Snail Eating Fish

I had tried to introduce snails into the Cement Pond for years. River snails, lake snails, big snails, little snails, any kind of interesting snails i came across.

Well finally a single tiny species has taken hold and now i am infested.  They particularly like my Egeria Densa, AKA Anacharis.  It appears on some strands they will eat the leaves to the stem, starting at the lush tops.  This has become a problem.  Some 12" strands can have 10 or so snails foraging within the leaflets.

I need a snail eater(s).

Snail darters, Greenside Darters, Golden Ear Topminnows are snail eaters but not an option.  Perhaps The Red-Eared Sunfish, AKA Shell Crackers?

Are there others species that come to mind?

Are there other options? I know copper kills snails but i've been told it is detrimental to plants as well.

I do not want any kind of chemical treatment anyway.

You are too far south for Pumpkinseed Sunfish I assume.  They do not hold up well when warm as sustaining populations when in competition with other sunfish.  

Will your version of Logperch persist in a pool?  Those we have here do fine.

Central Newts eat them well, even rather sizeable rams horn snails.

Crayfish can vary greatly with respect to snail consumption and some have a hankering for plants as well.  Some of your crayfish I suspect strongly like to eat snails.  Some up here seem to hammer snails, at least they impact what snail species are abundant.

Every time I have madtoms in a tank, I find large numbers of empty snail shells. The ones I've had most commonly have been slender madtoms. Casper, maybe you can introduce madtoms or stone cats to clean up the snails.

I currently have a 55 gallon aquarium containing koi angelfish and a reproducing pair of dwarf bristlenose plecos. There are hundreds of empty snail shells in the tanks, including many of Malaysian live-bearing snails. I assume that it is the plecos that are eating the snails, although I know that both plecos and Malaysian live-bearing snails are common in the rivers in the Tampa, FL area. Perhaps Tampa has the wrong pleco. I realize that this is probably not an option for Casper's cement pond, but others reading this may find it useful. 

Phil Nixon

Illinois

 Greenside darters are not an option because the are native to Tennessee? Or That they likely wouldn't establish a sustainable population? Your laws?

I know I've witnessed my logperch taking out snails in my tank.

musk turtle?

Thanks.  Mostly good advice.  My Snorkel Boss reminded me about Drum.  I had forgotten about Musk Turtles.  I had Logperch but is was years ago when the Spotted Gar was running rampant.  I never considered Loggies to eat Snails.

I was in the cement pond this weekend and the snail population seems to be declining.  I suspect the cooler temps are having something to do with it.  Another week or 2 it will be too cold to snorkel and gather plants without a wetsuit, which would be too much of a hassle to don.

I need a micro fisher to catch me some local redear shellcrackers.

TN does not get too cold to snorkel without a wetsuit.

Well...

I challenge you then!

Come on down this December.

First one out buys dinner.

I will have to break myself out from under ice in MO when collecting crayfish this December so can bring some real cold down with me.  There might be another reason to come down to visit a fish farmer anyway.

come on down to fl and get some loggerhead musk turtles .

oh, there was the same problem. tried so many different remedies, one even killed my fish. Terribly! So now I just manually change everything, boil and wash. The only way