Snail Trap/Oto Catfish?!

Hi!!!

Just hoping someone may be able to provide some insight!

I have 5 oto catfish in my tank… however, I have an over population of ramshorn snails. Most of them are tiny. I have had the 2 snails for about a year now, however over the past 2 weeks have noticed INSANE amounts of babies. I am not wanting that at all lol, and no I don’t want to sell them.
Looking into controlling snail population, many suggested snail traps. Which I have made, blanched lettuce in a small container with holes etc. I also added an algae wafer to the trap.

My question / concern, the holes are large enough to allow the snails in, this may be ridiculous but I’m wondering if the oto catfish will try to go into the trap for the food? The holes are large enough that if they really wanted to go in, they could. I do NOT want to be trapping those little guys and stressing them out etc.

Does anybody know if this is a possibility ?
Thank you so much in advance!!

 

If they fit I would say it's technically possible just based on seeing my otos occasionally wiggle their way into my uplift tubes and take bubble baths for hours. I think your risk is pretty low but sometimes fish do end up in strange places.

 

Otos do like to go into strange places, but IME they have never been interested in food I placed in the tank. I have tried zucchini and cucumber for them with no luck. I wouldn't doubt they would try to enter just out of curiosity. You could try placing a small dish in the tank with the food on it and just pull it out in the morning.

 

Thank you both so much!!!

Well little update:

The trap caught 1 snail…. ONE. So not exactly very beneficial, not sure if I did something wrong or they just weren’t interested or what went on there.

With that being said, I’m just going to go for gravel vacuuming these tiny snails up… does anybody know if they are easy to suck up? Any advice?
Thanks so much!!
May just end up getting an assassin. I’m just worried about my cherry shrimp. Will the assassin be more interested in the tons of snails… or will my shrimp become food? Thank you

 

The tiny snails can be sucked up when vacuuming. I often pull snails about manually first thing in the morning after I turn the light on. You often have to put a food trap in the same place for multiple nights so they figure out where to go.

 

Okay sounds good thank you so much. Each morning I yank the ones off the glass that I can… usually the largest ones.

I bought a better trap online for 5 bucks so will use mine for tonight then wait till that one arrives! This SUCKS. I went a year without them reproducing, guess I got lucky.
Would you say blanched lettuce is the best? Or what may entice them in more? Thank you!!

Side note; do you have any thoughts regarding the assassin snail?

 

Hi again!!!

Alright… I’ve been using this trap I ordered exactly as instructed. In the morning there is not a single snail on the trap. I do not understand…. How long does it take? Why aren’t the snails interested in the food? It’s small pellets that obviously turn into mush over time…. I’ve researched the trap I bought and it has great reviews. I’m just stuck. I can’t catch a single one with the trap nor was I successful sucking any up with the vacuum.

I did get an assassin snail but it is very small still, not sure how large they need to be before they will start snacking on the ramshorns.

Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks so much

 

Hi again!!!

Alright… I’ve been using this trap I ordered exactly as instructed. In the morning there is not a single snail on the trap. I do not understand…. How long does it take? Why aren’t the snails interested in the food? It’s small pellets that obviously turn into mush over time…. I’ve researched the trap I bought and it has great reviews. I’m just stuck. I can’t catch a single one with the trap nor was I successful sucking any up with the vacuum.

I did get an assassin snail but it is very small still, not sure how large they need to be before they will start snacking on the ramshorns.

Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks so much

A wild animal won't go into a trap if it doesn't need to. If your tank is full of food, the trap isn't enticing. If you're going to work on trapping I'd also at the same time withhold other food from the tank for a few days. Mature fish can easily handle a few days without food.

 

I have not fed my fish for 3 days now though. That’s the thing