Snail Management

[mhancock]

Hi,

I went to my LFS a few weeks back to get some assassin snails, however when they told me that kribensis would do the job I got a couple of those instead. It does not seem to be working though!

Has anyone successfully used kribensis to get rid of snails, and how long has it taken to get a tank clear of them?

Thanks,



Mark

 

[lock77]

I have Malaysian trumpet snails and my kribs have never bothered with them. Your best bet is the assassin snail or if you don't want to add more snails you could try a clown loache.

 

[KkAaNnEe]

Hi,

I went to my LFS a few weeks back to get some assassin snails, however when they told me that kribensis would do the job I got a couple of those instead. It does not seem to be working though!

Has anyone successfully used kribensis to get rid of snails, and how long has it taken to get a tank clear of them?

Thanks,



Mark

Not kribs, no. But a siphon works a treat

 

[Liamm]

To my knowledge kribs won't eat snails but dont take my word for it.

I have Malaysian trumpet snails and my kribs have never bothered with them. Your best bet is the assassin snail or if you don't want to add more snails you could try a clown loache.

^^^^
Don't forget to mention clown loaches get up to about a foot long and should be kept in groups of 6+.


Best way to get rid of snails is to pop a sheet of lettuce in your tank, leave it in overnight and then take it out in the morning when the snails have swarmed onto it.
Keep at it and you should get most of them, doesn't matter too much if you leave a few in there.

 

[Rynofasho]

I have Malaysian trumpet snails and my kribs have never bothered with them. Your best bet is the assassin snail or if you don't want to add more snails you could try a clown loache.

Nooooooooo. Please don't buy a single clown loach. I'm not sure why everyone loves this idea, but it is a poor one. Clowns get huge, and if you'd like them to lead a nice life, I'd recommend a tank with at least a 72" L footprint. Also, they are VERY social fish and prefer to be in groups even moreso than other species that you'll hear that about.

Get an Assassin, but it may die once it eats all your snails. If they are pond snails, just find them and crush them. If they are MTS, embrace them because they aren't that bad, and if you want to go the loach route and enjoy loaches and have the tank space, get 5 or 6 Yoyo loaches. I just happened to like them anyhow and they've essentially wiped my 75 clean of a rather large snail population (MTS).

 

[Akasha72]

seconding the clown loach thing. There's always a large intake of breath here when I read that advice. Yes, they like snails but should never be bought as the solution. As others have already said they like to be in groups and grow absolutely HUGE.

I just crush pest snails and give my livebearers a treat

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Steatocranus spp. cichlids (Lionhead/Blockhead) love snails, my casuarius and tinanti relish them, but I've never heard of Kribs eating snails (although there was another recent post where someone was sold a Krib for a job they could not perform).

Besides "tank buster" Clown Loaches, there are a few smaller species like Zebra Loaches that will eat snails.

There's only so many snail that snail-eating species (fish or Assasin Snails) can eat in a week. If you have a real problem, like I had in my 620T last year, there is only one natural way to get the problem under control... I spent ~15 minutes a day for a fortnight, removing Pond Snails by hand, I must have easily removed hundreds.

 

[mhancock]

Nooooooooo. Please don't buy a single clown loach. I'm not sure why everyone loves this idea, but it is a poor one. Clowns get huge, and if you'd like them to lead a nice life, I'd recommend a tank with at least a 72" L footprint. Also, they are VERY social fish and prefer to be in groups even moreso than other species that you'll hear that about.

Thanks, am very keen to buy something size appropriate for my tank!

Get an Assassin, but it may die once it eats all your snails. If they are pond snails, just find them and crush them. If they are MTS, embrace them because they aren't that bad, and if you want to go the loach route and enjoy loaches and have the tank space, get 5 or 6 Yoyo loaches. I just happened to like them anyhow and they've essentially wiped my 75 clean of a rather large snail population (MTS).

What does MTS stand for, and will yoyo loaches add significantly to the bioload of my tank (already fully stocked)?

There's only so many snail that snail-eating species (fish or Assasin Snails) can eat in a week. If you have a real problem, like I had in my 620T last year, there is only one natural way to get the problem under control... I spent ~15 minutes a day for a fortnight, removing Pond Snails by hand, I must have easily removed hundreds.

It's not too bad yet, so getting them out by hand/siphon is still a viable possibility!

 

[Juggler75]

In this case malaysian trumpet snails

 

[Baccus]

If your filter is fully mature it should handle and quickly develop enough bacteria to support 2 or 3 yo-yo loaches, but thats the snag, young yo-yo loaches are willing to eat snails (although some have to be taught to eat the snails by crushing the snails for them initially) I find young/ small yo-yos have trouble actually getting into the snails. I guess my two smallest ones where lucky I still had a fairly rampent rams horn snail population which they where able to exploit while the two larger ones started going for the MTS. Between the four of them they seem to have stablised the snails but not totally erradicated them, also the loaches cant be expected to only eat the snails they will also need their own food. Just like corydoras really, lots of people purchased them just for the purpose of "cleaning" the tank and expected the corydoras to survive on scraps, unfortunatlely for now it appears that certian loach species are being used wholey and solely for snail control.
Please only get a group of yo-yo loaches if you are certain you want them they are great characters and their marking change as they mature.

 

[mhancock]

If your filter is fully mature it should handle and quickly develop enough bacteria to support 2 or 3 yo-yo loaches, but thats the snag, young yo-yo loaches are willing to eat snails (although some have to be taught to eat the snails by crushing the snails for them initially) I find young/ small yo-yos have trouble actually getting into the snails. I guess my two smallest ones where lucky I still had a fairly rampent rams horn snail population which they where able to exploit while the two larger ones started going for the MTS. Between the four of them they seem to have stablised the snails but not totally erradicated them, also the loaches cant be expected to only eat the snails they will also need their own food. Just like corydoras really, lots of people purchased them just for the purpose of "cleaning" the tank and expected the corydoras to survive on scraps, unfortunatlely for now it appears that certian loach species are being used wholey and solely for snail control.
Please only get a group of yo-yo loaches if you are certain you want them they are great characters and their marking change as they mature.

Thanks for the good advice, I won't add anything at the moment! Also have corydoras in both tanks, they are great fish.

 

[Rynofasho]

Ya, if there arent that many, take them out by hand, especially if fully stocked. Don't buy Yoyo's with the specific function of them only eating snails, only get them if you like them and can support the added load (I'd get six as they're very sociable). But even my littlest ones ( < 2" ) will stick their faces in snail shells for treats.

 

[dfield]

My kribs love snails, I have 2 pairs that live at opposite ends of the tank, I also have 5 clown loaches they also love snails and generally its a free for all between them who gets the pickings. I pick them out of my other tank, wash them in warm water and then drop them in.. I do not have a single snail in that tank, but my other two get them. I have two types, one of them is really flat and the only way to get those out is to suck them out with the syphon.. but the others are easy enough to pick off.

Oh I also have 2 baby kribs from one of the adult pairs and both of those like the snails, but they wont go for the big ones so I feed them baby snails.

 

[Hoveringpie]

I add gastroplex once every month it kills all the alive snails and the following month it kills the new live snails they are always there but I don't mind a few its when the tank gets over run.

 

[jonnyf84]

pygmy chain loach, every time.