HELP! Need to control snails in breeding tank!

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INXS
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HELP! Need to control snails in breeding tank!

Post by INXS »

I just had some apistos spawn and I'm afraid the snails got the eggs - I try to pick them out every day but it seems they breed quicker then rabbits.

I have a tank where I am hoping to see some albino ancistrus action soon but that one has a number of snails too . In the future I'm hoping to get the QA and Zebras going but I want to take care of the snail problem first.

I don't want to use chems.

Breaking it down and bleaching would ruin the biofilter in the tank so I'd rather not go that route either.

I do keep some clown loacher around and could let them go for a visit - the only problem will be getting them out since I don't want to leave them in there so they would eat the eggs and babies.

Any suggerstions?
Thanks
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Silurus
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Post by Silurus »

How big is the breeding tank?
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INXS
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Post by INXS »

The tanks vary between 10 and 40 , I guess they must have come in on plants. I don't really mind them in fry tanks as they eat any food that falls to the bottom and any fry that die but don't really bother the live fry. With eggs it's another story.
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Post by Taratron »

Wouldn't the parents protect the eggs from snails?
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metallhd
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Post by metallhd »

I have a trick that will keep snails down, works for me in my 10 gal, which routinely has platy fry. I just snipped the top off a little pop bottle and stuffed it full of lettuce. Needs a little stone or something to weigh it down, and the snails will flock to it. If you are careful you can remove it with most snails intact and dump them, then replace the bottle. At the very least the snails are distracted from the eggs . . . mmmm precious eggses :P

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The toil of all that be helps not the primal fault
it rains into the sea, and still the sea is salt
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INXS
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Post by INXS »

Metallhd -
thanks that's a good one!
I'll definitly try it - not only will I remove them from the tank I don't want them in but I can feed them to the clownloaches!
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metallhd
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Post by metallhd »

Hi INXS - I'd be careful about introducing snails to a new tank, loaches or no - maybe I'm being overly apprehensive . . . :roll:
The toil of all that be helps not the primal fault
it rains into the sea, and still the sea is salt
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