How to Remove Snails From an Aquarium

Snails are a very helpful organism in fish tanks, and are commonly used to keep an aquarium clean by eating leftover refuse and food. The main problem with snails is that they reproduce fast and can rapidly overpopulate a fish tank. For this reason, it is important to monitor the snail population of your aquarium and remove snails when necessary.

Things You'll Need

  • Plastic bottle
  • Raw shrimp
  • Snail-eating fish
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Instructions

    • 1

      Put pieces of raw shrimp inside the plastic bottle. The shrimp will serve as bait for the snails, as it is one of their favorite foods. An excessive amount of shrimp is not necessary, as a large number of snails will be attracted by minimal portions.

    • 2

      Place the plastic bottle on the floor of the fish tank. Make sure to leave the opening even with the gravel to allow snails to enter the bottle. Shrimp will gather overnight in large numbers inside of the plastic bottle. This will quickly round them up and make them easily disposable.

    • 3

      Take the plastic bottle out of the tank the next day, once a large number of shrimp have gathered inside. Dispose of the snails however you wish. A more lucrative solution that disposing of them is to sell them back to a local pet store. Repeat the process until the level of shrimp in the aquarium is satisfactory.

    • 4

      Purchase snail-eating fish (loaches) to avoid future snail buildups. Loaches are freshwater fish, so be sure you are not using a salt water tank before you buy them. When you buy the fish, let them float in the bags in which you purchased them for several hours before releasing them into the aquarium. This will give them ample time to adapt to the change in water temperature. Without this adaption period they could die.