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snail outbreak in my CRS tank! arghhh! help!
Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2005 4:52 pm
by abc
As stated above, what ways have you used to get rid of the snails?
I assume that med's are out because anything that kills the snails will kill the CRS
I rather not get a dwarf puffer.... getting one seems so risky, I'm sure they would eat the shrimp even though some have found success in keeping them
Clownloaches I'm assuming are too aggressive and will eat the shrimp too
So any other suggestions?? Thanks, abc
Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2005 5:32 pm
by Mustafa
I found the best way (and most tedious way) is to pick them out of the tank by hand every time you see them. I have eliminated them out of several tanks that way.
Mustafa
Cherry Shrimp and Gold Fish !!
Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2005 2:01 pm
by Balik
Any idea , how compatable they are ?

Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2005 6:14 pm
by thgng
There was an article in the fish magazine that mentioned 8 different type of puffer fish used in the aquarium trade. I can't remember if it is "Aquarium" or "Practical fishkeeping".
It talk about the puffers personality and those to avoid.
Apparently, they can only be distingushed by the spot on their body. Beware.
I have a small puffer once (2cm).
Each time I put my hand into the tank it will come after my finger.
Yes, the bite is painful !

Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2005 7:26 pm
by cro117
i had an 8" puffer once(green spoted) and, yes, bites can be painful. puffers are worth the risk though. they have wonderful personalitys. i used to feed mine shrimp pelets that you could hear throughout the entire house as he crunched them. they love to use their teeth so real shrimp would not be a good idea for any puffer. i strongly sugest that everyone go out and get a puffer, but give it it's own tank.
even dwarf puffer, witch i've had a bite of experience with, are not a good match for shrimp. they harass ghosts to death. some are less aggresive than others, but almost all will take a nible of a shrimp or fish at some point. as to their ability to hunt snails; if not given food they will starve, and if given food they will give up the hunt.
i'm not however, an expert on this subject. just speaking from personal experience. i suggest that you do further resurch on this subject and make your own disission. for serching purposes dwarfs can also be refured to as indian puffers.
Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 5:51 am
by Shrimpmania
OH come ON... PUFFER? are you killing your Shrimps? It is impossible/hard to get rid of snails in a shrimp tank as your oni friendly fish - drawf puffer will also eat yr shrimp

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 2:19 pm
by amber2461
My 2 puffers get bullied by the ghost shrimps that I have in my tank. They are right now in a tank with 8 ghost shrimps, 3 Kerri Tetras and 1 otto.
They are slow to eat and by the time they decide that they want to eat, the fishes are already done with the food.
I feed them normal pond snails (small ones) on every other day and they do well, but the Kerris also sometimes think that snails are as tasty as fish flakes, so, again, the competition is also there.
My ghost shrimps also competes for the snails, there is the occasional squables between the puffers and shrimps for the crushed snails. Life is never dull in that tank, that is for sure.
Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 7:23 pm
by Lotus
My dwarf puffers have been living happily with amano shrimp for more than 9 months now. The only amano I lost was the one I put in with my betta, which he attacked to death
Some fish have personalities that are different from fish to fish; bettas and dwarf puffers are famous for this. Luckily, my puffers are only interested in bloodworms and snails. I have heard other people who have puffers that kill a shrimp on sight.
Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 9:44 pm
by amber2461
My puffers ignore the baby shrimps as well, they were more interested in the snails in the tank though ... yup, mine are good boys, except when they fight each other ... well, that is a different story

Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 1:58 am
by chlorophyll
yoyo loaches are extremely active snail hunters. But do their pushy snouts have a taste for shrimp?
Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 9:14 am
by Mustafa
chlorophyll wrote:yoyo loaches are extremely active snail hunters. But do their pushy snouts have a taste for shrimp?
Most loaches eat shrimp as their natural diet. Sooner or later they will discover your shrimp as a feast. However, individual fish can behave differently and can diverge from what is considered "typical" for the species.
Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 8:45 pm
by Dwaffer
Dwarf puffers will indeed eliminate your snails! The trumpet snail that is potentialy harmfull to the dwarf puffers teeth however.
I raise the DPs and it is near impossable to keep a snail colony alive with them. Snails are an inportant part of thier diet.
I am new to shrimp but have had no bad expierence with my dps eating or even noticing the various shrimp but I am monitoring the situation closely.
Clown loaches will work but to my understanding they dont eat the snails just thier eggs so it may take some time to eliminate the snails that way. Also I dont know about the compatibility of C loaches and various shrimp but I do know they will grow rather large. I think it may probably be your safest method.
To collect snails you can tie a fishing line to some veggie and fish em out when they collect on it. It wont eliminate em but it will help keep em down.
Of any freshwater puffer fish the dwarf puffer(also called pea puffer by some), is the safest puffer to keep with shrimp but it pains me to hear them used as nothing more than than snail hunters...
Well then again they are nasty little buggers at times.

Re: Cherry Shrimp and Snails
Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 6:04 am
by edinjapan
Balik wrote:I have found that my
CRS tank has acquired some unwanted snail’s i.e.
Ramhorn, Trumpet and
common tiny freshwater snails.
Looks like they were hiding in the plants that I got for the tank.
Any idea how do CRS cope with these, is it ok to have snails or I should start getting worried.
As I know, snail population will grow exponentially if not controlled and they my start competing with CRS for algae and plants.
Any advice will be helpful?

Not a major worry as the shrimp will chow down on the snail eggs.
Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 6:22 am
by blenny
The title of this thread is Cherry Shrimp, but the shrimp mentioned in the posts is CRS, I know it does not matter when it comes to puffer but is Cherry Shrimp = CRS?
Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 6:50 am
by Mustafa
No, it's RCS (Red Cherry Shrimp). CRS = Crystal Red Shrimp. People seem to confuse this a lot when posting.