Snail Infestations and Solutions to Eliminating Them

[knifegill]

My raphael picks off the subadults and leaves the tiny ones in the gravel. I never see a snail unless I vacuum or sift around, so a raphael catfish might be an option if you are only trying to control the population. The snails are useful for eating missed food, but do add to the bioload, so it's a matter of balance if you use them like I do.

 

[mr.reef24]

great article Lupin

mr.reef24

 

[Mpimbwe Pete]

who doesn't love clown loaches ? They even trained me to turn the lights out when they "play dead"

 

[nes999]

ill take any snails anyone has. my 12 clown loaches will thank you (they click alot when i drop snails in)

 

[ridehardorgohome]

Which is the best method when dealing with breeding inverts? In smaller nano type tanks??? Thanks

 

[dpk2313]

i actually boiled my gravel once to kill trumpet snails

 

[ridehardorgohome]

Yeah that prob the only safe way to do it with babies huh

 

[BeavisMom62]

Great article Lupin! I purposely STARTED a snail/ghost shrimp tank as food for my F8 puffer. As long as I had the puffer, no babies. Then, the puffer died and NOW the shrimp and snails are reproducing like crazy! Figures! Its weird, even though I was breeding them for food, I can't stand the thought of killing them. So, now I have to decide, do I want another puffer or not? I sure have the food for one now.

 

[hereticlosmorte]

Thanks for the info Lupin!
I have some small snails in my aquarium. I believe they hitched a ride on some duckweed I purchased. I am not overly concerned with them as it's a 90g growout tank, their population is very small (maybe 8 snails smaller than my pinky finger nail, nothing larger), and I hear that stingrays will eat snails and other shelled creatures, which is great cuz I have two small retics in my tank. If it gets out of control, I will use the veggie technique, so thank you in advance for the info!

 

[knicks791]

How do you get ride of snails in you canister?

I dumped some snails into my tank thinking it would be a nice snack for my loaches but now a bunch of them are in my FX5.