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Snail eaters

Simon25

Member
Joined
5 Oct 2021
Messages
35
Location
Southend
Hi all,

Got a slight problem with a big bloom of MTS, I’m reducing the amount of food I put in the tank (all food is eaten within a 30s to a min) but the MTS seem to be getting more and more. So I was wondering what fish will eat snails? I’ve googled it but I come across a lot of mixed opinions saying some types of fish do and some types don’t… can anyone clear this up for me?
 
hard to advise without knowing what fish you currently have. I’d say get hold of a few assassin snails, they’ll do the job I’m sure.
I don’t have many 2 gouramis, 2 rams, 2 corys and 6 nerites and 8 amano shrimps. I got a 180ltr tank
 
I would get assassin snails but I can’t with my nerites
You’ll have to compromise somewhere mate.
There’s every chance the nerites are too large for an assassin snail but also every chance they’re not.
Either take them out or start manually removing the MTP yourself.
I don’t think a fish will be the solution here.
You could try some sort of snail trap.
 
Crush snails with your finger tips, free fish food. They will eventually reduce in numbers, it just takes time. Some snails are always a good thing, imo.

I really don’t like assassin snails, nothing against them as snails, more I don’t like the idea of people buying them and then letting them die when they’ve killed off their food supply.
 
Crush snails with your finger tips, free fish food. They will eventually reduce in numbers, it just takes time. Some snails are always a good thing, imo.

I really don’t like assassin snails, nothing against them as snails, more I don’t like the idea of people buying them and then letting them die when they’ve killed off their food supply.
You can always rehome them.
 
You can always rehome them.
Understood, but I don’t think people do. I’ve never known someone to return them to shops, I’ve not seen any for free on here for a long time.

The problem is they’re a cheap solution and therefor something people can throw away - just something to think about 👍
 
Chuck some weighted lumps of veg in there like cucumber and then remove after a few hours. It should be covered in snails.

They normally balance themselves out number wise if you are definitely not over feeding. Getting something to eat the snails is rarely the solution.
 
Personally they are some of my favourite snails. They should come to the surface at night when the lights are out, or in the early morning. That is a good time to remove them. It is a pity to harm them, I would offer them on here or Ebay them. Fish that will eat them are not that suitable for your species. But you could remove the fish and borrow somebody's snail eating fish for a few weeks. Personally I think that they are fantastic at removing algae and aerating soils. If I had to choose any snail then it would be them. I really think that they do a fantastic job of maintaining a balanced aquarium ecosystem. They should just burrow and hide for most of the day. Poor things, I feel pity for them.
 
If only I’d known. Just paid out (not a lot) for 5 MTS and am rather hoping for a population increase (though not to epidemic levels hopefully). 😂

Just think, everything they eat is something you don’t need to clean out. It’s like someone permanently hoovering the house! 😊 Maybe you could learn to love them. !?

If not, it could take some time for ur reduced food to show an impact so if you wait it out for a bit, it might well balance out in time.
 
Clown Loaches are probably well known for gorging on snails but sadly often sold and easily because of their colouration but you need a huge tank to keep them as they are happy in a group but maybe better to look at the positives of them as said
 
Personally they are some of my favourite snails. They should come to the surface at night when the lights are out, or in the early morning. That is a good time to remove them. It is a pity to harm them, I would offer them on here or Ebay them. Fish that will eat them are not that suitable for your species. But you could remove the fish and borrow somebody's snail eating fish for a few weeks. Personally I think that they are fantastic at removing algae and aerating soils. If I had to choose any snail then it would be them. I really think that they do a fantastic job of maintaining a balanced aquarium ecosystem. They should just burrow and hide for most of the day. Poor things, I feel pity for them.
I recently swapped my tank over, to my suprise i found nearly 40 Assassin snails when cleaning the sand out, i only thought i had about 8, i really ought to sell some of them but as you say they are benign.
 
My brother has a group of 6 botia striata in his tank and although they love ramshorns, the mts aren't really touched, so loaches aren't always the answer. I'd never buy a fish to solve a problem unless you want that fish anyway but I agree with the above, their population is due to the available nutrients and when those dwindle, so will the population. Manual removal with weighted food works really well but you will see a boom in their population until the food is limited.I like them because they aerate the sand as Simon mentions and they don't harm anything at all.
 
My brother has a group of 6 botia striata in his tank and although they love ramshorns, the mts aren't really touched, so loaches aren't always the answer. I'd never buy a fish to solve a problem unless you want that fish anyway but I agree with the above, their population is due to the available nutrients and when those dwindle, so will the population. Manual removal with weighted food works really well but you will see a boom in their population until the food is limited.I like them because they aerate the sand as Simon mentions and they don't harm anything at all.

Really bloody annoying when they bring up aquasoil through sand though!
 
Really bloody annoying when they bring up aquasoil through sand though!

This is true! Though in my case they are competing with Amano shrimp that I’m pretty sure use the aquasoil for football matches and my SAE that whizz around the tank so fast I think they drag it in their wake! Add that to my clearly inadequate retaining walls…….and clean sand is but a pipedream! 🙄😂
 
I'd suggest look at why they're able to reach such numbers. Is too much food making it to the substrate and not being consumed? Is mulm building up in the substrate and not being removed during tank maintenance?
They have to have a food source to survive so if you limit that you'll limit the numbers. If the population is increasing I'd be happy that they're helping control the food/mulm accumulation in the substrate.
 
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