Overun by snails and guppies - El Natural

flyrabbitfly · 02-02-2012, 08:06 PM

Hi folks,
So I have two NPT tanks... a 7 gal home to a betta and a few dwarf otos and about A MILLION red ramshorn snails...
and a 20ish gal home to a dwarf gourami, a couple of ramshorns, a pair of misc hitchiker snails, about 15 adult guppies and so many guppy fry I can't count them anymore, somewhere upwards of 25.
I thought the betta would eat the baby snails, but he seems completely uninterested...
I thought the gourami would eat the tiniest guppy fry but while he is good at dislodging snail eggs, he seems entirely too slow and clumsy to ever catch a guppy of any age...
I don't think my tanks can hold any new "predators" to make a natural balance- so how do I deal with overpopulation problems? The gourami was probably a poor choice of a predator

but I figured he was thinner than a chiclid and wouldn't add as much bioload

.
Here are some pics of the tanks:

ItsDubC · 02-03-2012, 03:33 AM

You may be overfeeding. What is your feeding regimen for these two tanks?

D9Vin · 02-03-2012, 04:59 AM

Assassin snails love ramshorn snails. As for the guppies, you know they are also known as the millionfish, haha.

flyrabbitfly · 02-03-2012, 01:42 PM

Hmm, maybe I am overfeeding- my son loves to feed them! If I let him they would get lunch too! As is we feed them twice a day, and sometimes he gives them a pretty big pinch

. Maybe if we cut down the gourami will swim faster

ItsDubC · 02-06-2012, 05:49 AM

Since aquariums are all about balance, I've always used the presence of snails to dial in my proper feeding level. Usually I will be overfeeding at the beginning (which seems to be suggested for NPTs) and then my snail population will start to get out of hand. I reduce feeding from there and observe what happens. Typically I'll start seeing fewer snails moving around and more empty snail shells on the substrate within a month or so.

Most ppl stress about having pond snails and ramshorn snails hitchike on their plants but I actually like them. They're a good indicator of proper feeding levels and help speed up the natural decomposition process in the tank. In my experience tho once the tank stabilizes and feeding is right, the snail population either becomes very small or goes away altogether.

Maybe try feeding just once per day and see what happens? If your son insists on having two feeding sessions per day, just feed one tank in the AM and the other in the PM

corsair75 · 02-09-2012, 11:41 AM

+1 on snails being not so bad. They expand to their food supply and then eat each other when food is scarce. Great, self-regulating cleaners. If you do want them to go away a snail assassin will do a great job though...

As for the guppies, its going to be tough to get an effective predator for that tank if there is a bunch of plant cover. Maybe find a nice LFS who wants to trade guppies for fish food

Diana K · 02-09-2012, 01:27 PM

You measure the food ahead of time, perhaps put it into those little coffee creamer cups (if you use them or can get a few from a friend). Then have your son feed 1 cup to each tank, twice a day, if you want. But you are controlling the amount of food.
I would start by cutting rations in half, and if possible skipping one day per week. If your son will not go along with that start teaching him why you are doing this, while putting perhaps only 1 flake in that days cups.

Teach your son that food represents energy, and see how the snails are using all that food to make more snails. (and the Guppies). Also help him to understand that excess food makes the fish unhealthy. Gouramis are greedy little guys and will eat until it kills them.

To get rid of the snails, bait and remove. Snails will come to blanched vegetables overnight and you can net the bit of vegetable and the mass of snails out every morning. Maybe do this on the day you do not feed the fish. Blanch a little lettuce or zucchini and drop it in at the end of the day, then scoop out snails the next morning.

NatalieT · 02-21-2012, 02:13 PM

For the guppies--try the local fish store. Some places will give you store credit for the fish, some will just take the fish off your hands for free, and some won't even take them.

Your tank doesn't look very full of guppies to me, because mine is much worse

Just wait until those babies grow up and have more babies!

Nachos · 02-21-2012, 05:26 PM

It seems I too will be housing many hitch-hiker snails and will embrace the little guys, unless they start munching on leaves!

aquabillpers · 02-23-2012, 12:49 PM

The solution: Get a krib, Pelvicachromis pulcher. Get just one; in a tank of that size two kribs will either fight and/or breed, depending on their genders, leading to chaos or an overpopulation of kribs.

In my experience they are great snail eaters. A pair rid a 29 gallon of mine of hundreds of ramshorns in about 3 weeks, and the snails never returned.

Kribs are also handsome and interesting fish.

Bill