I fed my trops this morning and noticed small brown dots on the glass. Closer inspection revealied them to be tiny snails. I've never had snails in the tank and they wasn't there saturday when I cleaned the tank out. The only new things in the tank are 3 Cories that I bought over a week ago. Could the snails really have come in with them?

And if so how do I get rid of them?

I prefer not to use chemicals although that is an alternative. What size is the tank? Could you put a yoyo loach in there?

Hi Kuli Loach, thanks for your reply. I don't want to use chemicals in the tank but I don't think there is room for more fish it's only a small tank (18gals).

Do yoyo loach's get very big? I've got 2 cories, 4 Danios and a Red tailed Shark in the tank

The redtail will need atleast a 30g to be happy but otherwise, yes you do have room and even room for more, possible 3 more corys, trust me on this, you will love 3 more corys.

18 gallons is perfectly fine for a red tail.

Peanuts- Rather than purchasing a new fish you could set a snail trap. All you need is a jar and some type of vegetable to go into it. I use to do it on my 20 long when it was still an aquarium.

Sharks need room to move about, they are fast and strong swimmer much like tangs in the s/w aquarium. He will sulk and not be happy yet live. Snail traps work but are not nearly as effective as a loach of some sort. Just don't get a clown loach!

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Di...cfm?pCatId=1172

In my defense with the shark, he wasn't my purchase. My brother bought me the tank for a christmas pressie off a work mate who had left the tank and it's fish to die in horrid brown smelly water. The guy didn't even know he had any fish alive in the tank, he wanted to flush them until my bro said that he'd take the lot.

I had already lined the tank up for a home for my large Oranda's so the only option that I had was to keep them in a 18 gal. I'm working on a bigger tank but funds are lacking at the moment.

I do however like the idea of the snail trap.
How exactly would you set it up and how would you stop the snails getting out?

You place a small glass jar/cup in the bottom of the tank, place some type of vegetable in it(what ever it available to you) and wait. Snails will be attracted to the vegetable. Just dump the vegetable and snails out every 24 hours. Its not perfect for completely eliminating them but it keeps their numbers down and its chemical free.

Another idea is much the same way as a mantis shrimp trap, take a small soda bottle and cut the top off to where it buldges out the same as the main part of the bottle. Turn it around backwards so the place where you drink is inside the bottle and tape it after putting the bait in. You have him then trapped but if you have some smaller fish they may get in it to.

Thats a really neat idea and should work really well. However you lost me on the tape part. Where do you put the tape? Is it just to secure the two pieces to each other?

Yea and if you use a mountain dew bottle you can just use the buldge parts to cause a tight fit. I will try to find a diagram of one.

Ah, thanks.

Between us debating, I can throw out a few good ideas every now and then.

Yes, you can. It really is a great idea. Have you ever had to use it to actually catch a mantis shrimp? I adore those guys but I understand why people with other fish don't want them in the tank.

Never had a mantis shrimp so I have never had to use it. Some people use them for bristleworms which I do have a problem with in one of my s/w tanks but I ain't, I got some shrimp to take care of them. I try not to use traps or chemicals but rather fish or inverts to take care of them. I am thinking about keeping a matis shrimp but I don't know if I can keep it healthy.