Archivarium 2004

[gbunbun]

after reading so many posts about snails that I'm dizzy, I still am not quite sure what to do... I have a 20g tank and I recently decided to move on to getting a spotted green puffer (s(he) lives with a couple of oscars) and since I found out puffers need to eat snails I was wondering how I should go about providing them without worrying about these scary "snail explosions." what kind should I get? how should I get them (I.e. just buying the snails or maybe buying a plant and hope that it already has snails anyway?) should I just release them straight into the tank from the store or should I grow them in a separate tank and feed a few at a time to my puffer? thanks in advance!!

[Carole Linn]

I had posted about finding three little snails in my tank, a few days ago. I think it was Huntress that informed me about them being a good *monitor* of over-feeding. (I've cut way back to feeding once a day to every other day.)
I thought two of the snails had been eaten, but then I found them . . . well, sort of.
A small shell was floating in my tank yesterday, but it was empty. Today, I saw the third one . . . scarfing down algae on the inside of my bubble tube (and safe from my Platies and Black-skirts ~ )
I must be doing okay on my feeding 'because they ain't producin'!
I've actually seen my fish take pot-shots at the snail as it scoots across the glass, but I think they're getting too big.
I've also heard that you can squish them a little and the fish will eat them.

Just an observation ~ I've noticed that my Black-skirt Tetras have almost a kind of an underbite mouth that can break up granule feed, so maybe the small snail shells wouldn't be much of a problem for them to devour??

Hope this helps!
Carole
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Carole

There are no DUMB questions; it's only dumb when you don't ask.

[EndlersMom]

Bettas will suck out Malaysian trumpet snails. Ow well no betta for awhile.

(I hope it has not been posted already. I did not go through all 19 pages.)
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Alias: FishMom, FishMommy, FishFosterMom

[Carole Linn]

Thanks, EndlersMom! I couldn't remember the name of those little snails ~ Malaysian Trumpet Snails. That's a far cry from my "Manchurian" or "Mandarin" snails, huh? Wonder if there's such a thing???

I've found a couple more, but they seem to be eaten as fast as they appear. They are amazing to watch, too. They sure do get around that tank!
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Carole

There are no DUMB questions; it's only dumb when you don't ask.

[grntacomasr54x4]

You may also try zip loaches; they have been advertised as snail eaters. They are fairly small. But, of course, consider all previous comments as well about overstocking.

[SJPERKINS]

Pleco's are pretty good too, if as with the loaches you have enough room as they can grow quite big. But my Pleco loves snails and he/she sorted them out real quick smart and they are beautiful fish to watch as well.
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Sarah Jane Perkins

[Gus-Gus]

I haven't been able to read all the posts on this subject but my solution for snail infestation was to add feeder shrimp to my tanks. All the LFS here in Malaysia sell feeder shrimp which are really inexpensive. I put them into my fish tanks and within a week the snail infestation is over. My fish - tetras, angels, livebearers and discus in various tanks - don't eat the feeder shrimp which look very interesting as they scurry around the bottom of the tank. I'm not sure how long they live for - they reduce in numbers over time and the survivors get big at around 2" in length. I replenish the feeder shrimp every 6 month or so. They are also good for scavenging leftover bits of food.
Hope this is of help.

[lovefish]

I had the same problem as you have 5 days ago,but now they all gone.what I did is put all fish into another 2 tanks that I had and added anti snails from interpet.I know it's a bit of a headache but you just wave goodbye to snails(and remove them the day after!!!)for me it wasn't that much cause it was time for a good cleaning session,plants,decor and all the things.I could tell you that every 3 weeks I had to clean the pump cause it use to get jammed with snails and making it slower to circulate water.for clownloaches they DOES NOT eat snails at all,I'm telling you this cause I have 3 and they are not small.they only eat the round ones.if I were you I go to puffers,but seek some info before buy them as I don't know nothing about them.good luck!!!

[lovefish]

I had the same problem as you have 5 days ago,but now they all gone.what I did is put all fish into another 2 tanks that I had and added anti snails from interpet.I know it's a bit of a headache but you just wave goodbye to snails(and remove them the day after!!!)for me it wasn't that much cause it was time for a good cleaning session,plants,decor and all the things.I could tell you that every 3 weeks I had to clean the pump cause it use to get jammed with snails and making it slower to circulate water.for clownloaches they DOES NOT eat snails at all,I'm telling you this cause I have 3 and they are not small.they only eat the round ones.if I were you I go to puffers,but seek some info before buy them as I don't know nothing about them.good luck!!!

[Ratmaster22]

I have 8 applesnails and I've never had any eggs I have a question how many snails did you have when this started and what kind of snail do you have?
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Ratmaster