Too many Malaysian Trumpet Snails...what to do???

N

nwin

AC Members
Dec 21, 2010
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Wilmington, NC
29g community tank planted with the following:

11 neon black tetras
4 zebra danios
5 corys
3 ghost shrimp
20-30 red cherry shrimp
1.5 million malaysian trumpet snails...started with 5.

Anyways, it's getting a bit ridiculous. I'd rather not fish them out and kill them, I suppose I'd rather either get a fish that will eat them that will co-habitate with my other fish, or maybe an assassin snail or some other means...I'm open to suggestions!

edit: and if the answer can come from a visit to the local Petsmart/Petco (no LFS around here), all the better.
 
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Stop over feeding your tank. Snails will only populate a tank to the point that they have food. If they don't have enough food, then the extras will die by themselves. You can also sell them. I wish I had more of them, it took me months to find a local fish store that had a bunch in a tank as pests and they gave me some for free, but they haven't made any baby snails that I can see yet.
 
They are scavengers, and eat excess food. Lower the feeding amount and they should go away. Also, I think cories may sometimes eat them. However, they are benificial in that anything decomposing or dead will become food for them, which helps keep the tank from containing rotting corpses or excess food, thus cleaning the tank. Every creature has a purpose, and that's theirs. Good luck with your problem!
 
an assassin snail would be ok, but don't add a fish just to eat them. its your job as the aquarist to keep their numbers under control. there are plenty of ways to keep their numbers down, including blanching a piece of lettuce, placing it in the tank overnight, and then throwing it out with all of the snails still all over it will help reduce their numbers considerably.
 
I have to agree...I've never had any issues personally with a tank fed properly. Manual removal may be a PITA but if you were to add anything, please not a fish. Assassins, maybe, but no fish just to do a "job"...
 
How much should I be feeding the above? Usually I give about two pinches of flake food every day and every other day I supplement an algae wafer for the corys.

With the above, the flakes usually get consumed within 5 minutes, with some pieces sinking to the bottom which the shrimp jump on, and the corys usually go after the algae wafer, though it does disintegrate and I see the MTS going crazy all over that.
 
Pull them out and squish them.
 
the MTS in my tank usually burrow in the gravel, or maybe there just aren't as much as you have... I am with the above posters. Lighten up on the feeding... as far as how much should you be feeding, no one can really say... just go lighter than you are or have been up to now.
 
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