snails eat dead fish?

[Paige]

Just a quick question. I have an abundance (but not too many) of snails in
my tank; which is ok because they eat the algae and decaying plant leaves.
But do they also eat dead fish? And if so do they consume them fast?

The reason I ask is that I have lost one of my Otto's. I can not find her
anywhere in the tank but she was just there the day before. Could the
snails have eaten her that quickly, do they eat dead fish at all?

Thanks,
Paige

[Eric Schreiber]

"Paige" > wrote:

>Just a quick question. I have an abundance (but not too many) of snails in
>my tank; which is ok because they eat the algae and decaying plant leaves.
>But do they also eat dead fish? And if so do they consume them fast?
>
>The reason I ask is that I have lost one of my Otto's. I can not find her
>anywhere in the tank but she was just there the day before. Could the
>snails have eaten her that quickly, do they eat dead fish at all?

Very possible. And they might have had help from other residents of
your tank as well. Don't give up on the oto just yet though - I put a
dozen in my 20 gallon and didn't see any of them for weeks at a time.
They're very good at hiding.


--
www.ericschreiber.com

[Paige]

Thanks you guys!! Well it's been a couple of days (we only have a 12
gallon) so it's hard for them to hide really well, but I will keep looking.
In the meantime I went and bought two more, they are better in groups
anyways and I didn't want the one left to get lonely :)

Thanks,
Paige

[D&M]

I'm growing a very strong hatred of snails. They keep finding a way to plug
up my filters. I'll scrub all the lil egg sacs out of the filter container
and bleach it out, buggers keep coming back. Loaches in the tank keep the
tank clear of them. I thought they were cute at first, but boy, what a
nuisance. Today, for instance, I counted over 100 in my emperor in 1 week
(stopped counting at 100, were many more).
Worst if the gross crushing noise when working in the filter. Makes my hair
stand on end, like nails on a chalk board.
Thinking they're laying eggs on my biomax media, only thing I haven't
bleached yet.


"Paige" > wrote in message
nk.net...
> Just a quick question. I have an abundance (but not too many) of snails
in
> my tank; which is ok because they eat the algae and decaying plant leaves.
> But do they also eat dead fish? And if so do they consume them fast?
>
> The reason I ask is that I have lost one of my Otto's. I can not find her
> anywhere in the tank but she was just there the day before. Could the
> snails have eaten her that quickly, do they eat dead fish at all?
>
> Thanks,
> Paige
>
>

[donovan n]

Not all snails lay eggs... Some give live birth =p

[NetMax]

"D&M" > wrote in message
...
> I'm growing a very strong hatred of snails.
<snip>

In a lightly planted tank I've got a few pond snails, no big deal. Then
I noticed that the snails ate all the roots off of all my tiny
Echinodorous tenellus, so the tiny plants are just a rhizome with leaves.
I considered getting a loach, but I've decided mechanical removal
(crushing them against the glass) is more therapeutic.

NetMax

[Y. Kim]

I had an oto that kept doing the disappearing act on me - every time I
thought it was gone for good it would reappear. But I fear the power
outage this past week may have finally done him in.

*sigh* All three that I added in June are now dead. Of the four otos
that have died / disappeared in the tank, I was only able to find one
corpse.

I don't know why I don't just give up on the damn things.

y-m

Paige wrote:
> Thanks you guys!! Well it's been a couple of days (we only have a 12
> gallon) so it's hard for them to hide really well, but I will keep looking.
> In the meantime I went and bought two more, they are better in groups
> anyways and I didn't want the one left to get lonely :)
>
> Thanks,
> Paige
>
>

[KEITH JENNINGS]

If the snails are small enough to fit in the Oscar's mouth, they're as good
as gone. Most cichlids over 2 inches long will eat snails if they're hungry,
and adult Oscars can eat food the size of a golf ball. They might ignore
baby snails for awhile though.

Keith J.

"Paige" > wrote in message
k.net...

<snip>
>My niece was begging for them for
> her tank (so they didn't die in my hands; although she has an oscar tank
and
> I think they may eat the snails???) This is the way I control the
> population in my tank.
>
> Paige

[Phil]

I got the same kind of joy in flicking the snails that were huddled upside
down on the lid of my tank back into the loaches...
Muhahaha!

[>]

YES

I have two Apple snails and they will spend hours sucking the flesh from
dead bait minnows. The only thing they leave behind is the skeleton and
entrails.

JOhn :-)

"Eric Schreiber" > wrote in message
...
> "Paige" > wrote:
>
> >Just a quick question. I have an abundance (but not too many) of snails
in
> >my tank; which is ok because they eat the algae and decaying plant
leaves.
> >But do they also eat dead fish? And if so do they consume them fast?
> >
> >The reason I ask is that I have lost one of my Otto's. I can not find her
> >anywhere in the tank but she was just there the day before. Could the
> >snails have eaten her that quickly, do they eat dead fish at all?
>
> Very possible. And they might have had help from other residents of
> your tank as well. Don't give up on the oto just yet though - I put a
> dozen in my 20 gallon and didn't see any of them for weeks at a time.
> They're very good at hiding.
>
>
> --
> www.ericschreiber.com