Snails in my breeding tank!

[andy75]

I seem to have a bit of a problem in my L204 breeding tank, SNAILS!!!!

Was just wandering what was the bet way to get rid of all these? please help, there doing my head in!!!


Cheers


Andy

[bristlenosekid]

i had the same problem with my tiger barb breeding tank
i solved this by buying 2 assasin snails within a week they had almost eaten 50 snails. now i only see the odd snail but not often.
thanks
john

[L number Banana]

Hi Andy,
I had some real snail issues a while ago and got help from yoyo loaches BUT you probably don't want these with baby anythings!! I think the loaches may not be the answer here

Can you get a picture of the snails or give a good description? There's quite a few different ones and some of them seem to be well liked by the more experienced people here. Maybe you have a beneficial snail? I use them in my cory breeding tank to keep the eggs clean, so some types of snail can be good.

It was suggested that a piece of lettuce etc in the tank would get mobbed by the snails as a quick way to reduce their numbers. Simply lift the lettuce leaf out and shake off the snails. The chemical things I read about just seem too nasty to try especially with fry and good water.

Are there any fry in there at the moment?
Post back with snail info and maybe someone can tell you if it's a too-prolific snail or a blessing.

[andywoolloo]

what kind of snails are they? I ask cause I have malaysian trumpet snails in my bristlenose community and they do not harm the fry at all.

[andy75]

I really couldnt tell you what sort of snails they are, all i could tell you, is that there shell is a dark black, at the moment there quite small, and of different sizes, and there is quite a few of them at the mo

I will try and take a pic, but me being me have had troble in the past uploading the pics.

There is no fry in the tank but my L204 are about 3.5-4 inches long, and if they did spawn soon then i really dont want snails in there.

Im not to keen on using chemicals, but the lettuce leaf sounds a good idea.

Cheers for the help guys



Andy

[MatsP]

Try this page: http://www.fishpondinfo.com/snail2.htm

I'd expect they are Ramshorn snails if they are not malaysian trumpet snails.

AFAIK, most snails are harmless to fry/eggs of Loricariidae.

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Mats

[racoll]

Physa spp. are another common snail in aquariums.



Lots of snails can indicate overfeeding, but in your case, if you are conditioning your Panaque, this may be sort of necessary.

I actively encourage snails in all my tanks. They do a great job cleaning up the microscopic pieces of uneaten food.

I would look upon them as doing you a favour in cleaning this waste that would otherwise potentially foul the water.

None of these snails will harm eggs or fry, and many people raise loricariid fry with snails deliberately, as they clean the eggs and reduce the bacterial film on the tank surfaces.

[andy75]

Interesting, thanks guys, well if people think it shouldnt be a problem then im not going to sit here and wind myself up about it, thanks again for all your help.


Andy

[shamrock]

if you do decide on assassin snails, make sure you get 1 (ONE!), or else you'll end up with another snail infestation... i bought 3, now i have 50.

[PeterUK]

I actively encourage snails in all my tanks. They do a great job cleaning up the microscopic pieces of uneaten food.

I would look upon them as doing you a favour in cleaning this waste that would otherwise potentially foul the water.

Same here
When I set up my fish shed I bought 50 MTS on ebay to start off the breeding colony, I have now introduced them to the other 13 tanks.
I love 'em I have sand in all of my tanks and they do a great job of keeping it stired up and also eat any uneaten food too !!
There isnt that many in each tank because I dont over feed BUT in the original starter tank I deliberately overfeed because I want a large population of snails in there so I can seed any of the other tanks if their population dwindles.

[apistomaster]

I don't encourage my pond(Physa) snails nor my MTS snails but they exist in all tanks. It is easy to spread them unintentionally.
In addition to not being any threat to any Loricariidae eggs and fry they are also harmless in Corydoras breeding tanks and may even help keep viable unhatched eggs cleaner as racoll mentions in his post. Most egg hanging, non-annual Killiefish eggs, which take about two weeks to hatch, are also usually safe. Their eggs are tough enough to be handled by your fingers and are pretty much impervious to most snail predation.

I alway am very careful to keep them out of Tetra spawning tanks or those of other egg scatters which prodcuce very small delicate eggs. I don't want any in Apistogramma species breeding tanks either, However once these small fry become free swimming I do add a few snails to help cleab up left over food.

The "Mystery Snails" do have the potential to eat eggs placed out in the open such as those of Corydoras and some Loricarridae like Sturisoma species.

Assassin snails introduced to control the populations of other snails will not replace those they have eaten. You may enjoy a temporary population explosion under favorable conditions but once their primary food source has been eliminated their population crash is inevitable. I'll gladly pay the postage for a handful of Assassin Snails from anyone in the USA who has too many.

[MatsP]

Assasin snails are apparently not hemaphrodites. I just wanted to add this, as I found it a bit difficult to find a confirmation on this.

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Mats