Fri Jun 20, 2008 10:20 am GMT   Reply      

My brothers 30 gallon planted tank is slowly being taken over by dwarf snails. Does anyone know what kind of fish eat these things? Or maybe a kind of shrimp? I hear amano shrimp might eat them. He doesnt want to completely get rid of them because they do suck a good job cleaning. When the light is off a whole army comes out. Any Ideas?

Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:21 am GMT   Reply      

loaches and dwarf puffers

Fri Jun 20, 2008 1:44 pm GMT   Reply      

I second that...loaches rock!

Fri Jun 20, 2008 2:18 pm GMT   Reply      

I foundout about a snail called an assassin snail and it eats other snails. Has anyone ever had one?

Fri Jun 20, 2008 3:56 pm GMT   Reply      

No I haven't heard of assassin snails but I'm 100% sure unless a mutant amano is starving it won't eat snails of any sort, doubtful even if it is starving.

I'm not really sure what you mean by dwarf snails, there's several common snails that plague FW tanks. Pond snails, Ramshorn Snails, and Malaysian Trumpet Snails or MTS. Pond snails are kind've a common snail shape. Ramshorn when looked at from the side....Look like, well. A Ram's Horn. Malaysian trumpet snails are cone shaped with spiraling color patterns, and have the hardest shells of the above mentioned. Dwarf Puffers don't have an easy time with these, and they're also the most noctournal of the 3. I don't know how clowns handle them.

I feel like I've said this 1000x but here goes again.
Any excess of organic food (decaying plants, algae, EXTRA FISH FOOD) will influence snail populations within a tank. The more excess food the more the population explodes.

A quick way to solve this if you're not interested in getting more fish that may not be compatible with his/your setup (ie, puffers/clown loaches) is to place a slice of cucumber or zuccini, or a piece of lettuce in your tank when you turn the lights off, and in the morning when you turn the lights on remove the cucumber with what should be attatched to it - a bunch of snails.

Fri Jun 20, 2008 9:16 pm GMT   Reply      

trumpet snails are usually the ones that hide in the substrate and come out in the masses at night, that is what i have read though......do a extreamly good gravel vaccume........ stir everything up so you cant see 2 inches into you tank massive water change along with it and then you should get rid of there food source..they will slowly start to die off, but make sure that you watch your water chemistry because with all thoes dying snails everything will slowly start to go outta wack, which means more water changes and good gravlel cleanings.
to me this seems that it should work, over time

Sat Jun 21, 2008 8:25 am GMT   Reply      

what about a chemical snail cleaner? All the copper based chemicals are suppose to kill them. The day I wrote this is the day when I am going to my LFS to find some snail killer for I have been attacked by pond snails.
Is this inhuman?

Sat Jun 21, 2008 9:56 am GMT   Reply      

They are pond snail little common looking things. Ive heard about the cucumber trick but my brother has an intank filter and during the day, most go in there so they are pretty easy to remove. He just wants something that will eat them so he doesnt have to deal with it.