Are you afraid of snails? The gastropod may carry deadly parasitic disease, yes ecologists do say a snail may kill a human via the help of a parasite or through its venom. Or maybe you feel your aquarium is full of snails, so Let me just clarify it by saying that snails can be good or bad.
Good ones keep the aquarium free of algae and eat the dead matter as well un-utilized food thus act as a cleaner or a scavenger while the bad ones should be avoided due to the pest.
No need to worry if you don’t want snails, there are a lot of fishes that can help you to keep the aquarium free from the outgrowth of snails. But before adding a fish for controlling the growth of snails, keep in mind, fishes do change their food with the change in their environment. Do a lot of research before choosing any fish for your aquarium.
Let’s discuss the fishes (or snails) which will help you to keep your aquarium free from snails or stop their outgrowth-
- The famous yoyo loach which has a very good appetite for snails, is a really colourful fish. Also known as almora or pakistani loach. They are amazingly beautiful and do team up with other fishes thus live happily with them. But try to avoid large mates into the tanks that may cause fights with them. Because yoyo loaches are aggressive too. It can go upto 14-16 cm and is good for community tanks.
- Clown loach which has concerned as it can grow upto 50 cm, thus does require a large aquarium. They are really peaceful and can be amazingly beautiful to your eyes and do help in removing snails. They do not feed on fishes, but if they find smaller fishes then easily make them their food. It is a very active fish during the day. Thus can be seen roaming in aquariums.
- Gourami fish is a stress-causing fish that may help in killing snails but it may not help your aquarium to be pest-free as they are not completely dependent on snails for their food. Gourami is known as a kissing fish, due to its establishment for dominance in the aquarium. As these are very aggressive with each other as well as with other fishes. So do research, before adding this fish into your aquarium.
- Next, I would recommend a Cory catfish which is a well known fish to destroy the eggs of snails. They are the bottom dwellers. They are small fish, a group of 6 can live together. They can be added to any community as they are really peaceful.
- Bala shark is not a shark, which is a really big fish as adults and does stop the outbreak of snails. They are very sensitive to water conditions, thus do check it, repeatedly. They are really peaceful when in Juvenile while adults do dominate other fishes and live up to 10 years.
- If you are having a cold water tank and the snail population is too much, I would suggest you have goldfish. Fish which is most common for beginner aquarists, do live for about 10-15 years. Remember the movie Finding Nemo, chuckles was a goldfish. They are really colorful from Orange to yellow, brown, black and white too. They sleep in quiet environments only. They are really calmer as well as reduce the anxiety and blood pressure of people in their aquarium. They are very easy to maintain, live long, and don’t do annoying things.
- Green spotted puffer, as the name suggests they have green spots over their body. They are required to be fed hard foods like snails to keep the growth of their bony plates in their mouth under control. Thus a very good fish to feed on snails. They do release toxic chemicals which can be harmful to humans as well as for fish too. They require very specific care for their growth. As they grow about 17 cm in length, they normally grow in brackish water in natural habitats.
- Do you think of a snail that may help you to stop the outgrowth of snails? Assassin snail, as they do the job of snails to clean leftover food, biofilms of microbes and algae as well as feed on other snails. They do not outgrow their population as well. But do keep snails eating fish away from Assassin snails in the same aquarium. Assassin snails do require protein-rich substrates for their growth as well as to raise their reproductive growth.
These are the common fishes and snails that can help you to have an aquarium free from snails. Do let me know in the comment section below which one you prefer for your particular aquarium.
