Help with snail explosion

[The Threatener]

I have had some snails present in one of my tanks for a while now, my Zebra
Botia has always kept them in check, to recently. Over the last few weeks the
snail population has increased slowely, but this evening after the lights had
been off for an hour I noticed what looked like hundreds of them in the tank.

I am not really up on snails, so have done a quick search, and it looks like
they are Malayan snails. This would probably explain why I have seen more
tonight after lights out, as they are nocturnal. Maybe I have had a lot for a
while and just didn't see them during day light, I don't know. I havn't seen
that many when doing a gravel clean.

Anyways, I would like to remove them, or at least some of them. I don't want to
use any chemicals. So which fish would be best? This tank is set up as follows:

Tank size and water: 48"long x 12" x 18"high. 25C. We live in a very hard water
area, but I do filter some of the replacement water when doing changes. The
tank has been setup for over a year, but was reset up when we moved in January,
a good quantity of the original tank water was used to reset up. The tank is
not planted, but has artificial plants, large rocks and bog wood. The substrate
is medium gravel.

Fish stock and their ages:
1x Zebra Botia (age 5+ years)
1x 6" Common Pl*co (age 1 year)
1x 4" Common Pl*co (age 1 year)
2x Congo Tetra (age 5+ years)
4x False Siamese Algae Eaters (9 months)
1x Jewel Rainbow Fish (5+ years)
1x Malawi Cichlid, a yellow Labidochromis (5+ years)
1x 4" Red Tailed Shark (5+ years)

I know it's a bit of an odd mixture, but they are living together peacefully.

So, could I put any more Botia types in here to help out a bit. I think there
would be room for a few young Clown Loaches. There would be enough places for
them to hide out, but they definitely wouldn't be able to stay in there for
ever. Or should I look for more Zebra Botias? Or other suggestions?

Thanks

Neal.


--
....so be it, Jedi!
My homepage: http://members.aol.com/nealskywalker
AFSJJBDDD homepage: http://afsjjbddd.tripod.com/
....the ability to post does not make one intelligent. (I should know)

[Robert Flory]

"The Threatener" > wrote in message
...
> I have had some snails present in one of my tanks for a while now, my
Zebra
> Botia has always kept them in check, to recently. Over the last few weeks
the
> snail population has increased slowely, but this evening after the lights
had
> been off for an hour I noticed what looked like hundreds of them in the
tank.
>
>
> So, could I put any more Botia types in here to help out a bit. I think
there
> would be room for a few young Clown Loaches. There would be enough places
for
> them to hide out, but they definitely wouldn't be able to stay in there
for
> ever. Or should I look for more Zebra Botias? Or other suggestions?
>
> Thanks
>
> Neal.
>
I'd put in more zebra Botias. They are happier in groups. You probably had
the snails get ahead of the loach. One loach can eat only so many snails in
a day. I have Yoyos in two tanks, a lone surviving zebra in another.
Neither of them seem to eat snails above a certain size. So I have a dozen
really large pond snails now days (breeding stock) that supply tender young
snails to keep the Yoyos and zebra fat.

My yoyos entertain themselves by chasing each other in circles. My lonely
Zebra chases his reflection in circles on the back glass. My LFS hasn't had
zebras since its mate vanished.

I probably have hundreds of MTS, but I only see them when I re-do a tank so
I don't worry about them. Obviously the yoyos don't either.

Bob

[David]

It is pretty simple to control the population.
Place food/bait in the tank at night to attract the snails, in the middle of
the night get up and remove the bait and repeat several nights in a row.
Spinach leaves that have been just partially frozen usually works well with
a small rock to hold it down at gravel level.
David

The Threatener > wrote in message
...
> I have had some snails present in one of my tanks for a while now, my
Zebra
> Botia has always kept them in check, to recently. Over the last few weeks
the
> snail population has increased slowely, but this evening after the lights
had
> been off for an hour I noticed what looked like hundreds of them in the
tank.
>
> I am not really up on snails, so have done a quick search, and it looks
like
> they are Malayan snails. This would probably explain why I have seen more
> tonight after lights out, as they are nocturnal. Maybe I have had a lot
for a
> while and just didn't see them during day light, I don't know. I havn't
seen
> that many when doing a gravel clean.
>
> Anyways, I would like to remove them, or at least some of them. I don't
want to
> use any chemicals. So which fish would be best? This tank is set up as
follows:
>
> Tank size and water: 48"long x 12" x 18"high. 25C. We live in a very hard
water
> area, but I do filter some of the replacement water when doing changes.
The
> tank has been setup for over a year, but was reset up when we moved in
January,
> a good quantity of the original tank water was used to reset up. The tank
is
> not planted, but has artificial plants, large rocks and bog wood. The
substrate
> is medium gravel.
>
> Fish stock and their ages:
> 1x Zebra Botia (age 5+ years)
> 1x 6" Common Pl*co (age 1 year)
> 1x 4" Common Pl*co (age 1 year)
> 2x Congo Tetra (age 5+ years)
> 4x False Siamese Algae Eaters (9 months)
> 1x Jewel Rainbow Fish (5+ years)
> 1x Malawi Cichlid, a yellow Labidochromis (5+ years)
> 1x 4" Red Tailed Shark (5+ years)
>
> I know it's a bit of an odd mixture, but they are living together
peacefully.
>
> So, could I put any more Botia types in here to help out a bit. I think
there
> would be room for a few young Clown Loaches. There would be enough places
for
> them to hide out, but they definitely wouldn't be able to stay in there
for
> ever. Or should I look for more Zebra Botias? Or other suggestions?
>
> Thanks
>
> Neal.
>
>
> --
> ...so be it, Jedi!
> My homepage: http://members.aol.com/nealskywalker
> AFSJJBDDD homepage: http://afsjjbddd.tripod.com/
> ...the ability to post does not make one intelligent. (I should know)

[Robert Flory]

"David" > wrote in message
...
> It is pretty simple to control the population.
> Place food/bait in the tank at night to attract the snails, in the middle
of
> the night get up and remove the bait and repeat several nights in a row.
> Spinach leaves that have been just partially frozen usually works well
with
> a small rock to hold it down at gravel level.
> David
>
But then what would my Yoyos eat? ;-)

Bob

[The Threatener]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I will have a go at make a spinach
bated trap, should be fun.

Also will look out for more Zebra Botias to help out. But these are much harder
to come by than some other loachs around here.

Thanks

Neal

[Flash Wilson]

On Sun, 27 Jul 2003 00:57:51 -0400, Pierre-Normand Houle
> wrote:
>But maybe it's worth trying anyway. You might want to try with plain raw spinach
>also. Some fish might just try it and swim away. Snails might just try it and...
>snails don't run very fast.

My bait traps are getting hold of pond snails and a few ramshorns,
but no malaysians, and the ramshorns prefer plants.



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