Apistos eat snails?

[mooman]

Just got some new plants and picked up some hitchhikers (small conical snails). Will the apistos eat them, or should I try to crush them when I see them. Will they sneak into the cave and eat eggs?

[cdawson]

If they're ramshorn or pond snails most likely they will eat the young. If they're Malaysian trumpet snails then you'll need to trap and remove them yourself. It sounds like they're Malaysians, so you're probably going to need to trap them yourself.

[cootwarm]

Hi Moonman,

I had a 30 gallon tank that was extremely heavily infested with ordinary pond snails. I was always pulling out a handful when I cleaned the tank. I put in 3 pair of wild caught A.atahualpa and they were almost totaly iradicated by the time I noticed the snails were thinning out. I caught one of the atahualpa sucking a snail out of it's shell and realized the bottom was littered with empty shells. It's been over a year now since I've seen a snail in that tank.

Michael

[Peter Lovett1]

Yes many of the fish from the cacatoides complex eat snails some more so than others but A.atahualpa being one of the better ones. I have snails in most of my aquariums and have never had a problem spawning my fish so for me i say they are not a problem. Malaysian pond snail can be beneficial.

[Greg PL]

my A. eunotus (or rather sp. "orangeschwanz") were very keen on snails. it was fun to watch too when the female, merely 1" in total fought an apple snail with even bigger diameter. the snails learned very quickly to keep their antenae short and close up in the shell when apistos appeared.
they were also hunting Melanoides tuberculata, the screwdriver type substarte dwellers.