How many snails are too many snails?

[Olivia Letemplier]

How many snails are too many?

I must have 75-100 snails in my 55 gallon tank.  Last evening, when I was dropping food in for the cories there were a dozen or so snails on the cucumber slice I left out.  It was kind of gross.

Will snails eventually balance themselves out?  I've noticed that the snails are getting much bigger and there are lots of babies.

The cucumber was supposed to be for the cories and the pleco! 

[dan2x38]

What kind of snails - what do they look like? Overfeeding increases population. Vacuum some out and pull out the cucumber and scrap them off and put it back keep doing that until you get the population down. A piece of lettuce at lights out weighted down works good too they crawl all over it and even lay eggs on/in it. Pull it out trow away and repeat.

[Olivia Letemplier]

I'm not sure what kind they are - just run of the mill snails that came with the first tank my friend gave me.

Overfeeding really is an issue for me - I just hate the thought that anyone is going hungry in the tank.  I'd rather overfeed (I'm working on lessening the food, I really am) and over filter, and change the water more frequently because I don't want anyone to starve to death.

But, I also recognize that I have to find a balance if I want everyone to stay healthy.  Now, for the snails - will they just suffocate to death when I throw them in the garbage?  Is there any more humane way I can dispose of them?

[dan2x38]

More fish die of overfeeding than anything else. Overfeeding also fowls the water so you can be killing with kindness. In nature fish and other animals live close to starvation this is the balance of nature. If they didn't there would be over population. Fish can survive with little feeding. Some ppl feed once a day or whenever. I skip one day a week for instance.

[Fishnut]

If you're feeding as little as once every 3 days, your fish are not going to starve to death.  I've left fish for a week while I go on vacation and they're fine.

Snails can be taken care of via the veggie way and they die in the garbage, you can put a snail predator in the tank or you could cut the food substantially and let the population correct itself.  I prefer the predator because it means getting another fish...or few .  Assassin snails, some loach species and puffer fish are great snail eaters.  Puffer fish would not be appropriate for your tank though.

[robt18]

TS, the answer to your question is one snail is too many.

Once you get a bunch you'll never get rid of them all! Try to catch it as early as you can and get rid of them.

[Laura]

I have 'pest' snails in all my tanks - pond, ramshorn and mts. I figure that they fill a niche, convert food to material that my plants can use, and are part of the ecosystem.

When and if they get too populous, I give them away to someone with assassins or a puffer, otherwise it's just live and let live.

[fischkopp]

Will snails eventually balance themselves out? 

Yes. I find snails to be an important addition to an aquatic ecosystem. Snail populations will rise and fall with the food provided. I have noticed that they tend to stay quite low in understocked tanks with one species only. Clearly, because this one species has been only fed what it needed. Setups with more than one species tend to suffer from chronic overfeeding, which will always led to increased snail populations. But this is actually a good thing, because they prevent the food to rot and become an even bigger disaster. I want to imply here that most community setups require overfeeding to assure that enough food is supplied for all inhabitants. That makes the snails play an important role, since they take care of that extra bit that isn't needed.

[Olivia Letemplier]

This might sound silly but I'd rather give them away (even as food for others) than throw them away.  Should I just post a message?  Or do any of you have contacts that I can e-mail directly to give them to. 

[Laura]

I just post them on the classifieds FF (For Free).
I don't get too much interest, but some, depending on the species.

[presto]

100 snails you see means 1000's you don't if they are trumpet snails.

I vacuum mine out and throw them away. I also use the net and scoop them off the glass late at night after lights are down for an hour.

[Brent Shaver]

I spent months and months getting rid of these pests.  If you could have 10 or 15 it wouldnt be an issue but before long you are taking out 20-50 a day and it never stops.  I didnt rid myself of them before I shut the tank down and rehauled it.

If I learn nothing else in this hobby I now know that when I get live plants from anywhere they need to be rinsed and inspected for eggs before I will put them in any tank.

[dan2x38]

Using a plant dip when you bring home plants is the only way to kill the eggs or other hitchhikers. Using stuff like: potassium permanganate, aluminum sulfate and bleach dips 20:1 (water:bleach). Dip for 30 seconds but avoid dipping the roots. I've used permanganate & bleach but not the Aluminum sulfate it is suppose to work good too. Of course you must rinse the dip off very well. I use treated water at same temp as tank. You can use a plant QT but doesn't remove eggs in any way.

[Anja]

I have snails in all my tanks too. They clean up and aerate the substrate, and occasionally I'll fish some out and feed them to my assassins, but I never have so many that they just cover everything, even in the brig tank.

I'd also recommend feeding less. I feed 6 days a week (mostly - sometimes I forget a day and leave it that way) once a day with different foods and twice a week a little extra for the bottom feeders, but never for all at once. One day the catfish get extra, one day the cherries, one day the assassins. I figure every one of them eats everybody else's food anyway, right? ;o) But that way they get a good variety.

When we're on vacation we have friends come in twice a week to feed the fish (a normal portion), and they've always been fine and healthy, even after 4 weeks.

[Melody]

Most of our small herbivorous & omnivorous domestic tropical fish are designed to eat pretty much every waking hour, little bits, and always searching for more.  When we don't feed a tank, the fish aren't actually going without food.  They graze on algae, microorganisms, bits of decaying food, etc. - more like what they're designed to do.

There are special considerations to keep in mind with nutrition, such as growing fish, or Livebearers, who are constantly reproducing - these situations call for optimum nutrition.

When we feed real food, like fresh vegies or freeze-dried items, the fish don't need nearly as much to obtain the same amount of nutrition that they'd get from over-processed manufactured food.  A slice of zucchini is more than enough to feed dozens of BN Plecos & Cory's, for example.

Idealy, we should feed miniscule amounts several times/day, and I mean miniscule.  Your fish are small and their stomachs are tiny - a couple of bites is a lot of food for them.  Their digestive system is designed to utilize food this way, and the uptake will improve drastically.  They can only utilize so many nutrients at a time, the rest is deposited directly into the water column.

If the snail population is exploding, you are definitly overfeeding to a point where you're creating a less than ideal environment for the fish.  Snails eat leftovers, yes, but they also produce a lot of waste themselves.  They will breed according to the food supply, so you have your proof that you are providing way more than enough food for everyone in your tank.  Some snails are an important part of a naturally maintained aquarium, but too many will knock the system out of balance.

[dan2x38]

Excellent post melody! A fish's stomach is the size of it's eye.

[Melody]

Thank you sir! 

I don't think that always applies, or whales would have very tiny stomaches...LOL...but it's a good starting point!

[dan2x38]

Thank you sir! 

I don't think that always applies, or whales would have very tiny stomaches...LOL...but it's a good starting point!

It's just a reference point... LOL I think whales are all stomach... LOL

[Olivia Letemplier]

The comment about fish stomachs being the size of their eyes is very, very helpful to me!  Thank you.  That puts things in perspective for me and will help with the overfeeding as I can also explain that to my daughter who likes to help me feed everyone. 

[cdylnicki]

I love using that estimate measurement when I sell fish to kids/first time fish owners.  (eye vs stomach size).  I read it somewhere about 5 years ago and have been using that measurement since!

It always gives a very good perspective of food quantities, and I love watching peoples response ("Oh my gosh, I have been WAY over feeding!")

And no, it does not apply to every fish keeper/tank, but its a good rule when beginning fish keeping.  Its especially helpful in a brand new tank to help avoid new tank syndrome, plus it is super easy for young kids to understand.