What Freshwater Aquarium Fish Eat Snails




One day you come downstairs and look in your freshwater aquarium to see a bunch of snails! Your first thought is killing all of the pests in your aquarium. However, you can get rid of everything naturally! These tiny snails tend to eat everything in your aquarium. Also, all of the snails make your aquarium look dirty and ugly. The main goal here is how to get rid of them ASAP!

When you buy freshwater plants for your aquarium, it creates an underwater freshwater display. However, sometimes these plants contain pests freshwater snails that take over your home aquarium. Chemicals to kill these snails may harm the freshwater aquarium. Therefore, alternative methods to remove these snails are available! Having your freshwater fish to remove the snails is incredible, and an effective way to do so. Here is a list of the best freshwater aquarium fish to eat those pesky snails in your aquarium.

How did These Snails get Here?

The snails got in your aquarium with the help of transferring decor. Once you move one plant, rock, or pebble to another aquarium, the decor carries hitchhikers. Sometimes the hitchhikers may be diseases or other fish! However, in this case, the hitchhiker is a colony of pests snails. That is why it is always crucial to clean your decor before putting it in another aquarium.

What Freshwater Aquarium Fish Eat Snails

On this list, we will be going over the best freshwater fish that eat snails. For each fish, we will be going over the dietary needs, habits, and overall aggression. With these facts, you can remove those pesky snails as soon as possible. Enjoy our list of fish below!

Clown Loach

The Clown Loach is incredible in most communities and aggressive communities! The clown loach tends to spend time swimming around the whole aquarium. One mission is on the fish’s mind, and that is finding food. After eating all of the snails in your aquarium, the loach enjoys meaty foods. You only have to provide food pellets every other day for the loach to thrive. This freshwater fish needs a decent amount of space so it can actively track down pesky snails in your freshwater aquarium. I have experienced these loaches first hand, within a week, and the loach was able to eat them all! In conclusion, a happy fish and a happy aquarium owner are provided after a couple of days! 

Green Spotter Puffer

The Green Spotter Puffer has a diet consisting of fleshy meaty foods. Therefore, feeding snails to the freshwater puffer is ideal for the fish’s health! One thing to keep in mind is that these puffers tend to be pretty aggressive in a freshwater home aquarium. It is often recommended that they are housed in the aquarium alone, or with several others of their species. If you want a freshwater home aquarium that is snail free, these puffers are a great option! There have been a ton of horror stories when placing a freshwater puffer with other fish in the aquarium. The Green Spotted Puffer will bully the community fish until they all die. Afterward, the puffer will slowly consume the other fish in the aquarium. Remember, always ask your local fish store about a potential addition before buying it. Always ask questions, results in a better aquarium!

Assassin Snail

The Freshwater Assassin Snail represents the name well as a freshwater snail killer! If you place several of these killer snails, expect the pesky snail population to reduce dramatically in about a week. I have experienced this snail first hand wiping out a whole colony of small snails. The result was my freshwater aquarium snail free! When buying a freshwater assassin snail, make sure to look at their shells for no cracks and active movements. Their diet consists of meaty foods that fall to the gravel. The snail slowly feasts on the bottom food until it is gone! I have personally seen record times recorded of Freshwater Assassin Snails getting rid of a pest snail population. In less than 24 hours, all of the snails were removed from the tiny freshwater aquarium. I highly recommend this snail to get rid of the smaller snails in the aquarium.

Fancy Goldfish

The Fancy Goldfish is known as a trashcan when it comes to food and other items in your aquarium. Many hobbyists debate if this freshwater fish removes snails the best in freshwater aquariums. The goldfish has a stomach that holds an unlimited amount of food. Therefore, many dead freshwater snails can take place in the goldfish’s stomach! These fish are very hardy and easy to take care of! The goldfish can handle massive changes to your water parameters when doing water changes or moving aquariums! Their diet consists of large fish flakes. However, they like to be spoiled with meaty foods. If you have an algae problem, these goldfish will take care of all of the algae in days! If you are thinking about getting rid of your snails, get this goldfish today!!

Yoyo Loach

The Yoyo Loach is a natural-born killer when it comes to freshwater snails. Like the Clown Loach, this fish spends its time at the bottom of the aquarium actively looking for snails with shells to kill. However, if you are planning on getting this loach to kill your freshwater snails, make sure to have a large aquarium to house it. The Yoyo loach can grow up to five inches and should have an aquarium of at least 29 gallons. After a while, you may have to purchase a larger aquarium to keep up with how fast the loach is growing. For the loach’s diet, you can feed the fish pellets that float to the bottom. The loach tends to eat just about anything available. When it comes to food, they are not picky at all! Make sure to take inventory of what fish you have before purchasing the Yoyo Loach.

Bala Shark

The Bala Shark is known as the gentle giant due to the large size and peaceful nature. However, when it comes to removing snails in a freshwater aquarium, this shark is a great option to make a snail population extinct. Keep in mind that these fish can grow relatively large. Therefore, an aquarium with plenty of sizes should be used to house these gentle giants. I recommend this shark to get rid of freshwater snails! The Bala Sharks tend to move in schools of fish! If you have a large enough aquarium, you should look into getting several of these sharks! The school of fish looks like they are straight out of the amazon rain forest. Talk to your local fish store about special-ordering a group of the sharks ASAP! If you purchase these fish, you will not be disappointed!

Betta Fish

The Betta Fish may not get along with a large selection of freshwater fish. However, if you need a last resort to kill pesky freshwater snails, put a Betta Fish in your aquarium for immediate results! These Bettas are usually kept by first time freshwater hobbyist. However, they can certainly do the job when killing and removing snails! Make sure to do your research with the Betta before throwing it in a freshwater aquarium with other fish! Their diet consists of large fish flakes that you can buy from places like Petco or PetSmart. There are some Betta Fish that sell for thousands of dollars! The Betta Fish is a unique and beautiful fish that portrays colors that can’t be seen anywhere else. Talk to your local fish store about this aquatic animal!

In Conclusion

When you first see the pesky snails in your aquarium, don’t stress! We have you covered with this long list of freshwater snails that can get rid of the whole population. When you buy another freshwater plant, make sure to check if the boxes say snails free. If not, the snail population will return and demolish your aquarium. When visiting your local fish store, always ask questions about everything. The employees are there to help you succeed with your aquarium, and to buy more fish from them! All of these fish do a great job when it comes to getting rid of snails. However, each fish requires a different environment to succeed and live healthily. With proper research, your freshwater aquarium should be snail free in no time!




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