How do i control the snail population in my fish tank?

Question

i have a few tanks and a few months ago i bought some catfish and when they guy at the store caught them he also put some gravel in the bag, no big deal right... well along with the gravel was a snail...

i unknowingly added this snail to my tank and now everywhere i look there is snails! the tank is very clean tho i must give them that... but there is WAY too many... i thought about just putting them in some of my other tanks but i dont want them all infested with snails..

so any advice on what i should do? i have never had snails with my fish before... i have guppies, tetras, catfish and a couple of sharks in my tanks and the tank with the snails has a catfish and a shark (the redtail kills everything else that is put with him)

Answer 1

Does your tank have live plants? If it doesn't, then try adding a piece of lettuce or zucchini to the tank and use it as a trap to attract the snails -- they love vegetation. Once snails go for the zuchhini, remove them and you can do what you want with them... if your tank does have live plants, then they most likely not pay attention to the "bait" since they already have food available.

Loaches have an appetite for snails, so if you have a small tank I would add a couple of YoYo Loaches or a Clown Loach if you have a large tank.

Answer 2

Use a small metal "snail hammer" you can get them at the pet store...

Answer 3

id give them to the petstore

and i didnt kno u can put a shark wit diff fish

Answer 4

I believe there are certain types of fish that eat snails.  

Answer 5

I'm guessing you are having a problem with either:

Rams Horn snails http://sofia.usgs.gov/sfrsf/rooms/specie...

Pond snails

http://www.flickr.com/photos/octopusgall...

or Malaysian Trumpet snails

http://www.flickr.com/photos/grumpyjr88/...

These 3 are handy to have around in small amounts as they keep gravel and walls very clean, but the population can quickly get to an out of control level.

If you look really hard, you will most likely see many egg sacs around your tank, on the gravel, decorations, tank walls, plants, etc. If you don't want anymore snails, all you have to do is reach in with your finger (gloved if your squeamish) and scrape them off. The fish will eat them.

Also, if you see any tiny baby snails, you can squish them and the fish will eat them like that. Another way to have some population control is to get 1 large apple snail and he/she (snails are hermaphrodites) will eat all the baby snails he can find. That's what I did in my tank. Eggy keeps all 3 other snail populations under complete control.

You'll never truly be rid of the pest snails (the above named 3) unless you were to remove every bit of everything in your tank and individually sterilize everything. It's a pain.