# pest snails



## Sherry (Nov 22, 2011)

Good morning.
I had some of those pesky snails come in with some of my plants. My hubby says leave them alone they are cleaning the tank, but i dont want those kind of snails. They are taking over. What kind of snails do you recommend that would be nice looking, would be good at getting rid of the pesky snails and wont multiply to crazy. Those pesky ones are everywhere. The big ones are about the size of peas right now. I have RCS in this 30g tank too. Along with my female platys and guppies. 
Can anyone recommend me a nice snail to help me out?


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

Briggs (Mystery) snails will be fine. They require both a male and female for reproduction unlike the common pest snails. They won't get rid of your existing snail problem though. Manual removal will be your best bet for that.


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## chipmunk1210 (Jul 3, 2012)

I personally like nerite snails for that kinda situation(although I like all the snail types LOL). Nerites won't overrun you like "pest snails" as their eggs need brackish conditions to hatch. I like these because they come in several color varieties and are one of the very few critters that will eat BBA. They will not get rid of your exhisting pest snail population though. The only snail to do that would be assasin snails. I like these guys but it does take them some time to get the situation under control. Manual removal will be the fastest way to rid yourself of the ones you have now.


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## Miss Vicky (Jul 6, 2012)

I agree, there is no snail that will do both jobs (cleaning and eliminating the pest snails). I'll second the vote for nerites for the cleaning job. They come in a pretty nice variety, won't breed in freshwater, and some of them are quite beautiful. My favorite is the zebra nerite:










I'll also second the vote for the assassins. I've read that they won't eat nerites so you _should_ be able to house both. The assassins will breed but from what I've read they're not especially prolific breeders and you can always sell or give them away to other aquarists. They'e also quite attractive: 










I do own both species, but didn't feel comfortable with the idea of putting the assassins in the tank with the nerites. So what I've done is set up the assassins in with one of my bettas (who shows no interest in snails). I'd already been manually removing ramshorns from my main tank, but now instead of disposing of them, I've been transferring them to the tank with the assassins.


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## williemcd (Jun 23, 2011)

I had a 125 that was overloaded with pond snails.. literally 100's if not 1,000. A few assassins eradicated the problem in a month. The do breed very slowly and I have no problem giving them away. I've even sold a few!


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

Need someone to fill me in on just why they suggest you use 5 of these but I have
one Khuli Loach and it gets rid of most snails except that it does have a hard time
with the spiral type. My Loach won't come out if there is any light on but a couple
of days after I put him into thetank I noticed that there were fewer and fewer
snails. I now only see the tiny gell blobs(juvenille snails) on the glass.


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## SueD (Aug 4, 2012)

I have breeding assassins in my tank with one nerite that they haven't bothered. I started with just 2 or 3 assassins and they took care of the pest snails. It's not overnight, maybe several weeks, but they will do the job. Assassins burrow most of the time so you don't see them like you do with the pest snails that can be all over the place. And the nerite really helps to keep things clean.


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