getting rid of snails

[Smax]

can anyone tell me the best way to get rid snails?

[Ianab]

Start keeping loaches

Seriously, loaches natural food is snails. It's not the answer for everyone, but it's a good option for many tanks. There are several species of loaches that grow to various sizes, so you can keep a group of them in most tanks.

Otherwise, set up a snail trap thats baited with veges and catch them that way (and give them to someone that has loaches )

Ian

[Guest]

I've kept loaches and they never done a thing so know I take my fish out of the tank and use a chemical and its worked best.

[smidey]

clown loaches got rid of my snail infestation. when i cleaned my canister i found more snails which i tipped back into the tank. 30 mins & they were gone never to see them again.

if you have ever heard a "crack" sound, like a small stone hitting the glass, thats the clown loaches crushing something in their mouth.

[coelacanth]

actually that's the sound of them clicking the eye spines in their sockets

[David R]

I've kept loaches and they never done a thing so know I take my fish out of the tank and use a chemical and its worked best.

What kink of loaches?

I've never had a snail problem in any tank thats had a clown loach in it. In fact I'd take snails home from the LFS to feed them. There must have been a small population living in my canister filter (been running for about 5 years) because I put it on a tank with no loaches and in a couple of weeks there were snails everywhere!

[smidey]

actually that's the sound of them clicking the eye spines in their sockets

do they crush them with spines?? i have seen them pick up a snail, "crack" then parts of the snail came back out broken up.

[coelacanth]

the spines sit under each eye. All loaches have them. They use them for defence and communication (by clicking them). When erected they curve out to each side like boar's tusks. In a school of loaches you often hear them clacking their spines as they interact with each other, and yes it often does sound like glass cracking!

[smidey]

the spines sit under each eye. All loaches have them. They use them for defence and communication (by clicking them). When erected they curve out to each side like boar's tusks. In a school of loaches you often hear them clacking their spines as they interact with each other, and yes it often does sound like glass cracking!

interesting, as i said i saw mine crush a snail at the same time as the "click".

[Cheesejawa]

my honey gouramies keep my snails under control as they seem to be very good at seeking and destroying the eggs.

[coelacanth]

I'm not sure how the spines connect in the jaw (I have a Pakistani loach skull somewhere but I'm not sure where at the moment). Its possible the base of the spines are used in crushing snail shells, or it could just be they click the spines at the same time as crunching the shell with their teeth

[Guest]

I've kept clown loaches and skunk loaches and they both didn't eat them

[OscarBoy]

I've kept clown loaches and skunk loaches and they both didn't eat them

My experiance s differnt i proboley had 1000 plus snails i put 6 clown loaches in and in a week or 2 they were gone this was a while go though :roll:

[Guest]

yeah i tried loaches but then i got so annoyed with snails i decided to use a chemical

[Rix]

i had some clown loaches in my tank for a week and they didnt show any interest in eating the snails. so i crushed some to "teach" them what to do...2 weeks later and theres no sign of snails.

[David R]

Maybe the loaches were too well fed? You could try starve them for a couple of days.

[JK]

I introduced clown loaches in my last tank and they consumed all the snails pretty quick smart.

What about the old horse faced loach? do they consume snails??

[Caper]

Ahhhh, :oops: do the loaches eat the shells too??

Caper

[OscarBoy]

I think so

[bdspider]

no. my loaches eat the snails but the shells stay. i see them all flying about in the gravel vacuum (theyre too heavy to actually be sucked up )

[paekakboyz]

I've got three skunk loaches and they dealt to the snail explosion I had in my tank. when I do my water changes I often stick the siphon into a hard to reach area and have heaps of emplty snail shells swirl up - finally found out where they are hiding the bodies - loach mafia!!

I thought the clicking was them eating snails as well - I read that they make that sound when they are interacting and it lets them settle the groups hierarchy without actually getting physical and risk getting hurt.

Seems Zebra loaches are the loach least likely to get nippy (other than Clowns but they get big) but if you have a group they seem to play together and leave other fish alone.