Think I need a snail

[Guyb93]

Iv been telling myself for a while now that a few snails could save me a lot of work weekly , my group of 10 corys try as they might can’t keep up with the messy eating cichlids and tetra I know the answer feed less but that really upsets the balance in my tank they become aggressive and more competitive for food
So my solution at the moment is over filtration , large weekly water changes and gravel vacs , the more I scape my tank the harder it’s getting to vac and more places food can get stuck
Also big a 5ft tank it’s almost impossible not to hve some part in direct sun light and have to clean off diatoms every few days so I need a few snails I hate them but I need them , so my question is what snail is actually the best at cleaning ? And small if possible I’d like to see there work without seeing them lol

 

[AquaBarb]

Iv been telling myself for a while now that a few snails could save me a lot of work weekly , my group of 10 corys try as they might can’t keep up with the messy eating cichlids and tetra I know the answer feed less but that really upsets the balance in my tank they become aggressive and more competitive for food
So my solution at the moment is over filtration , large weekly water changes and gravel vacs , the more I scape my tank the harder it’s getting to vac and more places food can get stuck
Also big a 5ft tank it’s almost impossible not to hve some part in direct sun light and have to clean off diatoms every few days so I need a few snails I hate them but I need them , so my question is what snail is actually the best at cleaning ? And small if possible I’d like to see there work without seeing them lol

Malaysian trumpet snails do wonders for your substrate and ive found nerite snails to be best for cleaning your glass and hardscape etc. They look pretty cool too.

In a 5ft tank you wouldnt really notice nerties/mts too much. Im thinking of introducing some nerties in the next few weeks to my 5ft tank. Im just not sure if Cichlids would make them into a meal.

 

[Guyb93]

Malaysian trumpet snails do wonders for your substrate and ive found nerite snails to be best for cleaning your glass and hardscape etc. They look pretty cool too.

In a 5ft tank you wouldnt really notice nerties/mts too much. Im thinking of introducing some nerties in the next few weeks to my 5ft tank. Im just not sure if Cichlids would make them into a meal.

I did a little research and South American cichlids don’t typically eat snails well activity hunt and eat snails but that was also my thinking they may be food but honestly it wouldn’t bother me to lose a snail now and agin lol

 

[Wills]

I had snails in with my cichlids and was never really a problem. Have you thought about adding whiptail catfish? I had some Sturisoma for a long time in my 4 foot and then 6 foot and algae was never too much of an issue, I had them for a number of years but when they died my algae issues really shot up and I was scrubbing nearly every week.

Wills

 

[AquaBarb]

Yeah ive read similar. Think african cichlids are more likely to hunt and eat snails.

Nerite snails would be the way to go. You wont need alot tbf

@Wills i was actually thinking of these this morning. I dont want a pleco because they are too messy so i was looking into whiptails or snails.

How many did you have?

 

[Guyb93]

I had snails in with my cichlids and was never really a problem. Have you thought about adding whiptail catfish? I had some Sturisoma for a long time in my 4 foot and then 6 foot and algae was never too much of an issue, I had them for a number of years but when they died my algae issues really shot up and I was scrubbing nearly every week.

Wills

I had thought of trying to find a fish that can clean up but I’m feeling like I’m borderline stocked and thought snails are possibly less hard on the bio load

 

[Wills]

Yeah ive read similar. Think african cichlids are more likely to hunt and eat snails.

Nerite snails would be the way to go. You wont need alot tbf

@Wills i was actually thinking of these this morning. I dont want a pleco because they are too messy so i was looking into whiptails or snails.

How many did you have?

I had thought of trying to find a fish that can clean up but I’m feeling like I’m borderline stocked and thought snails are possibly less hard on the bio load

I originally had plecos I tried a number of species but always got frustrated with how much they hid. With my whiptails they were always active and out and about. I had 2 Sturisoma Aurems which were really nice looking fish, there are lots of cool looking ones out there now that are pretty accessible and not overly expensive usually under £20 each.

No where near as polluting as a pleco either, you only have to look at their bodies to work out why. The Whiptails gut is quite short in comparison to their body and stay quite slender where as plecos take on a lot more food and bulk out.

@Guyb93 to make a scratch in your tank you are going to need a good 10-15 Nerite Snails and they do produce waste so would need to be factored in. Do you know your nitrate level before you do a water change? I'm not 100% with your stock at the moment I think there have been a few changes over time?

Wills

 

[Essjay]

There are several species of nerite snail, some bigger than others.
The biggest is the brown & beige striped zebra nerite
Slightly smaller are the red with black markings often called red onion
Small nerites include bee snails (with and without horns), batman nerites and military helmet snails.

 

[AquaBarb]

There are several species of nerite snail, some bigger than others.
The biggest is the brown & beige striped zebra nerite
Slightly smaller are the red with black markings often called red onion
Small nerites include bee snails (with and without horns), batman nerites and military helmet snails.

Ive had the zebra nerites and now have the smaller zebra horns.

They look cool and do a great job

 

[Guyb93]

I originally had plecos I tried a number of species but always got frustrated with how much they hid. With my whiptails they were always active and out and about. I had 2 Sturisoma Aurems which were really nice looking fish, there are lots of cool looking ones out there now that are pretty accessible and not overly expensive usually under £20 each.

No where near as polluting as a pleco either, you only have to look at their bodies to work out why. The Whiptails gut is quite short in comparison to their body and stay quite slender where as plecos take on a lot more food and bulk out.

@Guyb93 to make a scratch in your tank you are going to need a good 10-15 Nerite Snails and they do produce waste so would need to be factored in. Do you know your nitrate level before you do a water change? I'm not 100% with your stock at the moment I think there have been a few changes over time?

Wills

Current stocking is 3x eba
2x severum
2x keyholes
8 x Colombian Redfin tetra
10x bronzed corys
And a small green phantom pleco
My nitrates normally fall around 40-60ppm by the end of the week and pretty much always 20ppm and I really don’t want 10 snails as they will probably become 100 knowing my luck lol

 

[AquaBarb]

Current stocking is 3x eba
2x severum
2x keyholes
8 x Colombian Redfin tetra
10x bronzed corys
And a small green phantom pleco
My nitrates normally fall around 40-60ppm by the end of the week and pretty much always 20ppm and I really don’t want 10 snails as they will probably become 100 knowing my luck lol

You wont get that problem with Nerites. They need brackish water to reproduce

 

[Wills]

Current stocking is 3x eba
2x severum
2x keyholes
8 x Colombian Redfin tetra
10x bronzed corys
And a small green phantom pleco
My nitrates normally fall around 40-60ppm by the end of the week and pretty much always 20ppm and I really don’t want 10 snails as they will probably become 100 knowing my luck lol

Its a 5x2x2 right? If so I'd say you would be ok to add a couple of Whiptails.

https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=1167

They've revised the name since I kept them lol but this is what I had.

 

[Guyb93]

You wont get that problem with Nerites. They need brackish water to reproduce

Good info

Its a 5x2x2 right? If so I'd say you would be ok to add a couple of Whiptails.

https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=1167

They've revised the name since I kept them lol but this is what I had.

Almost it’s 5 x 26inches x 20 inches it’s a weird sized tank slightly taller than it is wide

 

[Wills]

Still a similar volume to what I was expecting - I'd be ok with adding a couple of whiptails if you didnt want the snail army lol.

 

[Guyb93]

Still a similar volume to what I was expecting - I'd be ok with adding a couple of whiptails if you didnt want the snail army lol.

Yeah I was just looking at some online apparently the twig catfish is a good one to have I really wasn’t keen on the idea of snails lol