Do mudminnows eat your aquarium snails??? I cherish my algae eating snails.

M.

Do mudminnows eat your aquarium snails??? I cherish my algae eating snails.

M.

I've had mudminows from day one in my current tank, and have had no problem with them eating snails to any large degree. However....mine are well fed on blackworms and amphipods. That said, they DO I feel take an occasional snail..but just not enough to make a dent in the population.
What DO live to hunt snails, I find, are darters!! Even the rainbows I have, while really liking the same blackworm/amphipod diet as the muddies...will actively seek out and "de-shell" snails at any and every opportunity.

I've had mudminows from day one in my current tank, and have had no problem with them eating snails to any large degree. However....mine are well fed on blackworms and amphipods. That said, they DO I feel take an occasional snail..but just not enough to make a dent in the population.
What DO live to hunt snails, I find, are darters!! Even the rainbows I have, while really liking the same blackworm/amphipod diet as the muddies...will actively seek out and "de-shell" snails at any and every opportunity.

Thanks, I will most likely give mud-minnows a try next season...assuming I can find a home for PIG...my grass pike.

M.

I've had mudminows from day one in my current tank, and have had no problem with them eating snails to any large degree. However....mine are well fed on blackworms and amphipods. That said, they DO I feel take an occasional snail..but just not enough to make a dent in the population.
What DO live to hunt snails, I find, are darters!! Even the rainbows I have, while really liking the same blackworm/amphipod diet as the muddies...will actively seek out and "de-shell" snails at any and every opportunity.

What part of the aquarium do your mudminnows occupy? Are they always hiding in structure? And are they mostly seen on the bottom of your aquarium.

M.

What part of the aquarium do your mudminnows occupy? Are they always hiding in structure? And are they mostly seen on the bottom of your aquarium.

M.

Exo, they tend to hang near structure quite a bit of the time, and for a while after first being introduced, you hardly saw them. The do like to spend time buried in the mass of java moss that's growing on the large stump in my tank.
However, they are also quite gregarious, and once they are acclimated to the tank, are out and about most of the time, and certainly anytime they see me around the tank, or the other fish get active. Once they realize that you equal food...they will quite literally take black worms out of your fingers!
I feed blackworms and small amphipods to my tank with a turkey baster(GREAT tool to assure that everyone gets some chow!), and both they and the darters will mob rush the end of the baster when it hits the waster now! I swear they also play! Seriously...I've seen them pick up and cary around empty snail shells, with no apparent attempt to pull out anything from the shells..just pick em up, cary them half way across the tank and drop them...then repeat the process. One in particular that lives in a cave near my filter intake seems to have taken the "play" to a new level, however..
It will take an empty snail shell(legion in the tank since the introduction of the darters...beware, darters will take care of your snail issues, regardless of if you wish it or not!), and swim up to the area where the outlet current is strongest..it then drops the empty shell in the current, and chases it while it is carried to the front of the tank. It picks up the shell and repeats the process.
I have NO idea what it's doing, or thinks it's doing..but I swear, it's playing!