# Over Population of Trumpet Snails



## sunster (Jun 21, 2004)

:x Too many...they are taking over and I've tried everything........clown loaches, all they do is hide, feeding only once per day and a limited amount etc.

75G planted tank 
5 angelfish
3 clown loaches (purchased to "clean")
10-15 various community fish
4 non-aggressive cichlids

Any ideas?


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## hollyfish2000 (Aug 23, 2007)

Sigh. I feel your pain. I have malaysian trumphet snails in one of my planted tanks. There seems to be population surges and then retreats. I took the approach of removing by hand. The smaller ones can be seen on the plants and the larger ones I can find by moving the substrate around (or gravel vac'g) and rmoving those by hand as well. I personally did not find that how much I fed had much of an impact. I was very aggressive at removing them and they are not nearly as obvious as before. Some have mentioned putting a lettuce leaf on the bottom, turning out the lights, waiting for the little buggers to swarm it and then removing it. I didn't need to try it, but it was my next step . . . Good luck


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## lloyd (Aug 24, 2005)

remove fish and all plants worth saving, crash the temp down to 60, and watch them die. siphon the dead, add a fresh carbon pack for a week, and wash your plants of egg, before reintroducing all back to the tank.


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## 96firebird (Apr 5, 2008)

I net them out of the 30 gallon and put them in the 55. Oscar LUVS them!


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## lotsofish (Feb 28, 2008)

Crush the shells of a few of them to make it easier on the loaches. Once they get a taste for them they will try harder. The trumpet snails are harder for the loaches to get through the shell so if this doesn't work you're suck with trying the methods already described.


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## rogersb (May 21, 2007)

buy bigger loaches. I had one 5" clown and never saw any. My tropheus tank is running wild with them so every week I would grab a ton out and throw them in for the loach, he loved them.


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## heylady (Oct 14, 2004)

Get yourself a small glass jar. Make sure you remove any labels and glue, clean the inside, rinse well, you get the idea! Add some pellets, bits of veggies, any kind of food really. Just before lights out, put the jar in your tank laying on it's side. You want the opening of the jar flush with the substrate so you might have to bury it a little or lay rocks up against the opening. Mainly what you are trying to do is to make it easy for the snails to get in but you also want to keep the fish out. In the morning remove the jar with snails and dump. Repeat as necessary. 
It has been my experience that the population of snails is directly related to the amount of food fed to the fish. Too many snails = too much food fed. Try and reduce the amount and frequency of feedings to keep their population low.


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## tominator (Nov 21, 2008)

The guys at my LFS swear by these guys









The dwarf/pigmy/pea puffer. They are agressive snail hunters but according to them need to be fed daily blood worms, their sort of like humming birds in that they have a high metabolism and if they aren't feed out of despiration they'll supplament their diet with fish fins. Apparently these little guys have a bad wrap, but according to my LFS if they are feed daily they can be quite peaceful, of course due to their smaller size they may become fish food for your larger fish.


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