How pesty do pest snails need to be?

[itiwhetu]

I have been really naughty, and I haven't quarantined anything. Anyhow I have pest snails and Ramshorns all introduced through the plants that I have bought. But their populations are stable. Why, will I think it is the Royal whiptail catfish are eating the eggs. They are not eating the snails, but if they are eating the eggs, they are keeping the populations under control.
I can remember years ago I had clown loaches in a tank, same sort of thing. They didn't eat the snails but I'm sure they ate the eggs.
There are other fish that do the same sort of thing, which ones are your suspected snail egg eaters.

 

[Lynnzer]

I prefer the thumbfish.
I'm beleaguered by damn bladder snails. I just can't seem to get rid of them. Even on newly set up tanks I find them racing around the glass.
I tried the usual chemical method that didn't work for me. Now I've reverted to thumb squashing them every time one dares to crawl into sight.
This morning I got another 4 the size of large grains of rice, then there were at least 15 from the size of a pin prick to a pin head. So small that unless they didn't move you'd probably not notice them. However each one has a satisfying scrunch when squeezed.

 

[outofwater]

I'm not sure who does it, but the ones I have got under control almost suddenly. I have one assassin, obviously it keeps up with the grown ones to some degree, but the eggs magically disappeared almost entirely, and I have the same fish as always: cories, an otto, and neon tetras.

Yesterday I saw an egg sack, and it's been a long while since I saw that, there was a time when they were almost on every branch on my plants

 

[SomethingsFishy24]

I have pest snails in my grow out from plants I purchased. I suspect the bn fry are eating the majority of the egg sacks. The dwarf shrimp I can't imagine, but maybe. When I am messing with the tank I pluck as many adult snails out as I can catch(many about the size of a pea). I toss them in my Geo tank, the tapajos suck them right out of their shells. There is a tiny shell graveyard between cleaning days.

 

[robmcd]

Smash 'em, let them sink to the bottom and your fish should take care of the mess and appreciate you for it. My fish love snail smashing time!!

 

[Back in the fold]

My Aplocheilus lineatus Golden Wonder Killifish keep the common pond snail eradicated. Pond snails are the best algae eating snail I know of , the only one that eats brown algae. I put a large one in a tank and he devoured it all and laid gobs of eggs but I never saw any small snails. The snail eggs were hatching but the snail young were nowhere to be seen. I didn't see but I assume the lineatus were eating them. I tried to introduce another pond snail into another tank but it was devoured whole as soon as it hit the water. That one was the size of a pea. Surprised me.

 

[Byron]

I don't understand why anyone would want to rid a tank of a critter that is doing a tremendous benefit to the biological system. Snails eat organic matter, and this breaks it down faster so the bacteria can do their thing. Snails also get everywhere you can't, eating organic matter, and algae from plant leaves. They will reproduce but only if food is available to support them. I valued my bladder snails.

 

[itiwhetu]

I agree with @Byron, what I have always wanted was a stable population. By adding a fish like a Royal Whiptail, you then can achieve this. You still will have snails but not thousands of them.

 

[Lynnzer]

I guess it's down to each one of us how we look at them. Personally I consider them as cockroaches of the fishtank. If you need snails to clean the tank you can easily choose one, or more, of a larger species that aren't as quick to multiply. Or of course you can go for fish or shrimp that eat the same sort of thing that the snails eat.

 

[Essjay]

I think I must be the odd one out. I do not have any snail eating fish nor assassin snails. I have 2 types of pest snails, planorbids (those tiny ramshorns) and physids (commonly called bladder, trapdoor etc snails). Unlike descriptions by other members I don't have many of them. When I thin out the floating plants I do find some in the bottom of the container when I dispose of the plants, and I do see half a dozen or so in the tank, but that's all. All I can think of is that other members would probably accuse me of underfeeding the fish.

 

[Lynnzer]

I just squashed at least dozen all around pin-head size crawling up the front of the tank. God knows how many are hidden on the plants and the other sides of the tank that I can't see due to the plants.
Anyway, I believe I have found the answer to ridding myself of obvious ones crawling on the glass. It's something I thought about some time ago, but I just ordered one to get to grips with the infestation. I guess you could say I'm on a roll.