Henlei eating snails?

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brich999

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jul 3, 2010
4,312
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New Hampshire
Ok so I know I have a snail problem in my 500g. They multiply by the thousands and whatever. I can never find one bigger than a bb, but I know there are a couple. There are millions of babies and I know how quickly they grow and multiply. Now I've been finding a ton of empty shells in one corner of my tank and I vacuum them out.

Someone is eating them and A LOT of them. I don't think the gars are because they are so bad at getting pellets, I can't see them picking off tiny snails, and the shells are in tact not crushed. And same reason I've ruled out my African pike.

Is my 19" henlei really picking em off? I've seen her swim all over the side then go to the bottom and it looks like she is eating. Id just be surprised because she eats like a pig, so is she still hungry? Does she just really enjoy hunting snails? I just can't picture this manhole cover size ray picking off such small snails. What do. You think?
 
I've got lots of tiny snails in my sump, and the largest ones are about the size of a BB. They may be the same as what you have. When I clean the filter pads in the sump, I usually pick off the snails and throw them in the tank. I have occasionally seen my rays (hystrix- much smaller than your henlei) eat the largest snails. But I also find lots of empty snail shells in the sump, and there are no fish in there. I would say the snail shells you have seen are ones that simply died in your tank.
 
Snails are a large part of their diet in the wild so he might be eating some
 
I was just surprised because the empty shells are maybe the side of a pea, but I'm pretty sure she's eating them. By my best guess she's eating probably 50 per day based on what I'm cleaning out.
 
I put some from my sump in to my main tank and I could hear them crunching them. My tank is clear but the sump has many. I found some adults in the bottom of my external backup filter....adults will be somewhere (the rays crunched through the adults too) I think this is a good thing as part of their diet in the wild and it promotes grazing and I like to think some enrichment. Many mornings there are dimples all over my sand where they have been hunting. I do not think a ray would suck out the snail, their mouths are designed to crush.

If you want rid then buy an assassin snail, if it eats all the snails then either feed the assassin to the rays or pass on to a new owner.
 
I have a small colony of snails living in my overflows and sump. They sometimes find there way into the tank and it is a good treat for the rays.
 
Idk how you can have them in a sump and not main tank, they are nuts! Yes the shells are intact, I think she just swallows them. But literally they are several hundred empty shells every few days. Along as they are good for her why not. I like that she's eating something a little different and that she hunts them. Anyone ever fed like big trapdoor snails or anything? I can get millions from my lakehouse
 
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