Snails - Again!

On Mon, 19 Apr 2004 14:42:19 -0400, RedForeman ©® wrote:


I am surprised the clowns haven't wiped them out. I still have
snails in my tank but they don't show when the clowns are out. How
big are the snails and how big are the clowns? Maybe the clowns are
too small to eat the snails. If they can't get in the shell, they
can't eat them. My clowns are 5 inches (12.7 centimeters)long now.

My Clowns are 5-7cm so still quite young and as yours the snails
don't show up while they're around. The snails are approx 2-3mm but
are causing a lot of damage to my plants.

Any further advice would be most welcome.

Thanks - Dave

When you say your clowns are young, they're probably not ready to eat snails
yet... why? because you've maybe not introduced them yet... Next time you
get a snail up toward the front glass, slowly stick a hand in, squish it,
hold it, find a clown and drop it near it's nose if you can... Slowly,
they'll realize they taste good, and start hunting them down.. At first,
young clowns may need to be shown where the snails are, they probably
already eat the ones in the gravel.... and maybe on the plants, thus the
holes you see... but every night, the pond snails usually climb the front
glass, THERE is where the clowns should start hunting them... that will stop
them from reproducing, and keep the clowns fed for a week or so....
eventually, when you have no snails, you'll have to watch to be sure they
get enough food.... they should... but watch and be sure... the love
bloodworms, aquayums, red misquito larve.... frozen, not freezedried...
freezedried floats, and clowns rarely go up past mid level.... rarely not
never....


I suppose I never had to teach my Clowns to eat the snails as I got a
mature set from my Dad that taught the others to eat them. I never
thought about it, but fish aren't all instinct, there is some teching
involved.