So I have a snail problem in one of my tanks. Im looking for something to take care of them they are doing a fantastic job keeping my tank clean but there are just too many of them I dont want to eliminate all of them. I have one big one that started it all that i would like to keep. So I guess Im looking for a solution to take care of the small snails that keep popping up that wont harm the big one that will still do good in a ten gallon tank if that makes any sense. Any ideas would be great!

Snails are hermaphrodites, meaning they can reproduce by themselves without a partner. If you want to keep some of the snails, your best bet will be manual removal of the smaller snails. You can create a trap by tying zucchini to a string and a weight and put it in the tank overnight. In the morning you'll have a bunch of snails feasting on it, which you can take out and dump.

But if I were you, I would get rid of all the snails and keep the tank clean another way. You can easily do this by buying a clown loach or yoyo loach. They will devour most/all of the snails pretty quickly.

Will the loaches eventually outgrow the tank? Will they take care of the big snail too or should I get rid of him another way?

yes and yes, snails size wont matter.

after my fish were wiped out my a mystery disease i turned the heater up to 86 degrees and salted the hell out of my 38 gallon.....no more snails....probably had close to 60-70 of them prior to heating them and salting them to death.

Trapping is real easy and the best option. It's kind of like algae control. You don't want to go out and get a fish just to take care of a problem. You want to solve it.

Pond snails are a nuisance but can be managed pretty well with routine traps. I do it all the time myself.

Two ways and I'll start with the easiest by experience:

1) Blanched zucchini. After a few days, its all mushy, mushy and completely covered with snails. Get out the ole gravel vac and suck the entire zuc out snails and all.

2) Trap (the best way). Take a 20oz soda bottle and wash out well with hot water. Cut the first few inches of the top off. Right where the bend of the neck starts. This will give you a funnel. Placed blanched zucchini, lettuce, spinach, etc. in the bottle. Invert the top and push it in. Presto...instant snail trap. Can be used any time. For best results, place in the tank when the lights go out. Check trap in morning and dispose of contents properly. Bait and reset. Within no time, your snail population will be under control.

Hope that helps.

Take care of snails with snails!
its really cool to watch anyways... my friend bought live plants and got snails as a bonus well a little while later she had so many that it looked nasty! in the end, i bought her two assassin snails and all the others have been disappearing since (we also grab the ones that get on the tank walls as well)

I bought 6 Helena's once, one ended up being a cannibal and wiped out the other helena's and my pond snails still populate.

In my 210 i started to get a pond snail explosion, used the framing of a powered sponge filter to nab them. tried uplift tube with a funnel in the tip, got 6. I have 5 yo-yo loaches and 4 banjo cats, the amount of empty shells daily blew away what the traps caught.

The 20oz bottle trick works great, I suggest putting algae wafers and fresh blanched vegetation in there zuch's work awesome as does romaine lettuce.

If you like your big snail, I'm thinking you're not keen on the wholesale snailicide. Do you know what species your snail is? Can you post a picture? Not all snail species are hermaphrodites, all apple snails are single sexed, but I'm guessing you started with one, you've got a hermaphroditic species. Still, all snails come from eggs, you can certainly learn to identify the egg sacks and scrape them, or you can get fish that are moderately aggressive, good at small snails but not so good at eating bigger snails, and you will find you have a lot less snails to deal with. Barbs are pretty good at being not completely efficient snail eaters, and goldfish will eat anything that fits into their mouths, trouble is they do tend to grow. Or you can make friends with somebody who has a snail eating fish and let them come and pick live food when they need it. Check out the local fish clubs.

If you have shrimp or other inverts in the tank DO NOT use loaches, as they will eat everything. Assassin Snails are fun to use and will breed until there is no more food, then they will die off or maintain population, however, eradication with Assassins takes time (months) as they are snails themselves. Ghost shrimp I've heard eat snails, however, the ghost shrimp I added to my tank during a pond snail explosion ended up dying within the week so I wasn't able to do anything about it.

Manual removal and snail traps seem the best way, especially if you want to keep some, however they are labor-intensive.

Also, on an odd note - I have a nerite snail which appears to be single-sexed, that my Assassin Snails have not touched in well over 6 months. I have ~10 Assassins in the tank, and my pond snail population is well under control. Why aren't the Assassins attacking the nerite snail? The fish store guy (and he's been at his game for 20+ years), said this particular nerite is a salt/brackish snail that survives in fresh but will not reproduce. Is this true?

Can't get a good pic of the snail or I would post it, sorry.

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Can also use dwarf-puffers or pea-puffers to eat the snails,
they will only eat snails that are smaller than themselves.
though any fish would eat other invertebrates as well.
to remain peaceful each needs about 5 gallons,
and there should be twice as many females as males.
Assassin snails would limit it to just eating other snails.

agreed, but what if you have dwarf shrimp and rasbora as i do....?

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60 liter - Bronze, Habrosus and Panda Corys, Rasbora Maticulas, Neon Tetras, Marbled Hatchet fish, dwarf cherry, rhino and amano shrimp, assassin snails and damned pond snails

54 liter - Dwarf Redtailed Puffers, Garra Rufas and Garra Gotyla and more pond snails

45 liter - Still cycling. Crustations and Molluscs only

Courgette bait/ turkey baster / Assassin Snails / Warheads. HAving a nightmare. Political Sanctions are my next move....

lure them to one spot with the cougette slices ( suckercup anchored in place )
turkey baster to suck them out the tank ( easier than water change hose and more precise ) Assassin Snail ( Clea Helena ) will kill all other tank snails ( of this scale ) ( apparently ). Nuclear weapons ( never helped anyone out of fix )

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60 liter - Bronze, Habrosus and Panda Corys, Rasbora Maticulas, Neon Tetras, Marbled Hatchet fish, dwarf cherry, rhino and amano shrimp, assassin snails and damned pond snails

54 liter - Dwarf Redtailed Puffers, Garra Rufas and Garra Gotyla and more pond snails

45 liter - Still cycling. Crustations and Molluscs only

excellent tactic. will try that. courgette/zuccetti in a jar and pull them out like that. brilliant. thanks fellow human

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60 liter - Bronze, Habrosus and Panda Corys, Rasbora Maticulas, Neon Tetras, Marbled Hatchet fish, dwarf cherry, rhino and amano shrimp, assassin snails and damned pond snails

54 liter - Dwarf Redtailed Puffers, Garra Rufas and Garra Gotyla and more pond snails

45 liter - Still cycling. Crustations and Molluscs only

I wouldn't suggest any fish for getting rid of snails for this tank as its only a 10 gal.

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