snails

[Darlene]

I know there are many ways to rid an aquarium of snails but is there a way to control them ? Our new silver balloon molly had a snail come home with her that managed to escape my eye until it was too late. My 5 year old spotted the snail & just had to keep it. You can imagine how many I have now. Must I get rid of them all or is there a way to keep their population in check?
Dar, new snail breeder!

[corr]

The easiest way to keep them in check is to buy a fish that eats them. A lot of Loaches will. Another way is to simply bait them with some romaine lettuce under a plate over night. You'll be amazed at how many you can take out at once.

[Emily-Fisher]

Supposedly clown loaches and zipper loaches eat them. Another solution is to smoosh the ones that you don't want with your thumb...that's what my mom used to do whenever she had snails! :( I say go with the loaches ;)

[Darlene]

I have 2 of the little eel-like loaches (always forget their name?) now. I just love them so I'm off to buy some clowns today & zippers as well if I can find them. What a wonderful solution, thanks guys. I'll remember the lettuce trick also. If I still have to do that could my turtles eat the snail-covered lettuce ? (RES turtles).
tks , Dar

[Kase]

Loaches and Flying Fox are good fish to get for getting ride of snails, but the Flying Fox like to chase things around so it might not be a good idea for them.... And I beg you not to use chemicals... they will harm the rest of your fish if not used properly.

Cheers
Kase

[Shane Tesser]

Loaches will eat snails..however often you'll have to starve them to get them to do this. Hold back on feeding for a day or two. The loaches will then devour the snails. Also, you'll find that they will have to be a fairly large size before they will eat them period. Lettuce as mentioned, as well as zucchini will attract them over night and then simply remove the piece in the morning. What i find to work really well is dried seaweed. Cheap, you can get it at almost all stores, place it in the bottom over night and its nuts how many you'll catch. Best of luck :)

[Darlene]

No fears about chemicals, Kase. We don't want rid of them just to not become totally overrun by them. My kids are getting an awful kick out of them.
Tks for all the help everyone. We are getting the loaches. If necessary we'll do the lettuce/seaweed, too.
Shane, could I use a fry seperator to keep the loaches seperate so they won't eat for a day or two ?

[Mason]

in the past month I've lost 3 clown loaches. I'm confused cause I rarely have deaths in my tanks.

I think the snails are ganging up and eating the loaches, but realisticly, who knows.

they all lived only 2 or 3 days. Gonna go get some more this week, and keep trying cause I hate the way that sanils make my plants look. I also hate hunting them, and chucking them off the balcony.

ah well, good luck to you, I've been removing them by hand and killing whatever eggs I can see. That's my 3 dollars on snail controle.

[XxRachxX]

in the past month I've lost 3 clown loaches
they all lived only 2 or 3 days. Gonna go get some more this week,

dont you think thats a little odd? theres GOT to be something wrong with your tank OR wherever your buying them from....
im getting the idea that if you keep buying them.. they will keep dying!

[corr]

Clowns, IME, are VERY sensitive to changes in their environment and die easily from stress (which makes them much more suseptible to Ich).

Ask for a sample of water from the tank they are in at the pet store. Adjust your tank so that it is closer but don't do anything drastic. Acclimate them in a pail with the water they came in and drip water from the tank they are going into over a 1 or 2 hour period.

Finally, make sure they have lots of places to hide. Also, they need to be in groups. I wouldn't keep less than 3 together.

HTH

[Oliverian]

Funny... I put snails IN my tank. Hehe... different strokes for different folks. I like the way they keep all the algae and stuff off the fake plants. They havn't touched my real ones yet, mabye i'm just lucky. The best thing to do to get rid of them would either be to take them out one by one when you see them, or add some salt. (not enough to hurt the fish, obviously, but just a bit. They can't live with much salt in their water.) Hope this helps. ~TR~

[red bootz]

The salt thing is good. Especially, since the mollie's need a little salt in their water anywayz.

[Darlene]

LOL ... I do have salt in my water & my snails are thriving !! But so is my new little trio of clown loaches I picked up a week & a half ago. (When they aren't in their hollow log anyway !!). They do seem to be keeping the snails in check so hopefully we're reaching a balance. I'm also supplying snails to my daughter's newt now as well (didn't know before that they ate them also).
I'm getting to like having the snails now myself....go figure !!