Snails!

[meerkat]

It seems like some bros will try all means to get new fanciful/colourful snails and try to breed them while others from the opposite camp like myself show no mercy in terminating their existence when found.

Have tried many ways like manual removals, bait tempting and reducing food introduction but found all not so effective.

The only way I did not try is what many bros recommended: introducing clown loaches/puffer fishes to feast on them. The reason why was the fear, maybe unfounded, of the potential danger these guys might pose to my shrimps.

I know snails serve a good purpose in reducing algae but with a dedicated crew or Yamatos/Otos performing this fulltime duty, I do not really appreciate their additional "assistance". Thanks but no thanks.

Any bros got any better solutions or got comments on this?

[Shaihulud]

Dwarf Puffer love shrimps almost as much as snails, I would classify them as generall unsafe for shrimps. I find manual removal by baiting with fish food in a shallow bowl useful, but then I am not aiming for total eradication.

[meerkat]

Seeing that my tank is now overhwelmed with ramshorns, I have just bought two mini-puffers from Polyart during lunch to try out tonight if they will attack them.

Crossing my fingers that they will leave my shrimps alone...

[EvolutionZ]

i'm quite sure they will atttack the shrimps as well.. good luck.

[meerkat]

Thought they are of smaller size then the normal ones, their mouth will not be be big enough to make snacks out the shrimps.

Got this chilling feeling you might be right....

[EvolutionZ]

they have super power mouths bro... they will whack the shrimp and tear it into pieces..

[meerkat]

Heard of their marine counterparts with super powerful jaws which can bite off hard corals.

Which was why I am very hesitant to introduce them into my shrimp tank if not out of desperation...

My plan is that I will still put them in and observe closely if they mount any attacks on the little guys.

If they do, I will scoop the mini-puffers out and put them in my fish tank till they retire

Hope they will not be bothering their fish neighbours then.

[gemo82]

I have been keeping DP to keep the snail population in my tank in control, and indeed it served the purpose so well that now I have to buy snails to add to my tank to feed them once in a while. That made me wonder why I got a DP in the first place, but their cute behaviour and character proves their worth for a permanent stay in the tank.

I have yamato shrimps in the tank with the DP and no harm has been done so far. Basically, they both mind their own business. Fish fries or baby shrimps on the other hand will quite definitely be in danger. But then again, they are always in danger from other tank occupants, so I usually quarantine them.

Still, it is not advisable to have puffer if you keep shrimps, for you will not know when they may decide that it is food. More so if you are keeping expensive CRS.

[EvolutionZ]

i believe they will finish off the snails first before feasting on shrimps... therefore you can quickly remove the puffers once you see no more snails in your tank..

[Quixotic]

There are different species of snails, some are kept as pets while some are considered as pests. Most will consider them as pests once their population explodes in your tank, totally overwhelming it, a very ugly sight. However, it has to be noted different species of snails have different breeding strategies, therefore some snails will overrun your tank and some will not.

Hermaphrodite snails (i.e. having male and female sex organs in a single snail) are likely the types that will overwhelm your tank. Their population explosion is typically the result of available excess food. If food is available easily (e.g. caused by overfeeding), then they will increase their population very quickly. Controlling the amount of food available to them will allow you to control their numbers.

Using fishes or other fauna to can help reduce the snail population, but:
1. they have their own requirements, e.g. dwarf puffers (DP) will absolutely take frozen or live food only,
2. they may not be compatible with your tank setup, e.g. DPs are aggressive and may harass other fishes, or some loaches are known to dig the substrate and uproot plants, or
3. it doesn't solve the issue of overfeeding, if that is the reason for population explosion of snails, i.e. overfeeding can cause deterioration of water quality.

If some of you are still doubting the potential aggressiveness of the DP, then you are horribly mistaken. Here are a few examples:

Video (1): DP attacking a ghost shrimp. Although the shrimp here seems to be dead in the video, the author mentioned that the shrimp was alive when the attack started. No reason to disbelieve the author as this behaviour has been noted by other DP keepers.

Our puffers are going to town on this poor ghost shrimp. The poor guy was still alive while I was filming. They took off all his legs to keep him from moving. Wicked!

YouTube - Dwarf Puffer Attack!!!

Video (2): DP eating tadpoles. There is not a lot of difference between the sizes of dwarf shrimps compared with tadpoles. They can be aggressive to fauna much larger than their size.
YouTube - Dwarf Puffer Eats Tadpoles

From http://www.dwarfpuffers.com/ -> Tankmates,

Shrimp - It's basically a gamble with shrimp. Some dwarves don't even notice them, while others will rip them to shreds within minutes! I have had a great deal of success keeping Amano Shrimp with my Dwarf Puffers so far, but I know that as soon as the puffers find out the shrimp are tasty, that will be the end of their peaceful coexistence! I would suggest buying some ghost shrimp from the local fish store and giving it a shot. Ghost shrimp are a very inexpensive feeder food, so if your puffers eat them, you're not out much money and the dwarves have gotten a great meal out of it. If they don't eat them, then the shrimp will make an excellent "cleanup crew" for your puffer tank.... scavenging the bottom and cleaning up any leftover food.

I have been keeping DPs for sometime now and the above is actually possible. However, you really have to ensure that your DPs are never hungry, keep them well fed at all times, otherwise they may turn the attention on the dwarf shrimps (or harass other fishes). If you even forget to feed them for a day, then the risk and possibility of attacking the dwarf shrimps are there. It is by no means the fault of the DPs, as it is only their natural behaviour.

[meerkat]

At the very last moment, I chickened out and did not put the 2 mini-puffers inside the shrimp tank but into the communal fish tank.

And after watching the videos posted by bro Quixotic, I am 200% glad I did the above.