce or cucumber in the tank over night. In the morning it will be covered in snails, just take it out, bin it or whatever you want to do with them. Do this over several nights/weeks and you will be snail free (well almost LOL).

T1tch · Jul 14, 2008

I tried that - sadly though once gone the soon came back. I was thinking with fish, you only need to buy once and it will keep on eating them.

minxfishy · Jul 14, 2008

Well you could try some loaches, obviously not clown as they grow too large, maybe yoyo loaches? Get to about 6 inches.

Also this new thread has started on your problem, so see what they come up with too! http

/www.fishforums.net/content/Tropical...il-Eating-Fish/

Ficious · Jul 14, 2008

i know dwarf puffers sort of need snails to keep their teeth healthy...will these hunt out the snails and eat them??? i too need a fish to get rid of these tiny, tiny snails.

minxfishy · Jul 14, 2008

Yep DP's love snails, however, they need to be in a species only tank.

OohFeeshy · Jul 14, 2008

No fish are particularly effective at eating snails, they can even add to the problem.

Cut down on feeding, remove as many as you can, but it's not like they're doing the tank any harm.

Corleone · Jul 14, 2008

You'd probably have to settle for a compromise on your conditions. Most loaches will eat snails quite well. Zebra and chain loaches are fairly small. So are skunk loaches, but I've read claims that they're too aggressive for most communities.

If the snails are quickly coming back after being thinned with lettuce, you're overfeeding, or else have some food source available. They survive on leftover food that settles in the gravel. I've got ramshorn, pond, trapdoor, and trumpet snails breeding in my 55 gallon, and I rarely see any of them except the one large trapdoor. My keyhole cichlids sometimes kill pond snails, but for the most part they're unchallenged and don't breed out of control.

Miss Wiggle · Jul 14, 2008

remove as many as you can either manually or using lettuce leaves. after you've done this then cut back on feeding, the population will only grow in line with the food available to them, if the population keeps growing back then you're feeding too much

T1tch · Jul 14, 2008

Thank for all your help and coments. I might see about getting a few loaches - i did have 1 but he never did anything and then died.
Thanks once again
Titch

OohFeeshy · Jul 14, 2008

What are the catfish in the tank currently? The footprint of the tank isn't massive; with a group of even the smallest loaches the bottom would be quite crowded.