# How to control but not eliminate snails



## BurgerKing (Jul 1, 2008)

I'm starting a 20g long planted tank and have started to see some tiny little snails on my glass. I've counted 5 so far and they're all really tiny, around 1 mm long.

So my question is how could i control the amount of snails but not completely eliminate them from my system??

Added info(don't know if this will help):
plants- green cabomba, and moss ball
fish-none yet
substrate-gravel
filter-HOB penguin 150
heater-stealth
light-65 watt

As i said, i don't want to completely eliminate the snails but would like to know how i could control the number of them, through certain fish or whatever.

Thanks for any replies.


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Never overfeed and always keep substrate pristine. Mine ate my plants though, so I don't know how to keep them from reproducing with plants.


----------



## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

I have a group of Steindachneri (Red Hump Geo) in a 125 gal tank and they are excellent for eating snails... I have to remove a ton of empty snail shells with each water change, but I rarely see any on the glass... This has been going on for many moths so i do not believe that they will ever kill off all of the snails...


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Oh yeah, the empty shells are a real problem for my python. Small and light enough to get sucked up, and they tend to clog it at the sink end (which is one flight down for me). I've taken to doing a first wave with a regular siphon to remove the shells so the python will flow smoothly while removing the rest of the water during gravel cleaning.


----------



## BurgerKing (Jul 1, 2008)

Toby_H said:


> I have a group of Steindachneri (Red Hump Geo) in a 125 gal tank and they are excellent for eating snails... I have to remove a ton of empty snail shells with each water change, but I rarely see any on the glass... This has been going on for many moths so i do not believe that they will ever kill off all of the snails...


Haha, too bad i have a 20g. You know how synos are like the perfect fry patrol in African Cichlid tanks, I'm looking for the equivalent of that for my snails.

And I don't think I'm too bad for overfeeding with my other tanks, no fish in this one yet so I don't have to worry for a little while.


----------



## leopartner123 (Jun 29, 2009)

I have your same problem. I think these small snails showed up from the new plants i bought. I even tried cleaning them off and picking off the dirt and what not. I heard the Kuhli loach will hunt down and eat all the snails. My boss at work said he had one and it ate all the 50 snails he had. So I will probably buy one of those loaches eventually. Anyone else know if this is true?


----------



## planenut007 (Mar 21, 2009)

Clown loaches do a fine job as well, but they will outgrow a 20 gal after a while, they do in fact grow rather slow.


----------



## BurgerKing (Jul 1, 2008)

planenut007 said:


> Clown loaches do a fine job as well, but they will outgrow a 20 gal after a while, they do in fact grow rather slow.


Good to hear, I have one that's growing out in my 28g that I could use.


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

The clowns also like to be in groups of 6.


----------



## Manoah Marton (Feb 17, 2009)

I have a Kuli Loach in my tank, no unwanted snails, ever, so this might not be the solution.
What you could do is, every time the snail population is getting out of hand, put a pice of cucumber in the tank, and remove the snails clinging to it leaving the others. The other messier way is to remove the egg sacs when you find them. Last time I had an investation, before I got the loach, I by hand took every snail I could find out of the tank and mushed them. Gross, but it worked.


----------



## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

Why do you want to keep some snails?

If it is to eat scraps and stir the sand, Kulhi Loaches will serve this same purpose...


----------



## planenut007 (Mar 21, 2009)

Yes clowns do better in groups, but I have had happy clowns in groups of three or four in smaller tanks.


----------



## BurgerKing (Jul 1, 2008)

I'm aware that clowns like being kept in groups, and mine was in one until the other three died(still not sure why, it was a while ago). Since then I've tried introducing more only to have my clown loach harass them.

I like the cucumber idea, but I'm beginning to think I should just get rid of them all, there are already a ton of them and it's only been about a week.

Thanks for all the ideas and replies.


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Yes, every egg clutch produces dozens of individuals.


----------



## natalie559 (Dec 6, 2007)

Manoah Marton said:


> put a pice of cucumber in the tank, and remove the snails clinging to it leaving the others.


The above plus not overfeeding works well for me in my planted tank.


----------



## msjinkzd (Mar 18, 2009)

I would recommendmaking a trap to bait out unwanted portions. You can crush these unwanted snails and feed them to your fish. I use a water bottle to make my trap. Cut it just where it begins to flare then invert the neck of hte bottle. Drop some bait into the trap, put it in at lights out, remove a few hours later and voila, lots of snails for crushed up treats for your fish. This will not decimate your population of snails, but remove quantities at once so that they do not reproduce as quickly.

As mentioned above, keepin ghte substrate well vacuumed, y our plants healthy, and not overfeeding is the best means of control.


----------

