snails in fish tanks

[loukr]

hi, I was just wondering how snails appear in tanks..? everytime we clean ours out, they seem to appear out of no where.. we have a tropical (freshwater) tank, does anyone know where they come from...?? thanks

[B00]

Have you introduced real plants in your tank?

I know I did in mine and the snails suddenly became the bane of my life (aquarium wise anyway!), I'm forever scooping them out. Major cause of them as well is overfeeding which I'm probably guilty of too.

[B00]

forgot to add that snail eggs usually arrive with your plants.

[loukr]

aah that would explain it.. do the eggs look like really really small frogspawn..? because that has been popping up all over our tank recently.. oh and the over-feeding, I'm guilty of too!! hehe thanx B00! xx

[B00]

Yep, that's exactly what they look like- horrible innit?

I do however take a secret delight in netting snails out of the tank and sending them on flying lessons- ie, throwing them over my garden wall!

[Illyria54]

I also have this problem with snails, I took all my real weed out of the tank and put in silk weed after transferring everything in to a new tank, 6 weeks down the line lo and behold a bloomin' snail again! I really scrubbed the filter and changed the medium but a solitary egg must have survived, they are tough little b***ers!

[hammerman]

What exactly is the problem with snails....they help keep the gravel clean and will eat a certain amount of algea.

[B00]

Don't have a problem with one or two hammerman, it's the 20th or 30th of the bu88ers I dislike!

If I wanted snails in my tank, i'd buy em, but I don't, so they go flying if I get em ;-)

[fairkatrina]

I have the same problem, tried a snail remover but it only knocks them out and if you miss even one then it just starts all over again...have to agree with boo - I enjoy sending them flying too!

[loukr]

hmm so what your saying is that I have no chance in really ever getting rid of them then!! lol yea 1 or 2 are okay, it's when you end up with 10 times more snails than fish!! thanks for your replies. x

[miss blondie]

Get 2 clown loaches - they love eating snails, and they are so cute together - very sociable cuddly fish!

[hammerman]

And they can grow to 12" long, are very suceptible to poor water conditions and need to be in shoals to be happy.

You can buy some stuff in the fish shop....can't remember what its called but i'm sure it is copper based which is lethal to all invertabrates....so no good if you have shrimps or crabs etc in your tank.

[drwhofan]

It's more of a quick fix, and proabably won't last too long if there are eggs there, but you could try putting some cucumber in the tank. Loads of snails flock to it and then you can just net it out and get rid of it, it should at least make sure there are fewer! works in my tank anyway...