Fighting Snails in A Tanganyika Lamprologus Tank

[wynx]

Hi guys,

I have this problem, I have a snail population explosion in my 1.5ft shellies tank. Here's the irony, in a tanganyika tank, it seems that the water hardness due to the addition of Calcium carbonate actually help the snails strive that is because in the tank right now, there are no predators, their shells does not disintegrate because of lower pH like in a planted tank.

Long story short, I would like to ask you guys out here if you know of any fishes I can add into the tank to control the snail population. Not sure if puffers are suited or not, since they are not meant to be living in alkaline waters.

[doppelbanddwarf]

Maybe you could try assassin snails ,Anentome helena? Even though they are snails too they reproduce much slower and are excellent at clearing other snails.

[wynx]

Not another snail, please! You should see how bad is my infection

[illumnae]

i had a really bad infestation of pond snails in the hundreds or thousands. Put in 5 assassin snails and now I have 0 pond snails. My assassin snails now number less than 20 still.

[wynx]

Maybe you could try assassin snails ,Anentome helena? Even though they are snails too they reproduce much slower and are excellent at clearing other snails.

Where do I find such assassins?

[illumnae]

i got mine from C328. If you're able to collect at my convenience I can pass you some of the 20+ that I can fish from my tanks haha

[barmby]

Use Botia Striata They love snails till no end. Currently Singapore has no stock. I am waiting.

[wynx]

Use Botia Striata They love snails till no end. Currently Singapore has no stock. I am waiting.

Keke...with water hardness hovering around 12 dH, it is no wonder that the snails are striving. This botia striata suitable for alkaline hard water or not?

[David Moses Heng]

Use Botia Striata They love snails till no end. Currently Singapore has no stock. I am waiting.

i spotted some at my lfs.

HOng yang @ cck Loop blk 306

[es88k]

hope that this can help a little....

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=54201

Illumnae's contributions as well....hehe

EK

[barmby]

I think they should do fine as they are not demanding like apistogramma.

altum_lover76, thanks. i think they will be all gone by the time I reach there in a day or two.

[fishking]

I feel puffer fish should be able to take some hardness in water. They are the best snail killers.

[Mez]

They're also tail eaters!

[fishking]

They will only eat the tails once the snail population is down and thy have nothing to eat...

[SGFrontosa]

Can try small green puffer, it will eat the snails.
Just remove the green puffer once the problem is solved.

[vinz]

Can try small green puffer, it will eat the snails.
Just remove the green puffer once the problem is solved.

Lesson: read the whole thread before posting. It's a high GH tank... the puffers won't like it.

[trece]

if you are still looking for a solution, i believe there is a sale of assassin snails in the marketplace at the moment.
assassin snails - fantastic stuff. no care needed, just throw them in until the snails are cleared. but anyone here knows what happens after they eat every snail in the tank if you do not feed them with more snails after that? would they just die and problem solved?

[SGFrontosa]

Lesson: read the whole thread before posting. It's a high GH tank... the puffers won't like it.

I was actually thinking the puffer might survive long enough to solve the snails problem then remove the puffer.
Not as a long term tankmate.
My bad if it is not a good idea at all.

[barmby]

I thought puffer don't really care about the GH. Anyway, I have no experience with high GH tank.

[Shaihulud]

Assasin snails work quite well for me, 3 of them controlled the population of snails in a 2ft tank quite well, they also breed, but very slowly and look pretty.