Snail-Eating Fish?

[zochick]

okay. I have snails. I can only see two tiny ones for now. the small black-shelled ones.

I don't want them to reproduce and have dozens.. I've heard this is what happens.


are there any cool fish that love eating snails?

thanks.

 

[Hunterprey]

Puffers eat snails, then they'll go after all the other fish in the tank too Depending on your tank size Synodontis catfish eat snails from what I read. I have some of these catfish but I dont have snails. Synodontis multipunctatus looks nice

 

[Liquid skills]

there are certain loaches some grow 4" long but that also deppends on the size of the tank

my syno didnt like snails hed take on and try to kill massive fish but a small snail that could easly be eaten he had no intrest

 

[minnnt]

Snails will multiply if you are overfeeding. Squash the ones you see and cut back a little on the feeding. Much better than buying a fish to solve the problem.

 

[Mowbz]

Snails will multiply if you are overfeeding. Squash the ones you see and cut back a little on the feeding. Much better than buying a fish to solve the problem.

The best solution by far...

 

[Liquid skills]

Snails will multiply if you are overfeeding. Squash the ones you see and cut back a little on the feeding. Much better than buying a fish to solve the problem.

The best solution by far...

i agree the only problem i would have is i cant crush the snails
so that why i would buy the loach personally

 

[minnnt]

Why not? You will soon learn to do so when you wake up and see about 500 of them! lol.

Tank sizes, ihabitants and water parameters would be needed before a proper recommendation.

 

[Mowbz]

Indeed, why not? Just give them a poke with ya finger, and let the fish pull the rest out. Any bits of shell go up the gravel vac. Pretty much any fish will eat a snail if its been pre-squished for them!

 

[Liquid skills]

i cant its just me i cant kill animals yes they are snails and dont feel pain but they feel sensations n i hate the fact that i would be ending their life

but anyway i dnt have snails my brother has snails (which i put in there to help the water in his tank as fry are in there) and my fish shop buys the snails off me

but yeh in my tanks i dnt have any

 

[soybean]

You don't say what size your tank is but I'm willing to bet it isn't big enough for any snail eating loaches.

People often suggest clown loaches, but these need to live in groups of 6+ and need a 6ft+ tank as they grow enormous.

Zebra loaches also need to be in groups 6+ and while they stay a little bit smaller a group still needs a tank about 5ft.

The best solution is you. If you don't want to remove them yourself, try this:

Don't feed the tank for a couple of days.
Sink a piece of lettuce in the tank at night.
Remove snail-covered lettuce in the morning.
Repeat until they're gone.

A couple of snails isn't a problem. They become a problem if they find plenty of excess food, from you overfeeding the tank.

Another solution to pest snails is to add an assassin snail. This eats other snails and can help keep the population down.

Please don't add a fish to solve a problem you can solve yourself.

 

[Brett_dale]

if you only see 2 in there get them out before they have babies and there babies have babies.
tbh i dont see what the fuss is about with a few snails, in my mind there part of the system and help with the clean up. key to not getting over-populated is dont over feed and maybe add a few assasin snails, if you realy dont want any snails at all assasins reproduce a lot slower and are larger so can be moved on once there job is done.

 

[willowstwin]

Assassin snails are your best bet if you cant kill them yourself and you dont have a big enough tank for loaches...

What I did with my pest snails were pick them out and I put them in a jug with a piece of java moss. The babies that grew looked like extremely tiny wiggly things on the glass and my guppies sucked them off the glass. I havent seen a single one since I removed the bigger ones

 

[ItsMe]

I had this problem also since putting live plants into my tank. I bought a few assassin snails to deal with them =]

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Please don't add a fish to solve a problem you can solve yourself.

 

[zochick]

Snails will multiply if you are overfeeding. Squash the ones you see and cut back a little on the feeding. Much better than buying a fish to solve the problem.

awesome. thanks a lot for the tips, guys. i'm new to the fish-keeping world. I'm more into reptiles and mammals.

I will take out the snails and maybe buy an assasin snail.


thanks again