I have Khuli Loaches that kept the bottom-dwelling Malayan Trumpet Snails under control. Not sure if they eat them but probably they also scavenge for the same leftover food.Originally Posted by bryan
Otherwise, I used ghost shrimps to control Ramshorn snails.
koah fong
Juggler's tanks
Can I check if this ghost shrimps the same as malayan shrimps ? Or, Pinochio shrimps ?
For 2 weeks, have been trying to search on more infomation on them as I would like to add them into my tank to control these small snails, too.
Which lfs is selling them ? Are they agressive or will grow big ? Can they be mixed with cherry shrimps ?
Thank You.
Last edited by Justikanz; 13th Sep 2006 at 15:19.
Ghost shrimp is the feeder shrimp you find at the LFS. But do note to quarantine them first as they are usually kept in very bad conditions.
Snail's population explosion is due to they have supply of food. Control the food excess and algae, their population will get down fastly.
Anyway, snail take part in the balance of the aquarium ecosystem, having an important rule indeed.
Enjoying with my snails
Greets from Spain
Last edited by Justikanz; 14th Sep 2006 at 09:28.
Thank you Bryan. Have you kept them in your planted tank before ? Are they agressive ? Will they attack Cherry shrimps & other inhabitants ? Heard from my friend that these Ghost shrimps attack his guppy ! Do not want them to start feasting on the Cherries after they are done with the snails
For your information (and your amusement), I have gone through great lenghts to obtain and translate the aquarium.ger "How To Get Rid of Snails FAQ". It is the usual response to the "I got too many snails" question, even after all this years it has been around. Here we go:
THE ULTIMATE "KILL THE SNAILS FAQ" OF AQUARIUM.GER
Self-declared FAQ keeper: Bernd Liedke 2:2480/404
1. Intro
2. Questions and Answers
3. How to contribute
1. Intro
Q: Why this FAQ?
A: I can't stand it anymore!
Q: Why is this FAQ so important?
A: Because empiric research of aquarium.ger shows that this topic is affecting aquaristics like no other.
Q: When will this FAQ be posted?
A: If someone just as much as THINKS the word "snail".
2. Questions and Answers
Q: I got too many snails. What shall I do?
A: Throw less food in.
Q: I heard that high-powered current helps getting rid of snails. Is that correct?
A: Yes. It also helps getting rid of fish. Throw less food in.
Q: I got too many snails. Should I get a puffer fish?
A: No. The puffer will eat the snails ... and then you. Throw less food in.
Q: I've heard that collecting snails and their eggs for 30 minutes a day helps against snails?
A: No. Throw less food in.
Q: My zoo salesman recommends a canister of "Water Terror" for only $198. Should I buy this?
A: Yes, if you are willing to drink a glass of it, too. Otherwise: Throw less food in.
3. How to contribute
Q: Can I help to extend this FAQ?
A: Yes. Proceed as follows:
a) Write your question into chapter 2
b) Copy the answer from the first Q&A.
c) Save the file
d) Mind the answer
Hahaha, funny. But are they sure on the food thing?
guys, if you have a planted tank, then use a horseface loach (ONE will do!) this guy is a substrate vacuum cleaner and I think he basically eats all the snails and youngs, so after a while, NOTHING is left. In a planted tank you will not see him very often, and even though it can be up to 3-4 inches it is very slim and unobstrusive.
why I don't do garden hybrids and aquarium strains: natural species is a history of Nature, while hybrids are just the whims of Man.
hexazona · crumenatum · Galleria Botanica
Even malayan trumpet snails?
Haven't seen a horseface loach in the market recently...
a 2-3 inch horseface loach will filter lapis gravel sized particles through their gills, so any snails that size will be eaten.
why I don't do garden hybrids and aquarium strains: natural species is a history of Nature, while hybrids are just the whims of Man.
hexazona · crumenatum · Galleria Botanica
You are aware of the fact that those can grow up to 30 cm and over time need something in the range of a 200 liter tank, sí?
Even if I may sound like a broken record: Removing the snails by force means removing the symptom, not the problem. In fact, I have seen quite a few tanks that have "tilted" after the snails have been removed as there was noone left to take care of unneccessary nutrition. The consequence was massive nitrite / nitrate / algae buildup.
in a confined tank they probably stop growing after around 4-inches. I have had one for couple years and it never grew bigger than 4-5 inches.
we get rid of the snails, and use shrimps instead. I don't understand the nutrient part, isn't the plants doing that?
why I don't do garden hybrids and aquarium strains: natural species is a history of Nature, while hybrids are just the whims of Man.
hexazona · crumenatum · Galleria Botanica
Granted, still too large for many tanks.
Beyond a certain point, plants cannot make use of the nutrients any more. Even plants can get "full". Even worse, dead plant parts become "nutrient" themselves. Snails are amongst the most efficient "housekeepers" you can get. If anything, overpopulation of snails shows you your tank does need the housekeeping and easily supports a bunchload of snails with its food offering.I don't understand the nutrient part, isn't the plants doing that?
Snail infestations most often take place in lightly planted smaller tanks whose owners can't (yet) estimate correctly how much food to put in. Most people starting out with fish tanks don't really know how little food fish really need, and, frankly, some won't ever learn and continue to dump way too much food.
size wise I guess to each his own. I hardly ever see my 4-inch horseface in my tank, but often enough to know he is still aliveI prefer this loach over others due to its solitary nature and not being too boisterous.
are you in Europe? do you use many shrimps in your tank? based on what I see in US/Europe-based forums, people keep shrimps in small numbers. Here we seem to use shrimp in place of snails for housekeeping purposes.
However, keeping snails around just because people couldn't learn how to feed sparingly sound like the same problem, you are fixing the symptom not the problem.
why I don't do garden hybrids and aquarium strains: natural species is a history of Nature, while hybrids are just the whims of Man.
hexazona · crumenatum · Galleria Botanica
Yes. I'm in the european part of Germany.
True. Shrimps aren't nearly as common here. One reason is that fishkeeping is usually done on a "the bigger the better" basis here, everything smaller than a 4ft tank is considered a "breeding tank" and usually smiled upon. So there's no big tradition of starting out with very small shrimp-only tanks. The other would be that most tanks over here are very simply planted tanks with very traditional setups. There is still very little equipment for small tanks, and if so, it is very expensive.do you use many shrimps in your tank? based on what I see in US/Europe-based forums, people keep shrimps in small numbers. Here we seem to use shrimp in place of snails for housekeeping purposes.
This is slowly changing, however. There's a significant boom of "nano tanks" with its respective equipment, and people are slowly starting to use shrimp. Shrimps are still very expensive (about US$3.50 to US$5 for a CRS in a pet store) but I expect this to change over the next few years.
You got me mistaken. I am not advocating keeping on feeding while keeping the snails. That would be keeping both problem and symptom. I am recommending reconsidering your feeding habits if snails start to overpopulate. I.e: Not removing the snails by force, but rather by effect.However, keeping snails around just because people couldn't learn how to feed sparingly sound like the same problem
well we also do not use CRS as cleaning crew!however we have very cheap common shrimps (not feeder shrimp) that sells for a bag of 100 for 5 euro, so we simply dump in hundreds of these "malayan" shrimp. besides they are quite cute looking.
why I don't do garden hybrids and aquarium strains: natural species is a history of Nature, while hybrids are just the whims of Man.
hexazona · crumenatum · Galleria Botanica
feeder shrimp? its malayan or ghost shrimp??? paiseh but im confused now. been following this thread for a whilewell we also do not use CRS as cleaning crew!
malayan are pretty nice to keep for viewing
haha definitely don't see them as "feeder", but well they ARE cheap
mine changes color depending on environment. got black/yellow ones and reddish cherry-looking ones, bluish ones as well
and oh yeah i totally agree with the feeding habits to control snail population part
used to have a minor snail problem but since i reduced feeding frequency (now i feed the fauna pellets and algae wafers once every 2 days), i can barely see any snail now. if i stare very hard i might find 1 or 2 snails and thats all
Last edited by Justikanz; 28th Sep 2006 at 10:00.
We don't have those at all. Usually, the offer only includes CRS, sunset or riceland shrimp. I'd love to have common shrimp for my little tank, but I guess they are just not lucrative for our local pet stores.
i realise shrimp over in the West are quite expensively compared to us over here.
An eg:
http://www.azgardens.com/shrimpfactory.php
Those prices are SG$, right?
If I compare Amanos (€ 3,00 over here, that's about SG$6,00), so I guess that makes your shrimp roughly a third the price of ours. Sigh, but, could be worse. Which ones are the "common shrimp" you were talking about up the page?
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