This Cucumber Malarky

[iceband]

O, so I've got like, 500 million gazillion snails in my tank. I read somehwere, maybe on here, that a piece of cucumber will attract the snails onto it and when you take it out, out come the snails. Cool.

So, I stuck a chunk of cucmber in my tank and waited, and waited, and waited, and.............well, you get the picture. 24 hours and one lonely snail was nibbling a bit of my cucumber. After a few more hours, there were maybe 5 on there.

Now, there's none, cos the cucumber has disappeared. It wasn't a small bit and it was intact last night, have my pregnant fish suddenly got a craving for it or something??

 

[Chri$]

What fish have you got?

 

[iceband]

Guppies, Mollies, Platties, Neons..........the usual

 

[johnatkin]

What size tank do are they in?

 

[donna123]

hi,
snails are a pain, i found the cucumber thing did not work for me either, have you room for a snail eating loach?, mollies guppys and plattys all love cucuber so it wasnt wasted lol, ,all the best donna .

 

[johnatkin]

I was thinking along the same lines as donna123. Clown loaches are good snail eaters but need a large tank that's why I wondered what their tank size is. If you clean copper coins with coke or vinegar and put them in a tank with a snail problem will it kill them like it does with crustaceans or will it hurt the fish?

 

[iceband]

I was thinking along the same lines as donna123. Clown loaches are good snail eaters but need a large tank that's why I wondered what their tank size is. If you clean copper coins with coke or vinegar and put them in a tank with a snail problem will it kill them like it does with crustaceans or will it hurt the fish?

It's only a small tank (70ltr) so a Clown Loach isn't an option

The coin idea is interesting, will my fish be ok though

 

[Torrean]

The coin idea might work but you gotta ask yourself do you want 500 million gazillion snail corpses rotting in your fishtank all at the same time.

You might try a variation on the cucumber trick. I personally put an algae wafer in a cup at lights out. Come back a couple hours later pull out the cup and do what you will with the snails.

They also make snail traps...don't know much about them.

People also use lettuce and other veggies. I think algae wafer works pretty well...I've never tried cucumber so I can't compare the two.

There are smaller snail eaters...I just can't think of any at the moment. Someone should compile a list of snail eaters and categorize it by size.

 

[wodesorel]

The cucumber probably dissolved and rotted away. I feed my snails cucumbers all the time, and in this heat they just mush-out in about 12 hours.

I've heard of people using small pieces of raw beef to get MTS and pond snails - but look into this more before trying it!

 

[joloco]

my fish kept eating the cucumber before the snails could get there so i gave up and now have a much loved Kuhli Loach who goes round and munches snails really effectively and anything (other than plants) that generally comes his way.

they don't get very big - about 3 inches and are meant to be partly nocoturnal but mine seems to ignore that rule and mooches about for most of the day. he also performs quite good tricks with plants - seems to really like sitting on them and hanging from them. they're really gregariuos non agressive little fish and will play 'tag' if you have more than one. they need sand or a rounded edge substrate as they like a bit of digging.

this website has some good loach info and pictures:
www.loaches.com

 

[Nina]

Try the cucumber again but at night and have a look a couple of hours after lights out.

The main cause of excess snails is due to over feeding. Try reducing the amount you feed either by every other day or pyshicaly putting less in.

Although this won't really help with your current snail problem, it should help to stop the numbers increasing.

 

[Myuu]

I reccomend the algea wafers. I had a snail problem before and those affract snails easily.

What you need to do is get small soda bottle and cut some holes in it (big enough for the snails), put 2-3 algea in the bottle and leave it in your tank for about two days. After two days take out the bottle and all the snails, then do what you will with them.

It also helps if you don't feed the snails for a while.

 

[iceband]

some good ideas, there, I'll look into them. Cheers

 

[Kentfish]

O, so I've got like, 500 million gazillion snails in my tank. I read somehwere, maybe on here, that a piece of cucumber will attract the snails onto it and when you take it out, out come the snails. Cool.

So, I stuck a chunk of cucmber in my tank and waited, and waited, and waited, and.............well, you get the picture. 24 hours and one lonely snail was nibbling a bit of my cucumber. After a few more hours, there were maybe 5 on there.

Now, there's none, cos the cucumber has disappeared. It wasn't a small bit and it was intact last night, have my pregnant fish suddenly got a craving for it or something??

Hi,

to be honest, when I had a snail problem a few years back I just watched the tank around 10:30 pm and picked 'em out when they emerged from the gravel. You can see it move as they burrow upwards. I got 25 or so a night for three nights then another 10 on the forth night when I put all the lights out and then came back half an hour later with a torch!!

Not a very fancy method but cheap and flippin' effective!

I have 2 Clown Loaches that have been quite happy in a 48inx12inx15in tank for the last 8 years - that's about 28 gallons (sorry, don't do metric ) I think the numbers must have overwhelmed them but none at all since.

Hope this helps..........

K

 

[iceband]

cheers, looks like Im going to spend many a happy hour, snail catching, then