thefishdude Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 Cleaned out my Fluval 403 and opened it up to quite a surprise - hundreds of tiny snails living in and on my filter media. They obviously came into my tank as hitchhikers from a few plants that I had in the tank a month or so ago. They seem to be proliferating quite happily in the dank darkness of the cannister filter. I have to mention that although I let the filter go longer than I usually do between changes, it seemed to be much cleaner than usual as well. So my question is whether or not to leave the little guys in there or do I need to get rid of 'em? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishBrain Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 That choice I would say is up to you...but caution, because if they are in your filter they will be in your tank. and eventually snails outnumber gravel. GL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toirtis Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 They will also eventually clog the filter and reduce efficiency...squish em! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefishdude Posted April 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 I put a few into the tank and the oscar ate em up - he absolutely loves em (sounds cool when he crunches them up). Maybe I'll keep a few in the filter as a food source and feed the rest to the O. Thanks for the help, I just wanted to make sure they wouldn't affect the bio filtration Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanker Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 I actually seed my canister filters WITH snails... I noticed a huge reduction in the 'large particle' matter in the filters. they also will only breed to to the amount of food that is available, so you can control their population (to some extent) by the amount of cleaning the filter gets. Each time you clean the filter, remove the largest snails and let the babies go nuts... also controls the population and makes sure the water can flow around the smaller bodies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 I have never heard of this before. What kind of snails do you use? Has anyone had any really negative experiences with this? I am running canister filters exclusively and this might be great. Is there a snail I could use that will not go after my plants? Kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 You could go with MTS... I've got pond snails, myself. Not a big deal if you do like Tanker says - take out the bigger ones each time you clean out the canister. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pat Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 I am not so sure about MTS. They have rather hard shell. They may get jam in the rotor housing and burnt out your motor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanker Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 Depends on the design of your filter, I suppose. My RENA was fine with pond and MTS... my 304 has both, as well and just cranks along like no one's business. I find the snails tend to stay at the bottom of the filter, where all the big stuff comes in... that's the 'good stuff' and they don't feel the need to explore, so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefishdude Posted April 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 I noticed a huge reduction in the 'large particle' matter in the filters I definately noticed the same thing - this is why I had hoped to keep them in there. It is nice to hear that someone else has had luck doing the same. I did not intend for this to happen by any means. I'm sure that a few sprigs got sucked up into the cannister when I had plants in the tank a while back - the snails were just passengers. Thanx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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