Snails

bugsy66 · Jun 24, 2008

Looking for something that will eat snails. I had a clown loach but had to get rid of it as my tank is a Discus tank, the loach was sucking the sides of my Discus. Did a great job of the snails at the time but now some are back. Anything out there that is very peaceful but will get this job done.

Don't want to use chemicals either.

TylerFerretLord · Jun 24, 2008

Why get rid of them?

They're not harmful, all they do is eat algae and left-over food. If you have too many of them it's because you feed too much, to be blunt.

tangokitty · Jun 24, 2008

Try some skumk loaches

Snick · Jun 24, 2008

i love the puffer fish, but of course they will not be compatible with your discus. maybe getting some snail traps? as long as they don't eat your plants if you have any or overpopulate the tank to the point of visual ugliness, i wouldn't take them out... but having them under control is never bad.

oszy77 · Jun 25, 2008

There's a thing that you can try:
Put some spinach or lettuce in a boiling water for a couple minutes, after that put it in the aquarium. The snails will "run" for this food to eat it...
Wait for a little time, and take the spinach out WITH the snails. Do this as long as you have snails in the aquarium. It takes some time, but it's a good method

bugsy66 · Jun 25, 2008

Thanks for the the replies. I don't feed to much as I use cones to feed the discus and any flake that I feed they consume it faster thant he snails would have the chance too..... :good:

They came on the live plants that I put into the tank a while back, yes they do eat the Vals I have in the tank and there gets to be so many of them they are just plain ugly too. I realize they do serve a purpose for algae control too.

I have used the lettuce thing with great success so I guess I will have to revert back to that again.

Thanks for the replies.

piranha_tim · Jun 25, 2008

2 Ideas.

1. Throw cucumber in the tank a little hidden ... and collect the snails.
2. Buy an assassin snail which eats other sails and re-produces slowly. (can be expensive though)

loachman · Jun 25, 2008

I would not do skunk loaches, they tend to be very aggressive. Botia kubotai or botia striata are generally among the best for temperament, size, and availability. Y. sidthimunki are also good if you can find them.

bugsy66 · Oct 24, 2008

Well the Assassin Snails arrived yesterday. I don't mind snails but when they take over the tank they are unsightly to say the least.

When I put these snails into the tank I could not believe how fast they found dinner. With just the two of them it till take sometime to get things undercontrol. I noticed today they were up the glass eating all the eggs that were stuck there.

The price of them was great too, I probably should have got more but was not sure if these were going to be the right ones or not. They were 6.99 each and I got them 2 for 1 as there is a sale on right now. I can always order more in.

One of the other LFS here said they could special order them in for me but they would cost me $25.00 each...... :hyper:

How crazy is that, they come from the same supplier. One reason why I don't shop there..... :good:

So will keep you updated as to how things are going with them.

Also one other thing I noticed last night, I have 5 shrimp in my tank, 4 are Amano shrimp and 1 a Flower Shrimp. I have seen quite a few empty shells around and would love to believe they are starving and dying off themselves but I noticed a shrimp had a snail and it looked like he was eating it. Is this possible??

Palue