Ramshorn snails have a flat coin type of shape that emphasizes a tight spiral similar to a rams horn from which they get their name. Ramshorn snails are most commonly brown and can often be brought in on live plants. Because they come in unannounced and can multiply very quickly many aquarium keepers consider them to be a pest snail. This snail has a lot of benefits to offer a fish tank and can be neat addition, but when their numbers become overwhelming you will want to consider getting rid of some or all of your snails.

Control Your Feeding
The number one reason that any species of snails numbers get out of control is that they are well fed. You can lower the number of snails that you have by lowering how much food that you feed your tank. Often this can be hard to do because you want to make sure there is enough food for the creatures you are trying to keep alive, but even small decreases can limit your snail population. It is also important to remember that each snail you have in your tank also produces wastes and that slowly, but surely pollutes your water.

Selling Them
For most aquarium keepers, selling off snails just doesn’t sound very appealing. However, you can sell your “pest” snails to others who either want them or who have creatures that will eat them or those that like them. Ramshorn snails are enjoyed by many fish and other invertebrates. Fancy colors will be worth more than the standard brown snail as well.

Feeding Them To Others
There are a number of creatures who enjoy eating snails and they can be used to lower or in some cases eliminate your snail population. You can also keep these fish in another tank and feed the snails to them as you wish to keep your population under control without eliminating it. Common snail eaters include loaches (especially larger ones such as clown loaches and yoyo loaches), cichlids (snails size equal to mouth size), puffers, gouramis, crayfish, and assassin snails (snail eating snails).

See N Crush
Another option for slowing down your multiplication and for controlling your population is to crush them when you see them or when they are at the top of the tank. Their shells are very fragile and it is easy to crust them without any trouble. You can also get more of them to the surface of the water by turning off the aeration in the tank.

Trap Them
There are commercial traps that will allow you to trap the snails. You put food into the trap and the snails can get in, but not out. This works at trapping large populations, but you can do something similar without spending money. Stick a small dish in with some food in it. You can use sinking wafers, shrimp pellets, vegetables on a clip, or blanched veggies. All of these will allow you to attract the snails. In the morning before it gets real bright simply lift the dish out and do what you want with the snails you have caught.

Chemicals
There are also snail killing chemicals on the market. I don’t recommend these, especially if you have other invertebrates you want to keep alive including other types of snails and freshwater shrimps. However, if you really feel strongly about getting rid of the ramshorn snails you can use these to do just that.

There are many benefits of keeping ramshorn snails and many of them can even look very attractive. However, if you are looking at decreasing your snail population then you may want to consider one of these methods to either control it or eliminate it.