Snail-eating corys?

[harsmann]

Hi,

I don't think I have ever seen corys on the list of snail eating fish. But will they eat small snails?

I have a planted community tank with platys, silver-tipped tetras, a common bristlenose and six C. trilineatus. There are a some small snails in the tank, but very few grow big. When I clean the gravel I often find small, empty snail shells.

Three weeks ago I moved some plants from this tank into a second planted tank that is stocked with otos, pencilfish and a pair of rams. The second tank was previously snail free (I used to have kuhli loaches in there as well), but now it has more grown-up snails than the first tank, although the transferred plants can only have carried snail eggs.

Both tanks have pH at ~7.5. In the first tank I ususally feed flakes and tablets for the corys, in the second tank I feed white mosquito larvae. From that I would expect more snails in the first tank, so I guess somefish are eating the snails.

The platys and tetras mostly eat at the surface, so is it the bristlenose or the corys that take the snails?

Thanks,
Allan