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Hi everyone, I have the beginnings of a snail outbreak in my tank, which has 2 spotted cories, 1 juvenelle sailfin pleco, and 3 blackskirt tetras. I have read that the figure eight puffer can help clean up the snail population, but my understanding is that they can be aggressively nippy. Does this nippy behavier apply to the cories and pleco?Your input would help.
Thanks, Chris

Yes, it does. Besides, figure 8 puffers are brackish water fish and are happier in a brackish water setup.

Snail outbreaks are nornally cauased by over feeding or excess waste in my experience, but it depends how many you are seeing. I suggest a group of botia.

read the post in tank talk or speak easy about snail removal.

I suggest a group of botia.

Tank size would be interesting for any suggestions wouldnt it? And how it is filtered.

Hi!

Yeap Snail invasion are usually sign of overfeeding.... so you probably shall resolve that problem first before passing to the snail.

Depending on what puffer do you talk, some do grow large, some need brackish water, some live in freshwater, some migh harm your fish instead of the snail, finally some might be what you need but won't be able to survive in your tank because of several parameters.

Botia can also be a good idea, several dwarf species will also eat the snail and sort of regulate the population but they will never totally eradicate the problem.
Be careful also some of the dwarf species are nasty little fellows that might hurt your Corys...

What type of tank do you have, size, fourniture, water... and what fish are in and how many???

Cheers
Yann

puffers are brackish as everyone has said and snails are usually cuased fro over feeding also as everyone said but sometimes it just happens and they break out and they're everywhere . But if u have the room get some clown loaches as they are an excellent fish and will the clear the snails up in a matter of days.But having said that clown loaches like to be in groups 3+ otherwise they can get very stressed and ill so make sure you have enough room for all of them before u buy some.

p.s. they will get along fine with your other fish as i have 4 in with some panda corys a julli cory 2 bristlenose.

A much better choice of puffer would be Colomesus asellus. It is a fresh water species that get to be about 14cm. It is found throughout the Amazon basin, including waters were corys are found. I find that they do not have the bad habits of some of the others. If you do decide to get one, you will need to feed it well for a week or so. The ones I have seen come into Aquarium stores are very malnurished. Because of popularity, they do not stay in the store long enough for the shop keepers to correct this. They might not take flake right away, but regular feeding with brin shrimp will get them healthy. Put some high quality flake in with the brin shrimp feedings, and within a few days, they will be going after it with vigour. I have never had a problem keeping them with corys. I currently have a small one with some C. adolfi.