Pest Snails in a tank containing Red Shrimp

[leolaquitzon]

We have a tank containing Red Shrimp and a mix of other fish, we bought some loaches to deal with the snails but had to starve the whole tank to encourage them to eat the snails because they preferred the food until we removed the other food. They did decimate the snails but we had to return the loaches because their rambunctious nature was upsetting the other fish. Now however the snails are returning, does anyone have any suggestions or solutions on how to eliminate this issue without killing the Red Shrimp or the other fish?

 

[lazarusthefishboy10]

We have a tank containing Red Shrimp and a mix of other fish, we bought some loaches to deal with the snails but had to starve the whole tank to encourage them to eat the snails because they preferred the food until we removed the other food. They did decimate the snails but we had to return the loaches because their rambunctious nature was upsetting the other fish. Now however the snails are returning, does anyone have any suggestions or solutions on how to eliminate this issue without killing the Red Shrimp or the other fish?

That's tricky.
I'd just feed less food, or less often. That's usually why snails overpopulate aquariums. A good colony of snails (pest snails or not) are really beneficial for the tank and have lots of benefits like eating algae, breaking down debris further for the filter to pickup, etc.
But you can put cucumber on a fork to attract the snails, and when you pick it up, the shrimp should jump off and you'll be left with a heap of snails.
But yeah, back to the feeding point, they're prolly in your tank because you're overfeeding.
Good luck!

 

[Aqua67]

You can also collect them and offer them for sale/trade locally. Someone with a pea puffer, goldfish, or other snail eating fish, algae problem, etc., may be very interested in your excess snails.

Personally I like having the snails in my aquarium. I always count on my cichlids to eat when I think the population needs to be thinned out.

 

[Colin_T]

assassin snails

 

[Mb7640]

I had a huge snail issue a few years ago I started to feed once a day and still do. I got a zebra loach and I have pea puffers in another tank I had to pick out the snails and just squish them eventide I saw them. Took a few months it was a nightmare. I tried the tricks like Lettuce and other things also got that liquid snail killer did not work.