pest snail issues that never were

Byron said:

Some people live alongside streams. Rains may wash them into the stormdrains.

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lnsaneM said:

I actually keep a bunch of snails myself, upside to that is I never have to scrub my tank glass again

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betta4ever! said:

If I were you I'd let them live. I love my pest snails so much! But if you don't want them you can try Assasin snails, they're supposed to eat snails. Buuuttt they're also snails which means you'll still have snails in there so... idk

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Byron said:

There is no such thing as a pest snail. There are aquarists who for whatever reason do not like snails, that is not the same thing. But snails in and of themselves are not pests, they are a part--and quite an important part--of an ecosystem, including your aquarium. They get places you cannot, or would not with ease, to eat organic matter, breaking it down faster for the various bacteria to handle. Assuming the aquarium will biologically "explode" if you see one snail...well, that just is not true or realistic.

As for their numbers, this is caused by the "food" they are given. They eat algae from the most delicate leaves of plants. They eat organic matter like over-fed fish food. They eat dying plant matter (the small harmless snails do not eat healthy live plants). If you want to control their numbers, then control the fish stocking, fish feeding, and increase water changes and substrate and filter cleaning, all of which will remove organics.

Instead of reaching for some chemical additive to "fix" some problem, understand and use nature to help you. Your fish will be less inclined to have problems if they live in a more natural environment.

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P3rhaps009 said:

I do plan on getting rabbit snails Im just scared that they will eat the plants, (Im using plants as one of the only things in control of my ph so basically if they die the fish will go with them.) also I live on a tropical island which is why Im not paying much attention to using artificial ph stabilizers.

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Essjay said:

Remember that fish don't need as much food as you'd think. Mammals need a lot of food as most of what we eat is used to keep us warm. Fish use the temperature of the water to keep warm, they don't use food for that.

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betta4ever! said:

ugh I know but they always seem hungry and I can't resist

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Rocky998 said:

Every time I go into the room with the tanks my fry come to the front of the tank and to the surface like: "GIVE ME FOOOOOOOD"

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betta4ever! said:

When I had fry they did the same and got fed with live bbs atleast 10 times a day

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Rocky998 said:

Bet you had steak fries

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betta4ever! said:

I don't get it

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Rocky998 said:

Normal fries:
View attachment 167914
Steak fries:
View attachment 167915

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betta4ever! said:

Now I get it Unfortunetely most of them died when I went for vacation. Only 2 made it.Those 2 have now paired up and I'll be having more fry soon (Talking about German Blue Rams)

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