# I need a snail eater, any ideas?



## Jazander

Hey,

So my 10 gallon as a million little snails in it that rode on my live plants. They are eating my plants now and there is just so many. Does anyone have any suggestions on what kind of fish I could get to eat my snails? I was gonna get a dwarf puffer but I geuss he would try to eat my guppy, corys and betta? 
So I need some suggetions on a freshwater snail eater that can live in a 10 gallon. :-D


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## SinCrisis

1) dwarf puffers will not "eat" your guppies or betta, just stress them to the point of death.

2) only a few pest snails actually eat plants. They prefer softer foods like algae. Unless they are starving, your plant problems are probably from your tank and not the snails

3) in 10g, i would not recommend getting any new fish to eat the snails as most would be too big. Your options are: assassin snail, get one or 2, will keep your snail population in check. OR, the better solution, get some cucumbers, blanch them, drop them in the tank on a small dish right before your tank lights go off. Then pick pull them up in the morning, should have a bunch of snails on it. Then just toss them out.


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## BarbH

Also instead of using cucumbers you can also put in a leaf of lettuce doing the same as SinCrisis recommended with the cucumber. You will have to do this several times but you will be able to reduce your pest snail population.


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## Jazander

okay, what about crushing them and feeding then to my betta? is that a possibilty?


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## 1077

Jazander said:


> okay, what about crushing them and feeding then to my betta? is that a possibilty?


Betta is prolly already munching on those it want's to if it catches them outside of their shell. 
Crushing them and not cleaning/removing that which is not eaten would/could lead to water quality issues given the large number's of them that you report.
Would be OK to feed once a week or twice a week if the Betta shows interest. IMHO


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## ashokantony

Jazander said:


> Hey,
> 
> So my 10 gallon as a million little snails in it that rode on my live plants. They are eating my plants now and there is just so many. Does anyone have any suggestions on what kind of fish I could get to eat my snails? I was gonna get a dwarf puffer but I geuss he would try to eat my guppy, corys and betta?
> So I need some suggetions on a freshwater snail eater that can live in a 10 gallon. :-D


Mostly, even if your tank is over populated with snails now, you can get rid of them by feeding very less. If you fish are all top feeders, drop very little food so that it gets eaten by fish and nothing drops down. Use only floating food only. If you do that continuosly, the snails will vanish in due course. They will starve and population will come down a lot.

Most snail population are due to overfeeding only


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## Inga

I had a huge outbreak of Ramshorn snails when I was over feeding my tank intentionally to keep fry alive in a community tank. They DID eat my plants and killed many of them. It was an effort to get rid of them and took some time but it can be done. 

First I scooped as many as I could find (as I said there were a lot)

then I did the drop in bait (cucumber/lettuce) I even used the end of a piece of Mellon though I didn't turn off the lights. I was so infested at first that I dropped the piece in waited 5 minutes then took it out loaded full of snails. I repeated that a few times each night for awhile. 

This was after the first 5 minutes in









Thirdly, I got a handful of Assassin snails. I was told that they would only eat 1 snail per night but when I woke in the morning the floor of the tank was littered with empty Ramshorn snail shells. They must have been starving at the pet store. ha ha 

Now, my smaller tank is completely free of Ramshorns and my larger tank might have a few but it is rare to see any at all. My plants are now bouncing back too. I had to cute a huge amount out of there as the leaves were so damaged. If this is the type of snails you have, I agree, get rid of them or at the very least cut the numbers way way down.

Also, now that the numbers are way down, when I see one or two I do squish them and my Cories and Angels come running to eat them. I am sure your Betta would enjoy a snail or two but don't crush a hundred at a time because as mentioned above, your water quality will suffer. Good Luck!


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## redchigh

I still am not convinced that the snails eat healthy tissue... I think softer plants and growing snail populations are both symptoms of some background mechanism linked to overfeeding... Possibly high nitrates, possibly ammonia, or maybe even some sort of bacteria overpopulation...Or perhaps when you have too many snails, their slime suffocates the plant (weakens it) and them they munch...

One day I'll figure it out. 

I agree, limit the food (I feed my fish 4 times a WEEK. They are all perfectly healthy) get some assassin snails if you want, and bait if you want... Your snail population will shrink.

Or, an alternative would be to bait them and sell them to people online. (Might make a dollar or so for every few dozen you send out, people will pay shipping and handling.)


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## fryup

assasin snails are amazing i bought 1 for my 120L tank and after bout a week no snails .....altho when the assasin past away my snail population is starting to creap back up


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## Cluskey

sorry to barge in on somone elses post but would a dwarf puffer be safe with neon tetras, dwarf rainbowfish, cherry barbs, Kuhlis and BN pleco?
i also have a couple of guppys and danios but theyre being moved to a new home.


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## SinCrisis

unless its a large school of neons and rainbowfish, the puffer will probably harass them.


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## Cluskey

8 neons, 6 rainbows, was gonna get a few more neons tho


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## SinCrisis

you can try it... but DPs are pretty aggressive. I think most people would recommend against keeping DPs with other fish. I just reread your post and you have a couple of guppies and danios, those in small numbers will be harassed by the DP, esp the guppies. Mine tried to take on a betta through a plastic bag and the betta is several times bigger than the DP. These little things are fearless...


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## Cluskey

like i said the danios and guppys are being rehomed soon and not planning on getting the puffer until then.
Is there any other snail eater you could recommend, ive tried the cucumber stuff before but I would like a fish anyway just to watch them in action


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## SinCrisis

assassin snails are the best bet IMO. doesnt add too much to the bioload. I got 3 for a 46g tank, i only see baby MTS now and all the adult MTS are gone. They dont breed much either. However, if you have an overpopulation of snails, your overfeeding your tank. If you feed less, the snails breed less. What kind of snails do you have?


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## Cluskey

not sure exactly, theres a few different types actually all must have came in on my plants. As for over feeding Ive cut back already since last snail population surge but I was just away for 2weeks on holiday so mums been feeding them and snails have taken over again


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## SinCrisis

So just feed less and they population should die down.


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## Cluskey

just went out got 3 assassins. thanks for the info


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## fryup

trust me, you will see the change with in 2 days !!!...


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## Cluskey

Hope so although the guy at the LFS says that they will probably start on the snail eggs first as theyre an easier meal, I dont mind aslong as they do the job


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## SinCrisis

how big are they? mine were tiny when i got them and they took on the biggest MTS i had with no hesitation... My largest MTS were almost cm long, they were very big...


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## fryup

all the more for your assasin snails to eat


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