22 replies to this topic

[Kleinz]

So a while ago bought a small eeltail catfish from Kev. He grew pretty fast.

They are pretty similar to cobbler, a fish I know well, so I thought I'd give him a go on the pesky molluscs. A couple of days ago I moved him to a rainbow tank which was getting overrun with trumpet snails.

24 hours later he was still poking about in the sand, but there was noting left to find. He had eaten the whole population. I'm sure there will be eggs, and I'm certain he will get them all.

This guy is an utter beast, but doesn't bother anything else in the tank. I handfeed him bloodworms once a week, but this week he's a bit fat from snails.

While he did move a fair bit of sand around, he didn't uproot any plants.


So if you are looking to solve a snail problem with a native that is petty tolerant in terms of water conditions, I can't recommend these guys enough.

Obviously, if you want to keep shrimp or snails, stay away from this guy...


http://www.perthcich...showtopic=48125 <-----Thread where I posted pics and a movie.

Edited by Kleinz, 04 May 2012 - 03:41 AM.

[ice]

Just FYI trumpet snails are live bearing, the juvies are extremely bloody small though so might take a bit of time to grow but im sure he will get them. I wish i could put one in my tank!

[waxy]

Mate that is awesome, I hope the snails dont survive the catties digestive syatem and reappear alive.
Great find! Keep us updated if ya can.

[bigjohnnofish]

Mate that is awesome, I hope the snails dont survive the catties digestive syatem and reappear alive.
Great find! Keep us updated if ya can.

i have a feeling the smaller ones may just do this....

[Kleinz]

Feelings are not evidence, Johnno.


They do crush stuff up, and molluscs and snails are a good part of their diet. If a good part of their diet survived the trip then it's not much use to the fish, and I highly doubt it would be the case.

But even if it were it doesn't matter because they would get eaten again.

Edited by Kleinz, 05 May 2012 - 06:04 AM.

[waxy]

We will see, hopefully your right kleinz. If the catty works as well as he has in your tank I think we will see a huge increase in eeltail sales as every body will want atleast one.Haha. Nice fish too. Is there a strain of eeltail that stays smaller. ie. one that cant fit anything bigger than a cone snail in its mouth?

[waxy]

Hows the tank goin Kleinz?
Any signs of snails being back?

[Kleinz]

It's a month on and I have not yet detected a snail in there. I think it has worked pretty well.

[Kleinz]

2 months, no snails. Now if only I could get something that eats BBA as effectively.

I reckon I could take him out of the tank and there would be no snails now, but have nowhere else to put him.

All in all a pretty successful experiment.

[bigjohnnofish]

the only way to prove that is to remove him and wait 3 mths and see if any snails re-appear... them cone snails are a resiliant bunch of shell dwellers... they will live dormant in a filter for months and months then something triggers them back to life and away they go again... leave some in a container of straight chlorine for a week then bring them out - they arent dead... they come out of their shell when favourable conditions return.... they are the water cockroach... survive all out nuclear war...

but i still hope your right... assassin snails are the only real way of getting them all over a long period of time... but they arent here in any numbers yet....

[tranced]

cockroaches actually wouldnt survive nuclear war but cone snails probably would

[Kleinz]

Always the sceptic, Johnno. If the conditions are right in the tank there is no reason for any to be dormant. It serves no purpose. This is lacking evidence the same way the assertion that they can make it through a catfish's guts alive.


I would posit that they grow to a size easily visible within a month or two. If they are eaten before they can reproduce, then after a short interval there will be no more in the tank.

If I had another suitable tank, I'd be moving him there to see, but for now, I simply don't.

[bigjohnnofish]

cut the head of a cockroach and it still survives for many days... apparently some can grow a new head!!!!

[Kleinz]

Get a catfish to eat it and it becomes fish poo pretty quickly, though.

Sadly, it's an experiment that I will likely not be able to complete, as the BBA has nearly won the war, and I will likely pull that tank down in surrender.

It pisses me off that I find a new solution to an old problem, but get taken down by another.
I know where I will never buy plants again, though.

Edited by Riggermortis, 04 July 2012 - 10:25 PM.
Language - Riggers

[bigjohnnofish]

have you tried using h2o2 to knock over bba?

[Kleinz]

Yeah. max dose every day for 2 weeks or so will put it on the retreat but thins out the vallis by half as well. 2 weeks later it's all back again stronger than ever. Not the vallis, though. That stays dead.

[waxy]

Try direct dosing with a pipette to the BBA. Dont mix in water first either, use it straight from the bottle. Do that every second or third day at max dose for your tank size. Turn off anything that makes your water move for5min before and after dosing. Then every other day dose tank with API C02 booster. No need to direct dose the C02 booster tho. After a month or so all my BBA was gone. Now I just dose daily (when i remember) with flourish excel. I do find the API C02 booster was better than flourish at keeping BBA gone tho. Just remember to concentrate on one affected area at a time. Wipe out one area then mOve on to the next. My tank is 300L and was absolutely covered and it worked for me. I still have a tiny bit here and there but don't mind that now I know how to control it.
HTH

[tranced]

why not just put some siamese flying fox in there? i cleared out a 6ft tank that was riddled with it, just by putting 8 or so of them in there. took 2-3 months tho.

[werdna]

cut the head of a cockroach and it still survives for many days... apparently some can grow a new head!!!!

Drop one in the tank with my Dovii and they only live for about 5 seconds

[Naraic]

why not just put some siamese flying fox in there? i cleared out a 6ft tank that was riddled with it, just by putting 8 or so of them in there. took 2-3 months tho.

I second this I have never seen anything knock BBA over anywhere near as effectively as SAE's. Its like using loaded dice, you know your going to win eventually.