Snail Tales

Recently, my Ramshorn population began to boom in my smaller tank (yes I have two tanks now), so I began transferring the baby snails to my larger tank hoping to corral them into one space like tiny aquatic ponies. I worried that they would out compete my shrimp for food in the smaller tank, thus, they were relocated to greener pastures. However, once in the larger tank, their population began to skyrocket once again!

Thus, my dilemma: How do you keep a snail population at bay while also making sure the other critters (shrimp and fish) get the food they need for survival?

Enter: Helen and Claude, our new celebrities.

Helen and Claude are my beautiful assassin snails, who, as their name suggests, kill and, well, eat other snails. They are gorgeous cannibals who spend their time keeping my Ramshorn snail population in check. Each snail is equipped with a lovely snout (buccal opening), which they use to suck out their prey once captured.

Cruel, you say?

Here’s my thinking: If the Ramshorn population gets too large, they will take over the entire tank, eat the greenery, and cause serious water quality issues with the nitrates they produce. This would also lead to their demise. Ultimately, overpopulation is a tale as old as time…we know it too well.

I introduced Helen and Claude to eat smaller snails, hoping that they would keep up with the population growth – and what a fantastic job they have done! They spend their days gobbling up little snails and cruising around the tank. Their yellow and black striped shells make them highly distinguished in the tank, and they move much quicker than I anticipated.

Thanks Helen and Claude!