Snail problem in Malawi tank

[LittleGuppy]

I have a snail problem in my planted Malawi tank. Tiny, ugly snails.
Any ideas about the best way of getting rid of them, or at least keep their numbers in check?

[William]

Their are a large number of different methods. You can put a plate on the bottom of the tank at night with some bait, wait a while and then remove the plate with a lot of snails on it.

You can add a fish that eats snails to your aquarium. You can also buy an anti snail chemical in the LFS and kill they snails. Make sure that you change your water often if you use a chemical since the dead snails otherwise will pollute the water.

[Rage_A_Holic]

Ill second adding a fish that will eat snails... If your stocking allows it. try a few weather loaches, they eat snails but like to be kept in groups.


I personally stay away from chemicals.

interesting Idea with the plate. I say try that first :)

[nick_cave]

Agreed, i will also stay away from chemicals, but the sugestion of weather loachs is poor, in my opinion, because these are not endemic species of lake Malawi, insted i would sugest, one of the following:

Labidochromis caeruleus
Pseudotropheus sp.
Melanochromis sp.

You can also remove egg clusters manualy, if present, to help removing the snails.

[Rage_A_Holic]

Thanks for the advice. :) point well taken.

[rambos]

yeah when I kept malawis I had 4 labidochromis cearuleus they did a good job in keeping the snails down.

Personally I would not add Melanochromis sp. as they are one of the more aggressive of the smaller malawi Cichlids.

If you do go for Labidochromis Caeruleus, I would definetly not get any melanochromis sp. or you're little yellow and black friends might dwindle in numbers :P

[staraquarist]

Yeah, I went with some labidochromis cearuleus as well...It worked for me. Just giving you some more encouragement. Hope all is well, Peace!

[kimmers318]

A piece of zucchini weighed down with a spoon works great...once the zucchini softens up ( or you can nuke it for a few seconds to soften before placing in aquarium ) you will wake up in the morning with tons of snails feeding on the zucchini and you can just lift the spoon and dispose of the zucchini slice. Alot of the cichlids will also enjoy the zucchini....ours will make fast work of it pecking at it all day!

[Lady Hobbs]

My first thought would have been to get a few loaches (clowns are fun) but the idea's by William and Kimmers is great ones, too, if you don't want loaches.

When you add new fish from the store, never add the water they come in. You may have gotten them that way.