# Uninvited guests (Snails)



## gixer (13 Feb 2008)

Last week i notice an extremely small snail in my tank and thought nothing of it.

Whilst carrying out some pruning today i came across 3 larger snails and 1 smaller 1, all look (to me at least) to be exactly the same (see below).






Before i go any further and pick then out the tank i'd be grateful is someone could please advise me on what snails they are and the advantages/disadvantages of having them in my tank.


I am guessing the will eat my leaves, but if the help keep the tank clean of algae i think picking out a few each month to keep the population in some sort of check would be a small price to play.

Lastly if they are considered a liability is there a natural way of control i.e. a fish that will eat them?
My Angelfish keeps having a taste but they're slightly bigger than his/her mouth as it's a still young.


Cheers
Mark


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## gixer (13 Feb 2008)

Bloody hell i never realised there where soooooooooo many snails 

So done some reading up, closest i could find is a Physid Snail.







Having great difficulties finding aquarium specific info though, like do they carry diseases what effect they have on plants and algae.

Anyone had any experience with these Snails please?



Cheers
Mark


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## TDI-line (13 Feb 2008)

It doesn't look one of the helpful sort, i'd be buying some snail eating fish.

I think most botia species will eat small snails, the most popular is the clown loach, but these can get very large.

I have 3 botia striata, which sort out all nuisance snails in my tank, and they socialise nicely with my corys too.


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## johnny70 (13 Feb 2008)

a piece of sweet potato sunk in the tank overnight should attract any snails, then lift out

JOHNNY


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## Ed Seeley (13 Feb 2008)

I've got them in my new tank and they seem to do no harm whatsoever.  Both they and the ramshorns in there spend most of their time grazing the glass and rocks and there are no problems.  When you want to get rid of them the best way I've found is dropping the KH and GH and then they simply disappear.  Of course you do need an RO unit to do this!


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## gixer (14 Feb 2008)

Not sure what to do for the best now.


I think i'll leave them in for a while but keep an eye on my plants and the quantity of the little buggers.

I'm really surprised how fast they move (for snails).
I was talking to the Mrs for a couple of mins, turned around and couldn't find 1 that was at the edge of the front glass, it'd only made it across the glass in a couple if mins.


I really like the look of those botia striata, i think they should be ok for my 120L tank as well.
I had got my mind set on 1 Otto though.

Can the botia striata be kept happily on their own?



Cheers
Mark


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## Ray (14 Feb 2008)

I had these guys.  They breed like crazy.  My advice is to remove them when you see them before you are overrun.  You probably don't have as many as you think - like you say, they really get around.


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## johnny70 (14 Feb 2008)

Loaches all do better in a group at least 3 but preferably 5+

Not overfeeding will help keep the snails down, as I said try the potato/sweet potato or courgette first  

JOHNNY


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## George Farmer (14 Feb 2008)

3 Botia striata stripped my 200 litre of over 200 snails in 24 hrs...


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## sks (14 Feb 2008)

Botia striata are very nice looking fish. I use clown loaches myself, but that's because I like to grow them to a large size. If I were to do it again I'll use the chain loach (botia sidimuka or whatever you call it) but have heard it's hard to get hold of. The skunk loach is also a possibility since it stays very small. Don't use Tiger loaches or similar, they're vicious as hell.


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## johnny70 (14 Feb 2008)

BOTIA SIDTHIMUNKI, stunning fish, stay very small 2.5" so easyily have a decent shoal of these. Trimar have them, but not cheap Â£6.50 plus shipping  

JOHNNY


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