Too Many Snails!

sherrymitchell · Post by **sherrymitchell** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 11:41 am

I was just looking at the Good Snail/Bad Snail thread and realized that I've got a BLOOM of bad snails in one tank (a 20 long). I mean they are all over EVERYTHING. I siphon almost daily and remove as many as I can, but I'm getting tired of the fight.

I'm thinking about dedicating that tank to freshwater dwarf puffers. I've heard that they eat snails, but will they eat all the baby snails? That's what I have the most of right now. I've managed to siphon off most of the adult snails?

What about botias? Could I try one or three of those to eat the snails?

I don't really want to nuke the tank, but would consider that if I knew what to nuke it with. I want to keep the plants alive as the anubias are really doing well in that tank.....

(SIGH), what can be done????

JMLenke · Post by **JMLenke** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 11:46 am

I have had loaches that ignore snails, I have also had Botias that would investigate an empty shell everytime they saw it.

I have no exp. with puffers but I thought they liked some salt in their tanks?

You could try dropping a lettuce leave in and pulling it out when it gets infested with snails.

You could also pull the plants and wipe em down (salt bath IIRC kills snails).

Ghazanfar Ghori · Post by **Ghazanfar Ghori** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 11:55 am

Botias do a good job in general. Clown loaches (get big but are nice), Zebra loaches (stay small) should be inexpensive and entertaining solution. Groups
of 3 or more.

rich_one · Post by **rich_one** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 12:08 pm

ditto. I used Striata loaches (sometimes called Zebras, thought I also think there is a separate one called Zebra as well). mine did great taking out my MTS snails, yet, seem to leave the nerites alone. I have seen them peck occasionally at my apple snails, but so far, none have been eaten, that I can tell... not even the little purple ones. I find that a bit strange.

Ltrepeter2000 · Post by **Ltrepeter2000** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 12:11 pm

The others must not taste like chicken...

Ghazanfar Ghori · Post by **Ghazanfar Ghori** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 2:31 pm

rich_one wrote:ditto. I used Striata loaches (sometimes called Zebras, thought I also think there is a separate one called Zebra as well). mine did great taking out my MTS snails, yet, seem to leave the nerites alone. I have seen them peck occasionally at my apple snails, but so far, none have been eaten, that I can tell... not even the little purple ones. I find that a bit strange.

Yep - those are the ones I meant - Botia striata.

RTRJR · Post by **RTRJR** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 5:45 pm

Dwarf puffers, Carinotetraodon travancoricus, are purely FW. It is mythology that FW puffers need salt. But then lots of folks try to keep BW in purely FW.

At least with DPs, you would not need to add other food, which will severely limit you snail population. But if your snails are MTS, the puffers cannot eat them.

sherrymitchell · Post by **sherrymitchell** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 9:31 pm

They are not Malaysian Trumpet Snails, but little round snails. I did a Google Images search and they are Gilled Snails, or Pond Snails.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... n%26sa%3DG

Sorry for the long URL, LOL...... Good picture of what I'm talking about though.
Will dwarf puffers eat the gilled/pond snail?

Yes, Dwarf Puffers are fresh water fish. They are very small, about an inch long and very cute. I just hope they'd eat these darn snails! Right now I've got snails the size of this letter: O.... hundreds of them....

I have no idea how the population go so out of hand. It's crazy!

Too Many Snails!

Too Many Snails!

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