# Fish that eats snails



## hiyamoose (Nov 27, 2010)

Got WAY to many snails going. I've done my best to remove them when cleaning the tank, and even threw in some assassin snails. I think the assassins have developed reverse Stockholm syndrome and seem to let the other snails just replicate.

What can I put in there that will eat the snails? I have a very heavily planted aquarium.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Loaches like botia, clown etc. eat these and keep your tank rid of them. They will also eat your assassins. Are you feeding too much?


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## D9Vin (May 12, 2011)

Yoyo loaches are sweet fish if you got a tank big enough. What size are you working with.


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## TAB (Feb 7, 2009)

drawf puffer, but they are a PITA, but they will make quick work of the snails.


are you sure you got true assassins?


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## kingb4c0 (Dec 24, 2009)

Assassin snails can take care of your problem but they need time. I don't know how many you have but a good start is add 10-20 and wait a couple of months. I have assassins snails in all my tanks and they are priceless keeping the mts under control.


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## CL0NE1 (Jul 27, 2011)

do assasin snails attack nerite snails?


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

CL0NE1 said:


> do assassin snails attack nerite snails?


Yes! We have a person in our club that would NEVER keep assassins. She has witnessed them hunting down shrimp (maybe while sleeping or molting) and killing them. She has kept many different types of freshwater shrimp for years. She doesn't post about it anymore since she can't stand the flaming she gets from others saying it's not true. Anyway.. be careful...


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## backflipfrontflip (Jun 17, 2011)

I have heard they will have a damn good go at Nerites, even if it takes them a while.

Have you figured out why you have so many snails? Is there lots of extra food that they are snacking on? You could try fasting the tank/ feeding the fish a bare minimum to remover the food source of the snails.


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## alphaprime1 (Sep 20, 2011)

Had similiar issue. 1st cut back on feeeding - that will help more than you think. 2nd Clown Loaches worked great for cleaning out the tank I used them in and pulled from another tank to see how they'd do with snails introduced and still no problem. Snails will hide in daylight in your gravel, so place a piece of lettuce or zuchini in tank - turn off lights and be ready in morning to pull lots of snails out and to get an idea of how many you may really have. While it may seem cruel please do not flush your snails as they are not native to most areas and once introduced can do unknown damage. Just bag and throw away or better yet offer on here to people who can use them as feeders. 
Good luck.


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## dstrong (Feb 13, 2011)

I would not recommend clown loaches unless your tank is suitable for a football sized fish they should also be in groups of five or so. I wouldn't put them in anything less than 125g. Research any loach you are interested in to make sure it would be happy/healthy in your tank. Just throwing loaches in your tank without knowing their needs would be like throwing discus in any random tank, not a good idea. The baiting method I've found to be the easiest if you are overwhelmed.


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## hiyamoose (Nov 27, 2010)

Thanks for all the recommendations. It's definitely not from overfeeding. 1x/day and it's gone within 2-3 minutes. Got @ 8 assassins in there. They're true assassins. Maybe I will pick up some more. Got plenty of empty snail shells in there. So I know they're hard at work. Lots of plants = lots of places to lay eggs.


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## john borr (Sep 18, 2010)

I had a betta that was a good snail killer. cichlids like them but present their own problems.


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## TheWoo (Oct 14, 2011)

I have 8 clown loaches in a 150 and they love nothing more than me throwing a handful of snails in for them. However as someone has already said they are not particular about uprooting your plants and have special needs of their own. 

You can always bait the snails and mail them to me, my clowns will love you forever


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## AquaBarren (Nov 6, 2009)

Chain loaches can help. They are small, entertaining loaches in their own right, so no downside to having a school of them. They did not eliminate a mts problem in my tank, but they did eliminate snails from daytime view and seemed to reduce the problem overall. 

I have had assassin and the may be the only sure way to eliminate your problem. They breed slowly, so keeping them under control isn't very hard. I haven't observed them attacking merited, but I imagine they will attack anything that they can catch up to. But again, you can keep their numbers low once your problem is solved.


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## Tetraholic the 3rd (Nov 15, 2011)

Some fish that eat snails are:

All types of botia/loaches.
Some gouramis and bettas.
All puffer fish.
To be honest though, any fish will eat a snail. Depending on what you do with it.
I crush some of my snails every once in a while and my serpae tetras, and bengal loaches 
eat them right up.
Like others say, you could use bait like lettuce or something to reduce the population.
If your that desperate, chemicals are a option but be sure to read the directions CAREFULLY!!!


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## TooManyTanks (Dec 4, 2011)

Id also take them. I have a 18 gallon that i let over populate and let my convicts, ebjd, flowerhorns, and angela feed on. My flowerhorns go crazy for tem! Lol


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## Holly12 (Dec 6, 2011)

Try Assassin Snails.

Or, make a snail trap. Cut the top off a water bottle and then invert it. Put some veggies inside (weigh it down too) and leave it in the tank over night... you'll have lots of trapped snails in the morning. For some reason they can get in but are too dumb to get back out. I've done this and it worked for me.

If you don't want to make the trap, just put some zucchini, yam or spinach in the tank overnight. It will be covered with snails in the morning, and you can take the veggie (along with all the snails on it) out of the tank.

I generally don't recommend getting a snail eating fish, because most of them grow too large. Also, once they've done their job, most people don't really want them anymore - it's probably best to find different methods to eliminate the snails.


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## TooManyTanks (Dec 4, 2011)

+1 on the snail trap idea. I never tried the veggie trick. Always too worried of te mess to be made lol. 


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