Snail eaters in a 20g tank

[Ramplo]

Hey everyone, looking for some advice!

I’m finding mixed info online so I’m hoping someone here has some experience to help. (TL;DR at bottom)

Back story:

I was given a 2.5 gallon established tank a bit over a year ago. It had one endler and two tetras. One tetra died recently,I’m assuming partially from stress because it couldn’t school.

I’m very interested in plants/aquascaping. My plan is to have a tank for my plants and the fish are just an added bonus. The largest tank I can comfortably fit in my tiny rental house is a 20 long and I have already purchased and set up the tank and I’m trying to cycle it (“trying” being key, story for another day)

In with all the lovely plants I got, I seem to have gotten a snail. And it/they have had many babies.

I’d like them taken care of before they get out of control. I have been trying to collect and remove them, but I checked everything I bought before it went in the tank so I think this is a losing battle. 

I’ve read betta fish will eat snails, I’ve also read they’ll only reliably eat them if you squish them 🤢

I read Cory catfish will eat them, then I read they’ll mostly just eat their eggs.

I hate snails so I am hoping I won’t need an assassin snail… Also don’t know how well it will live once all the snails are eaten.

Suggestions?

TLDR: 20g long planted with neon tetras and at least one endler. What can I get that will get along with these fish and eat snails?

[anitstuk]

Unfortunately, I think that an Assassin Snail is the way to go. I think after all the snails have been eaten, give it to your LFS or to a friend if they want it. You can also keep the snail and just feed it bloodworms every now and then to make sure it doesn't die.

[Friller]

Dwarf loaches, Ambastaia sp.

[Cinnebuns]

What kind of snails are they?  Can you get a pic?  Also I have never heard of cories eating live snails and I keep snails with my cories. Eggs I could see. 

[Ramplo]

These are the two bigger ones I’ve found and stuck into a jug of rain water with algae (quite a few babies too, but they’re a lot harder to see)

[Ramplo]

@Friller looks like they need a full school…I’ll look around and see if I can find some.

@anitstukI’ll check with some of the local stores to see who will take it back…I’ll have wait a while though to be sure all the snails are gone/that my plants live because if I replace them this game might start all over again. Although I suppose there’s always Facebook/Craigslist…

@CinnebunsThanks for the idea about posting a picture. I thought about it then didn’t bother because I just assumed it wouldn’t be helpful. But I can absolutely see different solutions being useful for different types!

[Nanci B]

I agree with @anitstuk My 75 was overrun with ramshorn snails and it appeared they were eating healthy plant parts and I declared war. I got several assassin snails and it took a few months, but the ramshorns  are finally gone. Now I need to find a home for the assassins. However I will say, that I am going to get a male nerite snail and some mystery snails because my algae started getting out of control after the snails were killed. 
But those look like bladder snails (ick) and they are awful. They eat healthy plants. Whereas, ramshorn snails are not supposed to.  
Just my opinion. If I didn’t get the ID right—please someone chime in. 
Let’s see some pictures of your 20long. I love that tank size, but my absolute favorite is a 40 breeder. Talk about great for aquascaping! 
 

 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

These are pond snails, they’re good at eating detritus and are generally pretty good to have but not for everyone. 

Loaches work well For this and the dwarf chain loach is a pretty and very effective species. Best in groups. 

Dwarf Puffers love snails, the bigger pond snails they’ll kill and play with but the smallest babies they’ll wipe out quickly. In a 20 g long you could keep 5 of them aiming for 2 males and 3 females. 

Cheapest solution is a couple assassin snails. 

The other option is no planaria, it’s antihelmenthic usually wipes out snails along with other worm like friends in the tank. 

[Guppysnail]

Yours is actually a bladder snail (I keep gold ones on purpose). Thin antenna and the spire is sinistral (points left). Pond snails have triangle fat bat ear antenna and the spire is dextral (points right). Here’s a picture to show differences 
I know you dislike snails but I agree assassin is the way to go. If it’s really overrun maybe several but it better than hundreds of bladder snails. 
For future reference on new plants so yo This will remove snails, eggs and pests without plant damage and is chemical free price is a bottle of plain seltzer. 

 

Edited August 3, 2022 by Guppysnail

[Goosedub]

I would keep a group of 5 pea puffers in a 20 gallon. You will never have a snail problem. They are also adorable, intelligent, interactive. The only downside is you need to feed them frozen brine shrimp or bloodworms and try to get them appropriate nutrition. I just pull snails from my other tanks and throw them in. 

[PotatoFish]

I would disagree and say that bladder snails eat live plants. They will eat dead or dying plant leaves though. If eating live plants were the case, the snail army would be a far bigger problem on the forum.

As for snail eaters...I like dojo loaches (read:  "voracious snail wood chippers"), but they disturb a lot of substrate and can get pretty messy.

I second the notion of pea puffers; those little guys are awesome helicopters of snaily death.

[Ramplo]

On 8/3/2022 at 10:34 AM, Goosedub said:

I would keep a group of 5 pea puffers in a 20 gallon.

Ok hadn’t found pea puffers before and they look pretty awesome…I can see how people get out of control with tanks 😂

On 8/3/2022 at 11:16 AM, PotatoFish said:

I would disagree and say that bladder snails eat live plants. They will eat dead or dying plant leaves though. If eating live plants were the case, the snail army would be a far bigger problem on the forum.

I second the notion of pea puffers; those little guys are awesome helicopters of snaily death.

For the plants it’s hard to tell because I’ve had some melting but I’m not seeing any holes…you may be right (at least if there is plenty of dead matter around) may also explain their love for my “moss”…it’s 98% but a few surviving stems so I’m trying to keep some alive!

 

”helicopters of snaily death” is easily the best thing I heard today, thanks lol.

[Ramplo]

On 8/3/2022 at 5:19 AM, Guppysnail said:I know you dislike snails but I agree assassin is the way to go. If it’s really overrun maybe several but it better than hundreds of bladder snails. 
For future reference on new plants so yo This will remove snails, eggs and pests without plant damage and is chemical free price is a bottle of plain seltzer. 

 

I did end up getting an assassin snail if for no other reason than I was trying to do a fish less cycle. I’ve also been manually plucking them and putting them in a small water “pond” pot I have to prevent my mower from clipping my septic tank cover. They’ll live their best life in algae heaven until winter then oops, nature.

And I can’t wait to try the reverse respiration trick, if nothing else then when I give away my cuttings!! That is incredibly interesting! I thought I checked all my plants pretty well…and turns out my quarantine must have been way too short. Life lessons!

On 8/2/2022 at 10:37 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

Cheapest solution is a couple assassin snails. 

Yup I took everyone’s advice and it has at least kept the population down. Should probably get another one…

[Ramplo]

On 8/2/2022 at 8:35 PM, Nanci B said:

Let’s see some pictures of your 20long. I love that tank size, but my absolute favorite is a 40 breeder. Talk about great for aquascaping! 
 

Well in the middle of family drama I couldn’t get my tank to do a fishless cycle and truly couldn’t find ammonia which kind of blew my mind. Just added my only two little fish (endler and tetra) for a fish-in cycle and I’ll get a proper school of tetra when my tank is cycled.

In the meantime, the aquascaping has gotten very beat up while I chased snails with tongs and I got sick of trying to make it perfect. Also, might have gotten too much stuff. I’ll play with it once I’m sure I can keep something other than snails alive 😅

If you look REAL close near the arrow you might see a bit of my assassin snail…