Snails! emergency!

[Jayrod7]

ok heres my probelem. I noticed one of my snails getting on top of the other snail and they started jurking around. i saw this little white tentacle thing go inside the others shell. i am pretty sure this was mating......

anyways last night i noticed around 8 pods of eggs. 2 are a bright white, 5 darker, and 1 is an almost black color.

i saw the same thing as before (snails getting together) last night again. i want to keep a couple of the snails but i dont want an army of snails running, er sliding around.

 

[Shaunna]

Remove all the eggs you can see and then remove any snails that you can find. they will keep coming back. What tank is this in? IF you could ask your lfs about buying a clown loach and then returning him once he has eaten all the snails up. IT wouldn't take him long. All your tanks are too small for an adult clown loach so you would definitely have to make sure you could return him. Good luck, I am having the same problem right now!!


edit... oh, and make sure you aren't overfeeding your fish!! That makes for a snail brothel!!!

 

[Pure]

Yup what you saw was indeed mating.

Separating them is really the only sure fire way to prevent more babies.

 

[hyunelan2]

You don't have to worry about the clown loach outgrowing your tank in a week. In that 29g he could probably live comfortable for a year or so, giving you adequate time to find him a new home if the LFS won't 'lease' a fish.

 

[Shaunna]

Hyunelan, thanks for that tidbit. I have been wanting a clown loach since before I even set my 29 gallon up. I didn't know they could live that ling ina 29 gallon. Maybe after I get everything done with the 29 I will go ahead and try to find a really small one, too. Jayrod, I would suggest you to definitely get a clown loach and let it eat all the snails, remove the shells from the tank and then since you wanted a snail go and get 1 apple snail. (it is the apple snails that have to have two to reproduce, right?).

 

[Jayrod7]

sadly i dont think a clown loach would survive. i forgot to mention this is my 3 gallon planted. i saw the snails mating again last night except all 4 of the snails that are visible were all in the same clump(ugh)

 

[Shaunna]

Could you not just get a small one and let him eat up the snails and then put him in the 29 gallon? I mean it wouldn't take him long at all to make a quick meal of those snails. I don't know if the samll ones eat snails like the adults do or not. I am sure someone else will chime in about that one!!

 

[FroggyFox]

Well Shaunna the only issue with that is that clown loaches like to school...so you better be sure you have plenty of room in there.

 

[Shaunna]

Ahhh, yes!! I did forget about them schooling! Well maybe like mentioned before you could "lease" one form your local fish store. Hmm, I guess I will just go back to starving mine to extinction. Anyone know about how long that would take?

 

[Limi310]

Isn't there something you can do with a piece of cucumber? Put the cucumber in the tank at night and in the morning most of the snails will be on it - then remove cucumber along with snails? You would still have some snails because there's bound to be eggs still.

I am almost having this same problem too. I've let them go for a while and everyday there is a few new ones. They sure grow fast.

 

[Shaunna]

Yeah, you can do the cucumber thing. I think that is basically how you do it. I read somewhere to make sure you removed it before turning on the light. Is that right?

 

[Jayrod7]

dunno whats going on. the eggs are gone and i saw my guppy fry nibling at the eggs. do you think my fry ate the eggs? if so i think this is a good thing, adds protein =)

 

[seastaar88]

i thought that was done with a piece of zucchini

 

[Smalltank3]

ahh yes, PROTEIN!

 

[Jayrod7]

it seems to be working except for the part of my plants are getting eaten by the snails x_x. my local fish store is having a sale on anacharis so im going to try to clean out my tank and rid it of snails and add some new anacharis. the white wisteria turned out to be some non aquatic plant (dying at the bottom, plant grew out of the water)