trumpet snails

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hir0

hir0

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Oct 16, 2004
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Azores, Portugal
when i first noticed these guys in my tank i thought - cool, snails... np. now they seem to have built up a sigificantly sized army. i know some of you have had these before - so my question is this. what did you do to keep their population in check? i know there are several methods, from removing them manually, to using slices of cucumbers etc... to the dreaded chemical method. i was just wondering what some of you found to be the most effective way.
here is a photo i took a while back.
trumpet.jpg
 
They look really pretty... but if you want to get rid of them, I suggest taking a large hammer and repeatedly hitting the tank as hard as possible...


It may cause a little bit of collateral damage, but at least the snails will be gone.

:-D
 
Hi Hir0,
i have trumpet snails in all of my tanks, i don´t want to miss them because they care for the sand ground.
It seems to me, that the population is self-limited if you don´t feed too much.
Sometimes i use a small-meshed gin to remove a part of them, of course this is only possible while using sand.

I would like to discourage you from buying fishes only for the purpose of minimizing the snail population (like puffers or botias), as well as from using chemicals. With chemicals many snails will die in the ground and cause water pollution.

My advice: use less food, collect them manually if you notice a boost. If you don´t have sand, you can also collect them in the evening hours when they rise to the surface.

By the way: i like that photo :-)
 
The puffer experts say that their shells are too hard for puffers' beaks. I have seen (and heard) Astatoreochromis alluaudi crunching them up (that's a rare and specialised cichlid molluscivore from the shores of Lake Victoria) and someone once told me that they had a Leporinus which sucked them out of their shells. But I'm afraid that this is not as helpful as I'd like it to be . . .

Alan
 
thanks for all the helpful information. i think what i'm going to end up doing is replacing the substrate - yet again... with sand. thanks andreas for the mesh idea. i do probably overfeed the fish. but the snails are SO many. i mean, easily in the hundreds. (i'm guessing) - i have a peice of driftwood, and i roughly counted the snails in a small 6x4" section and it was around 20.
 
but andreas, botias are the finest of freshwater fish!! Everyone should have a good sized schoal :lol:


though I do agree, if one does not overfeed, one will not have a problem with an overpopulation of these snails. they are food-limited.
 
ladyjai said:
but andreas, botias are the finest of freshwater fish!! Everyone should have a good sized schoal :lol:
Click to expand...

:-)

There is a well-known german FAQ about snails, written by Bernd Liedke in a newsgroup.
I can´t translate right now, perhaps babelfish helps ;-)

However: the answer to all snail-related problems (actually, there is no problem!) is:
use less food!

Funny thing.

Killt die Schnecken-FAQ

[AQUARIUM.GER]

== Killt-die-Schnecken-FAQ ! ==

_____________________________________________________________________
**** DIE ULTIMATIVE "KILL-DIE-SCHNECKEN-FAQ" DER AQUARIUM.GER ****
_____________________________________________________________________
*** Selbsternannter FAQ-Keeper: Bernd Liedke 2:2480/3199.9 ***

1. Intro
2. Fragen und Antworten
3. Aktualisierung dieser FAQ

1. Intro

Q: Warum diese FAQ?
A: I halt's nimmer aus!

Q: Warum ist diese FAQ so wichtig?
A: Weil nach empirischen Untersuchungen anhand der AQUARIUM.GER kein anderes Problem die Aquaristik so bewegt.

Q: Wann wird diese FAQ gepostet?
A: Sobald jemand das Wort "Schnecke" auch nur DENKT.

2. Fragen und Antworten

Q: Ich habe zu viele Schnecken. Was soll ich tun?
A: Schmeiß weniger Trockenfutter rein!

Q: Ich habe gehört, Starkstrom hilft gegen Schnecken. Stimmt das?
A: Ja. Hilft auch gegen Fische. Schmeiß weniger Trockenfutter rein!

Q: Ich habe zu viele Schnecken. Soll ich mir einen Kugelfisch kaufen?
A: Nein. Der Kugelfisch frißt zuerst die Schnecken und dann dich.
Schmeiß weniger Trockenfutter rein!

Q: Angeblich soll es gegen Schnecken helfen, wenn man 30 Minuten pro Tag Schnecken und deren Laich einsammelt...?
A: Nein. Schmeiß weniger Trockenfutter rein!

Q: Mein Zoohändler empfiehlt gegen Schnecken einen Kanister "Wasserterror" für nur 198,- Mark. Soll ich den kaufen?
A: Wenn du bereit bist, auch ein Glas davon zu trinken, ja.
Sonst: Schmeiß weniger Trockenfutter rein!

3. Aktualisierung dieser FAQ

a) Kann ich helfen, diese FAQ zu erweitern?
b) Im Prinzip ja. Gehe vor wie folgt:
c) Schreibe deine Frage in die Rubrik 2.
d) Kopiere die Antwort aus der ersten Q/A darunter.
e) Speicher den Text.
Beherzige die Antwort.
Lösche den Text.

-- Ende der KILL-DIE-SCHNECKEN-FAQ Rev. 0.1a. CopyLeft.
Click to expand...
 
Similar to Andreas, I keep a nice population of these guys in the tank. Really helps with sifting through the sand and is great for a planted tank.

Good info in regards to puffers and such, Alan. No wonder my snail population is still thriving. =)
 
so if there is already an army, feeding less will reduce more reproduction - but i think it's already to the point where i should remove the gravel. =[
 
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