9(ish) Ways to Get Rid of Pest Snails from Your Aquarium

[@cookiemonster2299]

A couple months ago my 160litre was overrun with pest snails, I was feeding my fish twice a day and somebody replied to my comment on one of your vids and advised to cut back on the feeding, at the same time I discovered Father Fish who advised STOP OVER FEEDING YOUR FISH 😜, so anywho I feed my fish twice a week now and I have about 10 pest snails left which I'm happy to keep. Thanks for your vids, they make all the difference to my hobby. 👍❤️🇬🇧

[@GlassSurfing]

I love the diversity of the ecology in your tanks. They're so mature! I tried for a long time to get rid of the pest snails but then I gave up and learned how to feed my tanks and the snails manage themselves now and let me know when I'm feeding too much

[@TimCurry04]

If you put slices of cucumbers in the tank, the snails will go to it. Just remove the slices as they stack up.

[@travischaddock4826]

This worked great! I would of never thought of that

[@TimCurry04]

@@travischaddock4826 snails eat dying plants and fish... for what ever reason they love cucumbers!

[@EvilPerson2998]

You my goat

[@metallixro]

I got the small micro flat snails and long story short years later I'm a snailkeeper not a fishkeeper xD

[@teacherofteachers1239]

I recently accidentally introduced those tiny freshwater limpets into my little 10 gallon tank (via plant purchase, as usual). It took a while for me to figure out what they even were. I had been waiting for them to get bigger so I could see their shape. But, they didn't get bigger and that was their shape! They haven't overrun the tank, though, and I've gotten used to them.

[@gayefanner731]

Great comment, I like your style 👌

[@pelhamsaquatics]

Excellent tips and advice! Thank you so much for the nice video😊

[@stepheng3378]

I use tweezers and traps. My traps vary. A small plastic dish with holes drilled in the bottom and filled with food, Almond leaves, veggies, and floating plants which allow me to pluck them right off the surface with my fingers. My large 7 in female Clown loach loves snails. In that tank are 5 much smaller Clowns, and one 4in Angelicus Botia. All have learned to eat snails by following her lead. It took some time before the younger loaches learned that snails were good eats, so don't expect it to happen quickly. Having that one snail loving Loach really helped speed things along. Now I've introduced snails into all 5 of my other tanks, just so my loaches can have some tasty escargot. The only downside is there are literally no snails cruising around in that tank to help clean up. Well, at least not for long ...

[@saramurray7373]

Hello 😊very good ideas, thanks. When you have caught them how do you put them.

[@gayefanner731]

Out for the birds? ✌️

[@Chompchompyerded]

I don't have snails yet, but I'm told it's inevitable. The only loaches I have are hillstream loaches, and I rather doubt that they will eat snails. I think the idea of putting that squash in will be the perfect solution for catching them if ever they come around. I had never heard of doing that before, but it makes a lot of sense. It's a really good tip. Maybe I'll get a nano aquarium with two pea puffers in it, and dispose of the snails in thre if I ever have a problem with them. Until then, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my luck continues to hold.

[@NarrowboatJourneys]

I've seen my White Cloud Minnows eat newly hatched snails.

[@HousewerkRecords]

Thanks for the advice. I’m going to try the courgette method.

[@johanpersson597]

what about low ph !? all the snails i put in my tanks multiply like crazy in the begining and then they die off. or is it that i have low kalcium levels in my water!? I have problem keeping them alive :D

[@gayefanner731]

Try the shells from boiled eggs, mine love the sort of inner skin n when that’s all grazed off there’s delicious bio film on the outside for them n all the while calcium is being released ✌️

[@monalee9248]

dumb question:what to do with the picked out snails???

[@colinbrydon7659]

Nightmare the pest snails. I have an outbreak in a 38l tank following additional plants I added. Tank is well maintained and was looking fantastic until the snails. Got 4 dwarf honey gourami but they not interested in the snails. Just tried the courgette and got a good few out. Will leave it in longer upto a week to see if I can get the rest. Loads of baby snails now.

[@gayefanner731]

My snails are completely mental about carrots! Cooked carrot coins for preference but raw carrot gets to the consistency they like given a bit of time in the tank.✌️

[@karocica]

I have helelnas in a 180 litres aquarium. How can I take it helena-free, please?

[@gregfrye1039]

I loved this video . No to assassin snail and yes to courgettes. Gonna have to Google what that is, but was just about to buy assassins . Ty

[@anthonywerner9373]

Not 100% sure, I believe its Zucchini.

[@deskjockie4948]

Courgettes is another name for zucchini squash.

[@gregfrye1039]

@deskjockie4948 I did it and now manageable . Yea0

[@KabbalahSherry]

DO NOT buy any kind of carniverous snails, trust me! 🤦🏻‍♀️😩🐌 I made the mistake of buying a couple to help clean up a population of invasive snails that was getting out of hand. Well, they ate the invasive snails alright... but then they BRED, and now I've got way more of their little mini-me's snailing around in my tank, than I ever had of the other kind! Don't get me wrong, the little baby carniverous snails are super cute, and look just like tiny miniature versions of their parents. lol I really do think they're adorable. But I'm NOT trying to breed them dammit! So now I'm just gonna trap as many as I can using some zucchini and/or broccoli, and give the babies BACK to the fish shop where I got their parents from. Oh and... I'm taking back the parents too. I'm keeping ONE baby & that's it! Ugh, this was a hard lesson for me to learn, so if I can help somebody else avoid it, I sure will.

[@gayefanner731]

Don’t GIVE em to the shop they may well buy them. I get 50p per juvenile Ramshorn, it soon mounts up using my delicious cooked carrot coin method which they ADORE! ✌️

[@nanckayne4899]

I had little black growths all over the glass. Very hard to get off. What the heck?

[@akim2007p]

Learnt something new, courgette 😂

[@sunlounger29]

What do guys all do with the removed snails? Disposing them in the household bin? Selling? I'd really like to know!

[@gregfrye1039]

They are great sautéed in butter, garlic and white wine 🍷 over pasta in a clam sauce

[@markjerue9734]

Toss them out or give them to somebody who has a pea puffer

[@BrljoMrljo]

Damn! I use all day these in cooking. I will use one for snail trap and check that! ty.

[@KevinMcAlistairJr]

I have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of flat snails. no idea how I originally got them, I only have lab grown plants all bought from the same shop. I have added more than 2 dozen assassin snails and they are making a difference, I can see all the empty shells for myself but the flat snails are out pacing them by far. there's is almost as many snails as I have substrate (living and dead), the floor of the tank is littered with them lol. I don't really mind. yeah I'm prob feeding too much, that won't help. it seems like a healthy happy ecosystem just not quite balanced. might give the courgette trap a try see if I can be as successful with it.

[@KevinMcAlistairJr]

Can confirm courgette snail trap is awesome. easily taken 2 maybe 300 flat snails out my tank in just 24hrs. I quartered a courgette and de-seeded a quarter yesterday and sunk it with a fork in it to weigh it down. left it over night and checked it this morning around 7am and it was absolutely covered in snails. I washed them off and putt it straight back. just checked it again at the end of the day and once again it was covered. Leaving it again tonight. very happy with the results. way more collected in one go than I could easily get in a day.

[@bookmouse2719]

I made a trap using cut down plastic bottle put holes in it (snail entrance) and then put a cucumber piece inside. I tied a string on the top in order to fish it out after I left it in all night. 😁

[@Chonsta]

I have 3 pea puffers and a betta that keeps my snail population under control. they leave the shrimp alone but I wish they wouldnt lol its free fish food!!!!!

[@francorosales3716]

I just crush them and feed it to my community fish they love it

[@dexagalapagos]

A bit of a correction, a single assassin snail per tank can be effective in controlling pest snails and won't breed.

[@Brizz-rc2wf]

I have another solution you didn’t include. It’s messy, you’ll probably have to vacuum the dead snails from the substrate, and it takes a few days. But it only cost a penny.

[@matiasvega1407]

so... what's the solution?

[@Brizz-rc2wf]

@@matiasvega1407 you put a penny in the tank lol. It’ll kill any invertebrate in the tank, including shrimp, so be careful.

[@matiasvega1407]

@@Brizz-rc2wf Ooooh I didn't get it lmao

[@KabbalahSherry]

Yeah I got a couple of carniverous snails from a fish shop, and they ended up being way more trouble than they were worth! Oh sure they killed the pest snails for me... but then they BRED, and pretty soon, I had way more of their little mini-me's, snailing about in my tank, than I ever had the other invasive kind! 🤦🏻‍♀️😩 lol UGH... lesson learned! Instead, I'm just gonna pick 'em out with my long tweezers, and give these babies BACK to the shop where I got their parents from! I'm not trying to breed these suckers for anybody damn

[@rorylennon]

Nice vijeo...

[@meikahidenori]

I have the opposite problem! Snails die in my tanks 😂

[@soccreyes4647]

This is what I did. I got 3 cambarellus dwarf crayfish, it didn't eradicate the pest snail population, BUT it drastically dwindled the population. Now the shrimps are the ones that are many

[@mim5493]

Assassin snail the best choice

[@duzmano8161]

My honey gourami don't touch the snails...

[@claudiastanaford5663]

Try dropping a piece of lettuce on top of water and watch what happens

[@MrGigi-dz9cv]

Snails, are good for healthy aquariums.

[@ragingcalmness7815]

So I am curious, is it just my pea puffers that are special/sadistic? They don't eat any snail as I can't find a single dead one, but they do shave off all their antenaes. I did introduce them to a 20 gallon, 4 of them, and there were already 100s of ramshorn snails in there which I was accumulating from plant growout tanks. I also noticed they they love chasing the fat moina that I began breeding in their tank as well. I have 1 tank though I accidentely got snails in and want to remove them, there is zero space to maneuvre around and I don't want to introduce assassin snail, because same problem for me after. Is there a small fish that will do the job 100% ? It's another 20 gallon with a hell of a lot of "hardscape" with PVC pipes everywhere, my hand cant go in unless I drain the water completely, move the tank out of there and then take everything apart for like many hours. 🥲

[@hakman239]

Assassin have like 1 baby once a month

[@joannaspivey566]

❤

[@Cewlbeans]

Breh my bladder snails are from my live plants…..

[@MoldyBones27]

They are not pests they are beautiful little pets! 😢

[@sandanista2002]

If you don’t want them in your tank, they’re a pest

[@MoldyBones27]

@@sandanista2002 lol of course 🤣 I just love snails

[@SwyTashee]

I had to google "courgette"...