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ok is it just me or is anyone else thinkin how do they not get snails?!

not the tanks with the fish being sold but the tanks that are put up to show how "nice" it could look...

so u have a few neons floatin around a few of this and that and tonnes of plants... and a novelty toy in the bottom...

how long do they actually keep those tanks like that b4 emptyin them out???

All of the display tanks at my store have snails. Getting them in a heavily planted tank is pretty much inevitable, but it's not something you should be worried about.

I have over five different kinds of snails in my big planted tank, and they have not once posed a problem. It's the same with the display tanks I maintain at work.

"how long do they actually keep those tanks like that b4 emptyin them out???"

I have been working at this store for nearly two years, and we have not once "emptied out" any of our display tanks. If your LFS does that, they are either really impatient and need to re-design the tank every month, or they just have no idea what they are doing.




Last edited by Cory Addict at 18-Dec-2005 23:46

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Actually, i think that snails pretty much come with the territory. My local Petsmart keeps their plants in the same place that they keep the snails to sell. I have found that, if your tank is big enough, that the best way to keep the snail population down is to own some of the snail's natural predators.

You can also get snail and bacteria free plants by treating them before placing them in your tank. There are several commonly available soaks for different purposes.

cory addict, i hear you...every now and then the local fish store i stopped going to cause they are quite morons and they screwed me over, would do full drains on their tanks.

whenever i went in there at least ONE of the tanks was empty waiting to be refilled, and at least TWO were waiting to explode...

i use the term "explode" for when due to lack of care and overstocking, the tank "blows up"...algae coats the tank, the inhabitants die, the water turns lethal....good times...

now i go to a chain store, and before you all yell at me, the guy in charge of the fish section does water changes consistently, i have yet to get a sick fish from, and they are well taken care of healthy fish.

now my LFS, a privately owned pet store in town, on the other hand, has a bad survival rate. most of the fish i got were sick when i bought them (i didnt know any better when i bought them, i have learned how to identify diseases on alot of fish now though,lol),or died shortly there after. i have 3 barbs i got from them that have survived, out of 32 differant barbs,corys,mollys,swordtails,catfish of various types,ect have all passed. each time from diseases, they would die, most from internal infections or parasites. i have tried unsuccessfully to cure many of the fish to no avail. i would say i am a lousy fish keeper, but i buy from chain stores sometimes, and all their fish survived with no problems, not one has died or even been sick,lmao.

fall out - like what???

my tank is lookin rather bleak with just the cave system i've got and two small poxy plants...

i wud love to have the level of plants they have - it looks awesome!

at hte mo i've got snails in the tank already they peak they fall...

natural predators?

i just go to these shops and think surely all those plants etc must pose some kind of problems. i've got a rekord 96 - 3 foot long...

natural predators of snails would be Clown loaches, yoyo loaches...only ones I know.
Clowns are better but get much bigger.
My yoyo's do a pretty good job keeping the snail population down in my planted 55g.
My planted 10g on the other hand, is a snail breeding ground...not by my choice though.

*Kristin*

Other natural predators are Mikrogephagus ramirezi and Carinotetraodon travancoricus or Carinotetraodon imitator. The good old butterfly ram and the dwarf puffer will eat snails. My rams have cleaned the pond snails from my 125 gallon planted tank. Almost all of the botia relish snails, not just the clown or yo yo loach.

A good way to reduce the snail population is to reduce the hardness of the water. Lowering the hardness prevents snails from developing adequate shells.

Last edited by bob wesolowski at 20-Dec-2005 00:36

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

mani- Potassium Permaganate is a good antibacterial to get rid of diseases that may be on the plants, a 10-15 minute soak and then rinsing with dechlorinated is good. Some pet shops carry it, some hardware stores (in the water treatment section) or a pharmacist.

aluminum sulfate and/or alum USP is a better choice for killing snails/snail eggs. a bath of 3 tablespoons per gallon at 2-3 hours is good enough. Some grocery stores will carry this in the spice section usually.

i prevented getting snails in my tank by buying those pre-packaged bulbs they sale at either walmart or most fish places i've been to. They come dry, once you plant them, they grow, and if they for some reason dont grow, they refund your money...

worked for me

Chelle

*Chelle*
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I love the fishes cuz they're SOOO delicious...

Tiger barbs will eat small snails and I think my krib would as well, but that could be because she thinks I am starving her. She eats twice a day, meaty flakes then algae flakes, sometimes shrimp, sometimes tubifex sometimes frozen shrimp. I mix it up, the barbs love it as they eat anything!

"If you're afraid you'll make a mistake, you won't make anything."
-Family Circus

Hey Bob Wesolowski,
It is really true that Mikrogephagus ramirezi eat snails? It it only the ramirezi species or is the same thing true for the altispinosa?
I only ask because i have a pair of altispinosa, and i've never seen them have any interest in snails occupying my tank.

i have apistogramma cacatouides, and they cleaned out my snail problem in less than a week, also for nearly a month snails were the only thing my VT betta would eat!

so there are plenty of things that will hunt down snails for you.

Cynical

no wonder i havent seen many snails recently!!!

i bought a clown loach about a week half ago...

thankfully the area i live in the water is naturally soft so its not too bad!

i'll have to give it a try wiht those chemicals u've listed - thanks alot guys its really helpful!!

A BIG WORD OF WARNING here given what Fallout said above.

Aluminium sulphate wil most definitely kill anything living on the surface of the plants, including snails. But you'd better rinse your plants VERY WELL INDEED if you use that, because if you don't, even a tiny residual amount transferred to your aquarium will wipe out your fish.

I found out the hard way just how effective aluminium sulphate was at killing fish when my local water company dumped excess amounts of it into the water supply at the treatment plant. The excess made it through to my tap and caused a 50% wipeout in 5 days or so when, unbeknownst to me, it got into my aquaria after water changes. Which did not do a lot for my peace of mind - seeing fishes that I'd had for up to 8 years go from bouncing health to dead with no apparent symptoms in a flash.

NEVER ALLOW ALUMINIUM SULPHATE ANYWHERE NEAR AN AQUARIUM CONTAINING FISH OR IT WILL KILL THEM.

However, if you have a bare aquarium that needs sterilising, then aluminium sulphate will do an effective job. You then, of course, have ALL the fun of making sure every last trace of the stuff is banished before you set up the aquarium and stock it, and it will take a good deal more rinsing out than bleach will if you want to be extra safe.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Lacrimology,

My butterfly rams pick at the snails and cleaned them out. I don't know if altispinosa likes snails.

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright