Snails Appearing In My Tank

[GFUNK]

Hi ive got a fluval egde and over the last few weeks i have noticed there is about 12 snails living in my tank, theyre only small about 2mm and they are brown, i understand that they sometimes are on plants but this many?? really

 

[james_fish]

Hi GFUNK,

Yes, these snails will more than likely of made their way into your tank through plants. Once you have a few you will find they will reproduce like mad! Sometimes just the eggs will come on plants, and the snails will grow up in your tank.

There are several ways to get rid of these (if you want to)

1. The old lettuce trick - put a piece of lettuce or cucumber in your tank for a few hours, and sometimes the snails will go to feed on it, then simply remove. Sometimes though this is found not to be effective as eggs will still survive and not all snails will feed on the veg.
2. Fish - certain fish will feed on snails e.g. Clown Loaches. However these are not suited for your tank as they grow quite large and need to be in groups.
3. Add more snails. No i'm not joking! Assasin Snails feed on pest snails. Stick one or a couple of these little beautys in your tank and within weeks you will have no pest snails. It worked an absolute treat for me! Here's the best part, the Assasin Snails will not breed in your tank often (if ever) so the one/two you put in will remain in and not overrun. These require tropical temperatures 22-26 degrees. So providing your tank is tropical they should be fine!! They should be fine in a small tank like the edge.

Hope I helped, James.

 

[GFUNK]

Hi thanks I think I'll leave them alone but if they do get a pain I shall get some assassin snails, I could put them in as my temp is 25 degrees
Thanks for the reply

 

[Dieses Madchen]

Yeah Assassin snails are the best way to go, as noob, I decided to add some clown loaches. I had to rehome them They got to big. But the LFS told me (and I believed them rather than research it) that they only got to be about 4-5inches.....then I saw one in a hole in the wall LFS that was 9 inches!!

 

[GFUNK]

Yeah Assassin snails are the best way to go, as noob, I decided to add some clown loaches. I had to rehome them They got to big. But the LFS told me (and I believed them rather than research it) that they only got to be about 4-5inches.....then I saw one in a hole in the wall LFS that was 9 inches!!

Yeah my LFS told me Mollies were suitable of course they wernt so i had to get rid of them

 

[HayzH]

i have had an invasion of pond snails too..and they even made their way to my tank in the next room!! i have bought no plants and not changed any ornaments!! i have spooky snails!

 

[AnimalHouse36]

Stop feeding so much.
Snails only survive if you're feeding in excess. Feed small amounts of food every 3 days and soon you'll see the snails will disappear.

In respects to the lettuce method mentioned above:
If you decide to go this route please don't just throw it away. These are living things like any other pet. Find someone with a puffer fish, or see if maybe your local fish store would like to use them as a food source. Usually they'll take them just to get them off your hands. It's much better then simply throwing them in the trash.

Good luck!

 

[the_lock_man]

Here's the best part, the Assasin Snails will not breed in your tank often (if ever)

I don't like to directly contradict someone, but Assassin Snails bred in my aquarium, quite happily. The snails take a lot longer to grow, but they can and do breed readily.

If you only have a few snails at the moment, then only one Assassin will deal with them.