Tank Doing Great...Snails totally out of control

Thanks to a lot of people on this group my tank is doing great. Havent lost
a fish since I started following EVERY recomendation from the group. Water
is crystal clear and all levels are darn near perfect. One thing I didnt
listen to was about the snails. I let the one I saw hang around and now I
have at least dozens of them. In order to get them all it looks like I would
have to start all over and after 5 weeks of getting it right I dont want to
do that. I was going to put in 2 Clown Loaches but was told by Pet Smart I
couldnt do that because they are semi aggressive and would kill all the fish
in my Community Tank. The snails are on the glass, in the rocks, on the
plants (Live and artificial), they are everywhere. The fish look to be real
happy and content and healthy (If fish can be happy) and I really dont want
to go through 5 more weeks of cycling and setup and in all probability kill
all the fish. Any suggestions?

Jeff wrote:
The snails are on the glass, in the rocks, on the
plants (Live and artificial), they are everywhere. The fish look to be real
happy and content and healthy (If fish can be happy) and I really dont want
to go through 5 more weeks of cycling and setup and in all probability kill
all the fish. Any suggestions?

Short of being an intermediate host for pathogens (unlikely in a
fishtank) snails won't probably harm fish. They may (depending on
species) harm plants, and they may (depending on you) harm asthetics.

If you have a "snail bloom" the most likely cause is overfeeding -
snails have to eat, and more food means that there can be more snails.
Be fastidous about feeding only the recommended amount, and coordinate
with spouses/roomates/children so that you aren't double dosing the food
accidentally. If you remove the food source, the snails should stabilize
to a managable population level.

In the mean time, try physically removing as many snails as possible.
(Leaving a piece of green vegatable in the tank overnight will draw
snails to it - remove it and the snails in the morning.)

Jeff wrote:

One thing I didnt listen to was about the snails. I let the
one I saw hang around and now I have at least dozens of them. In
order to get them all it looks like I would have to start all over
and after 5 weeks of getting it right I dont want to do that. I was
going to put in 2 Clown Loaches but was told by Pet Smart I couldnt
do that because they are semi aggressive and would kill all the fish
in my Community Tank.

Yet another example of a pet store employee who desn't know what he (or
she) is talking about.

I have 4 clown loaches in with corys, otos, platys, and a betta.
Everybody is getting along fine.

Well, one platy and the betta do chase each other - they take turns.
But it seems to be a game with them.

"Jeff" wrote in message
...
Thanks to a lot of people on this group my tank is doing great. Havent
lost
a fish since I started following EVERY recomendation from the group. Water
is crystal clear and all levels are darn near perfect. One thing I didnt
listen to was about the snails. I let the one I saw hang around and now I
have at least dozens of them. In order to get them all it looks like I
would
have to start all over and after 5 weeks of getting it right I dont want
to
do that. I was going to put in 2 Clown Loaches but was told by Pet Smart I
couldnt do that because they are semi aggressive and would kill all the
fish
in my Community Tank. The snails are on the glass, in the rocks, on the
plants (Live and artificial), they are everywhere. The fish look to be
real
happy and content and healthy (If fish can be happy) and I really dont
want
to go through 5 more weeks of cycling and setup and in all probability
kill
all the fish. Any suggestions?


Jeff, many of the well-intentioned clerks giving advice in pet shops do not
even own now, or ever, an aquarium. Try to keep that in mind.

I don't know the size of your aquarium, but you can count on your Clowns
getting to 5" or 6" long, and they like to be in shoals (ie: 3 or 4 fish).
They would probably not cause any particular problems with your fish, but
they are quite susceptible to external parasites such as Ich, so ideally you
would quarantine them for several weeks before mixing them with your fish.
Alternately, make sure the store has had them for several weeks and they are
all looking healthy (no white spots, good colours and their stomach is
straight or extended slightly outwards). Nothing is better than your own
quarantine though, especially with scaleless fish such as Botia.
--
www.NetMax.tk

"NetMax" wrote in message
...

Jeff, many of the well-intentioned clerks giving advice in pet shops do
not
even own now, or ever, an aquarium. Try to keep that in mind.


Good example was tonight, we have two Petsmarts in our town and I went to
the one I normally dont go to. The girl asked me what I wanted and I said
"Two Neon Tetras, one female black molly, one male orange molly, two clown
loaches". She got the two Tetras out and went for the Black Molly. When she
got it out she asked me if it were male or female. She said she didnt know
how to tell the difference. And instead of getting out one species, bagging
them and getting the next, she started putting them all in the same bag. I
told her to go ahead and put the fish back, I didnt want them. There was
also a dead Orange Molly floating around in the Molly tank. (People here
told me not to buy fish from a tank with dead fish floating around in it).
The lady didnt know anything about fish AT ALL and was working Petsmarts
Fish section. Lesson learned.

i've also had experience with a younger guy. seems like they hire
idiots on purpose, when trying to catch the fish he just threw heavy
rocks around and waved the net around, a very very poor attempt to
catch anything. he basically turned the tank into a whirlpool instead
of using half his brain to catch the 3 of 4 puffers in the tank. he
also kept them out of the water after catching them, so not only does
he not know how to catch fish but i would bet he knows nothing about
their care either. good store, bad people.

On Sat, 05 Nov 2005 03:10:45 GMT, "Jeff"
wrote:

Petsmarts
Fish section. Lesson learned.

Jeff wrote:
"NetMax" wrote in message
...

Jeff, many of the well-intentioned clerks giving advice in pet shops do

not

even own now, or ever, an aquarium. Try to keep that in mind.



Good example was tonight, we have two Petsmarts in our town and I went to
the one I normally dont go to. The girl asked me what I wanted and I said
"Two Neon Tetras, one female black molly, one male orange molly, two clown
loaches". She got the two Tetras out and went for the Black Molly. When she
got it out she asked me if it were male or female. She said she didnt know
how to tell the difference. And instead of getting out one species, bagging
them and getting the next, she started putting them all in the same bag. I
told her to go ahead and put the fish back, I didnt want them. There was
also a dead Orange Molly floating around in the Molly tank. (People here
told me not to buy fish from a tank with dead fish floating around in it).
The lady didnt know anything about fish AT ALL and was working Petsmarts
Fish section. Lesson learned.


One PetSmart near where I work has a surprisingly good fish section.
The manager understands how to run a commercial fish system and there
are a few competent aqarists working there. The rest are dog and cat
people, but they can net a fish if you point at the one you want.

I wouldn't go there for advice, but I don't mind going there for fish
and cheap supplies. YMMV - I guess I'm just saying don't rule out all
PetSmart stores (PSMV?).

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

The same is true of PetCo. Although the selection is minimal, I have had
excellent livestock from one *particular* store.

Jeff wrote:
Thanks to a lot of people on this group my tank is doing great. Havent lost
a fish since I started following EVERY recomendation from the group. Water
is crystal clear and all levels are darn near perfect. One thing I didnt
listen to was about the snails. I let the one I saw hang around and now I
have at least dozens of them. In order to get them all it looks like I would
have to start all over and after 5 weeks of getting it right I dont want to
do that. I was going to put in 2 Clown Loaches but was told by Pet Smart I
couldnt do that because they are semi aggressive and would kill all the fish
in my Community Tank. The snails are on the glass, in the rocks, on the
plants (Live and artificial), they are everywhere. The fish look to be real
happy and content and healthy (If fish can be happy) and I really dont want
to go through 5 more weeks of cycling and setup and in all probability kill
all the fish. Any suggestions?


I have 2 clown loaches in my comunity tank. I will slightly agree that
they are slightly agressive. When I feed the tank frozen blood worms
the loaches will muscule there way around to get the food. They mainly
just bump the other fish no bitting. thats the most agresive that i've
seen them. Oh yah sometimes they do the whose the alpha today fight but
even then they don't leave any marks on each other.

In article qUOaf.106750$ir4.49023@edtnps90, says...
I have 2 clown loaches in my comunity tank. I will slightly agree that
they are slightly agressive. When I feed the tank frozen blood worms
the loaches will muscule there way around to get the food.

Hey, my platys even do that - are there any fish that don't?

--
It's turtles, all the way down.