Ghost shrimp as snail-eaters?

[eraserbones]

I'm getting tired of fishing snails out of my planted tank. Clearly loaches and puffers are out of the question if I want my cherries to keep reproducing, but I'm wondering about the possibility of snail-eating shrimp.

I'm pretty sure that Mustafa mentioned that his ghost shrimp would attack and eat certain snails, but I can't find the comment now so it's possible that I'm remembering incorrectly. Does anyone have experience with that?

And, if ghosts are snail-eaters, will they eat all kinds of snails? Ramshorns? Trumpets? Nerites?

(And, as an aside -- what's the story with dwarf puffers and cherry shrimp? It seems like the shrimp would be a quick snack, but I know there are a few people on the forum that are keeping them together... how does that work?)

[cheesenips]

The best way of removing unwanted snails from you tank would be fetching them out manually or just feeding less.

I dont trust ghost shrimp with cherries because I heard stories that they will snatch and eat dwarf shrimp. Then again there are different kinds of ghosts, which type are you refering to?

I have kept dwarf puffers with cherries before in the past, the results were mixed. I havent actually seen a puffer attack a shrimp. Most of the time they were busy chasing each other around. However, it was when I removed the puffers did I see baby shrimp in the tank. The puffers were in the tank for about 2-3 months, from that I am pretty sure that the puffers were snacking on the babies.

If you are want to keep dwarf puffers and have baby shrimp at the same time, I would suggest you get a seperate tank for them. They are amazing creatures but they are not a good choice for community tanks, just like shrimp

[badflash]

Just chuck an algae wafer in the tank after lights out, come back in 60 minutes and it will covered with snails. Remove the snails and repeat as needed.

I've also found that having MTS in the tank reduces the pond snails to very low levels. It seems that other snail species like Apple snails and MTS will eat the eggs of pond snails.

[eraserbones]

Hm... I have abundant MTS in the tank, but there are still enough ramshorn snails around to devour lilly leaves.

I often see ghost shrimp in stores that have the little red bracelet around their claws -- I've been presuming that these are Palaemonetes paludosus -- but perhaps the markings aren't enough to go on? Mustafa certainly seems convinced that that species won't eat baby cherries.

My question is as much pro-snail as anti-. I'd be happy to have the ramshorn population drop a bit in my tank, but if the Ghosts are going to eat MTS or nerites then I need to avoid them.

[badflash]

The Ghosts do have red braceletts (females), but they will not make a significant dent in ramshorn snails. They will only work on small pond snails. They won't hurt MTS or nerites at all.

[Mustafa]

Mustafa certainly seems convinced that that species won't eat baby cherries.

I am not convinced. I am just stating my own experiences. The american freshwater glass shrimp is an apportunistic feeder and will eat anything it can get between its tiny claws. However, it has to work with what it has. It has only very small claws that are not meant for hunting down prey. I have some of them in my tank right now with dwarf shrimp, even small onces, and they do not even attempt to catch anything. That does not mean that they can catch a sick or weak animal and eat it. I can also imagine that they would nab a tiny baby or two *if* they can actually approach one without that baby "jumping" away. But even if they do eat a baby or two they won't be making a dent into the baby population like your typical fish would.