# any fish that eat snails?



## KendraMc (Jul 20, 2011)

i have a recently unpopulated tank (last fish died recently) that, though nothing has been added for months, i am just recently seeing a lot of pond snails. i am planning on restocking it next week (sale on fish at local store) and am wondering if there is anything i can get that will eat the snails.

i have hard water (GH: 180, KH: 180, pH: about 8), the tank is a 29 gal, gravel substrate, a few plants. no fish picked out yet, but i'm looking for some reasonably easy to find and hardy fish.

thanks for any input.


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## corina savin (Jul 11, 2012)

There are many ways to get rid of snails if there are no fish in the tank. You may want to save the biofilter, so remove the media during treatment. Copper sulfate, alum, bleach. Several 100% water changes after that. Remove dead snails or they will seriously foul the water as they decompose


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## KendraMc (Jul 20, 2011)

i would prefer to not use chemicals if i can avoid it. looking around here i've noticed several people talking about assassin snails. are they easy to get and keep? what do they need if they manage to kill off all the pond snails i've got?


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## moghedan (Aug 19, 2013)

Easy to keep, sell to others extremely well. Usually easy to find in an aquarium club or online.

They eat fish food when they run out of snails. They live in the sand a lot, so you will not see them often. Very pretty when you do.


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## fish and feathers (Sep 22, 2014)

you can also trap the snails very easily and remove many of them that way. 

some people will just sink a piece of zucchini overnight and grab it in the morning, taking off all of the snails. 

it is also very easy to make a snail trap. just cut the top off a small plastic bottle and invert the top, sticking it back into the other end of the bottle. stick a piece of veggie inside, maybe a stone to sink it if necessary.

something like this:


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## KendraMc (Jul 20, 2011)

i think i will try the veggie method. a good starting part at least.


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## Misomie (Mar 12, 2012)

Rosy Barbs might work. Mine are snail assassins. They pluck snails right off the glass and eat them. They've even managed to kill bigger snails by flipping them over and eating them out of their shell.

I know this because I actually go out of my way to add those little pest snails and my darn fish always eat them all. I have maybe four that grew large enough not to be eaten and they drive my barbs nuts. My barbs often peck at their shells and try to eat them. I haven't had any snail blooms with these snail killers around. 

But yeah, if you're only looking for a temporary fish, stick with fish-less methods.


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## SirReal303 (Sep 30, 2013)

Personally I like loaches in my tanks that have snail issues. There's all kinds of loaches that'll eat snails. Clown loaches probably the most popular because it takes them yeeeeaaarrrssss to get large. Skunk loaches do a good job in small tanks because they max out at a real small size.


There's many more that'll eat snails but depends on what size tank and what kinda temperment you're lookin for. I have a pair of burmese red tail tiger loaches that are AGGRESSIVE and need to be kept with such but they'll also eat snails like there's no tomorrow.

Good luck.


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## rexpepper651 (Dec 25, 2012)

i used assassin snails. worked great


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## candymancan (Aug 16, 2013)

Get your some a couple clown loaches... they eat snails its a part of there natural diet.. or get a bunch of assassin snails (don't mix the two though as the locahes will eat the assasins too) loaches will probably be easier to find then assassin snails though


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## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

hi
unless you are going to heavily plant the tank,what's the problem ? with clown loaches they can in-fact grow quite fast,i have this going on now,
4 have stayed very small,one is growing very fast,the other thing is they need
to be in a large group for optimum health.
i like fish and feathers idea :-D
what fish are you thinking of having in there ?


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## KendraMc (Jul 20, 2011)

i have put in a few fish, i have 4 swordtails and 2 clown plecos and in a few weeks i will be getting a few more fish. i don't want to do loaches as they will hate my hard, alkaline water (which really limits the fish i can get). if the rosy barbs eat snails, i will consider them if i can find some. if not, i will look for an assassin snail. 

and i am doing a planted tank, only lightly at this point but i'm hoping to get more in there. 

i tried the cucumber trick, nothing touched the first one i put in, so i replaced it. the tank is at work, so i don't get to check on it over the weekend, and i left the cucumber in all weekend. i came back and only the peel was left. looks like the plecos found it.


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