Control reproduction of fresh water snails?

Answer 1

Sorry, pal. As long as there is at least one male and one female in that tank, your snail population is destined to explode. My advice? Set up a second tank with something that eat snails. Perhaps loaches. Or crayfish.

Answer 2

Next to impossible. I pull out as many as I can whenever I do a monthly cleaning of my tank. That, coupled with frequent gravel vacuuming and the immediate removal of any egg sacs you find, is probably the most efficient method. Another trick is to put in a piece of lettuce or cucumber, wait 30 minutes to a couple of hours, and take out the vegetable and all the snails on it, then throw it away. You can also put a vegetable into a plastic bottle, then remove the bottle when the snails get into it.

Depending upon what type of snail you have, you may be able to prevent them from laying eggs by keeping the tank filled all the way to the top, with as little space between the water line and the top edge of the tank as possible. Mystery snails, aka apple snails, lay their eggs above the waterline, and they can't lay any eggs if the tank is filled up full.