Too many snails

[jklnbrg]

In my planted 150 I am noticing waaaaay too many snails (averagem ordinary snails). What do ya'll do to cut snail populations?

John?

[Ralph]

Hi John,
They will overpopulate.

I was having trouble catching some cories in a planted tank so I had the bright idea of putting a small plastic bag, with the mouth propped open, on the tank bottom overnight. I used beefheart as bait. No cories in the trap in the morning, but 90% of the snails from the tank were in the bag.

Somebody might have an easier option though.

[Wahter]

Clown loaches will gobble up a snail population. Just be careful if you have them in a planted tank - sometimes they will dig up the gravel rooting for ummm... roots and sometimes they like to nibble on the new leaves of plants.

[Very Fishy]

This might not be an option for you as your tank is considerable larger than mine and being a show tank, you will want to leave it as is but I recently converted my tank to a barebottom and when I removed the gravel and rocks, all the snails went with it.

[Debbie]

I have clown loaches to control snails. Most of the other botias are also snail eaters also if you want a smaller fish and they aren't schoolers either as are clowns. Just stay away from the orange finned loaches as they can be rather aggressive.

[chavez720]

Two things to try:

(1) Stop feeding so much!! - I have noticed that with regular "OVERFEEDINGS" I get a population explosion of snails. When I go back and feed alot less the snails will go away rather quickly! Any uneaten food is a feast for snails.

(2) Loaches (botia) - Yo Yo or tiger loaches stay relatively small and have rid my show tank of snails. I

personally stay away from the clown loaches as they get extremely large for a show tank. As they got bigger they had a knack for chasing everybody, esp. the discus, away from food. Most fish went hungry after the clowns had their share. Uprooted plants and the list goes on!!!

[jeep]

I've heard a lower ph will get rid of snails. It disolves their shells.

I like the loach idea. I once had snails and a single Zebra loach got rid of all of them and he was totally friendly with my discus.