Pest Snail?

[TotallyTropical]

So here's how it all started:
I came back with 2 more Kuhli Loaches (maybe a month or 2 ago), and saw that there was a snail as well in the bag. I decided that I would put it in the tank, and if it became a nuisance, I would try to remove it. So it went in the tank, and I never saw it again. The end. Or so I thought..... Just a few days ago, I spotted it. It had a round, smooth looking shell, resembling a pest snail, but it didn't eat any of my plants. The next day, I noticed 2 more. One on its back, another cleaning an ornament. They still didn't eat the plants. So I thought to myself, "As long as they aren't taking over the Otos' job," because I have 2, "and as long as they aren't going to destroy my plants, why not let them stay?". But now I'm starting to think, what if they do, in fact, take over my entire tank and starve my Otos every day I don't give them an algae wafer or a vegetable? Should I remove them?

 

[XAli1971]

In my experience if you can see two, you probably have 20

You could throw in a few assassin snails, they look cool and while they propably will not rid you of all your pest snails, they should keep them under control.

Other option is to reduce the amount of waste food in your tank

 

[TotallyTropical]

Assassin snails look awesome! I'll go get some of those. And yes, I thought the pests would multiply like rabbits..... Would I have to feed the Assassin snails after they eat all of the pest snails? Also, I barely feed my fish. Not animal cruelty, but the only other fish I have in my tank are the Kuhlis, and I put in a pinch of food a day for them to scavenge for on the bottom. But I am definitely going to get some of those snails!

 

[Bugdozer]

Assassin snails look awesome! I'll go get some of those. And yes, I thought the pests would multiply like rabbits..... Would I have to feed the Assassin snails after they eat all of the pest snails? Also, I barely feed my fish. Not animal cruelty, but the only other fish I have in my tank are the Kuhlis, and I put in a pinch of food a day for them to scavenge for on the bottom. But I am definitely going to get some of those snails!

Supposedly you can feed the assassins on shrimp pellets, catfish biscuits etc if you run out of snails, except that mine are too dumb to eat any food put right next to them, and after a while the fish and shrimps in my tank steal it away, so I fully expect mine to eventually starve to death when they have run out of prey.

 

[Crossfire]

Depending on the size of the tank, you can get one assassin. They only eat about one to two pest snails a week, so it would not eliminate them, but rather keep the population in check. And they are actually whelks, so they are not aesexual.

 

[Ruthc1985]

In my experience if you can see two, you probably have 20

You could throw in a few assassin snails, they look cool and while they propably will not rid you of all your pest snails, they should keep them under control.

Other option is to reduce the amount of waste food in your tank

+1 - I have had assassin snails for a while now, and they worked an absolute treat when I had an infestation from snails that came in on plants. Brilliant snails!

Supposedly you can feed the assassins on shrimp pellets, catfish biscuits etc if you run out of snails, except that mine are too dumb to eat any food put right next to them, and after a while the fish and shrimps in my tank steal it away, so I fully expect mine to eventually starve to death when they have run out of prey.

Interestingly, I have never had to feed mine!

 

[XAli1971]

Re feeding assassin snails, I use crab pellets. Apparently the smelliest the better. To put in when the lights are out. These snails are nocturnal if I remember correctly

 

[Bugdozer]

I'm not feeding them anything yet, as long as I can see a single pond snail in my tank the assassins must earn their dinner! I put food for them as an experiment when the only snails in there were too small for the assassins to eat.