# Whose goldfish actually eat snails?



## featherfish (Jun 20, 2006)

My mother has goldfish and they ate her apple snail. She wasn't sure though if the snail maybe died first.


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## crazie.eddie (May 31, 2004)

I noticed before that a local Petsmart put goldfish in various tanks. I asked why and they said they eat the snails. I've seen goldfish put small gravel in their mouths and later spit them out. I'm not sure if it's them looking for snails or just sucking the slime stuff from the gravel.


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## Mori (Jul 23, 2003)

My goldfish eat pond snails. [They do not bother my apple snail. He is too large (baseball size).] The fish I have most observed eating snails is a common/comet/feeder mutt. She cost 29 cents and thousands of dollars in equipment over the years. You can't just buy a feeder fish and expect it to do your dirty work without promising to take care of it. They _know_. 

Also, small goldfish may have trouble with larger pond snails and some goldfish just never bother trying. Mine don't get snails anymore as they've been eaten in the goldfish tank and I can no longer collect them from my tropical tank since I added Pakistani loaches.


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## fox (May 16, 2006)

mhhauser said:


> If you do have a gold fish that eat snails what type is it and how much did it cost.


My Orandas love snails ... though I have not witnessed them in the act I think they eat them at night ... they devour any snails we put in their tank.

Costs: Snails - nothing, usually hitch hikers w/ plants, Orandas - depending on size $6 - $25.


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## jintaokhan69 (Feb 18, 2010)

I have three comet goldfish I bought originally to be feeder fish for my turtles. Fortunately for them the turtles did not fancy eating fish. They were less then a inch long when I got them. Now they measure little over than 6 inches. Since I got them they been notorious for eating just about anything that will fit into their mouths.
Yes I have seen them eat snails. One of my tanks had a snail infestation. I transplanted a couple of them into the goldfish tank (275 liter). As soon as I dropped them into the tank my comets fed on them like a snack. Ever since then once a month I would rid the other tanks of snails and place them into the goldfish tank for them to snack on them. The only surviving snails that I have are the 3 golden apples that live with the goldfish and are too big to eat. If you have a snail infestation get a goldfish. In less than a day they will have the tank pretty much snail free.


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

> If you have a snail infestation get a goldfish.


But only if you are willing to commit to their care. They get really large, and need a large, well filtered tank. They are social, and generally do better with more than one of their own species. 
A properly cared for Goldfish can reach 4-6" in one year, and will continue growing to about a foot long. The fatter bodied Golds have distorted spines and can have health problems because of this. Golds are suited to only the larger aquariums, and the comets and other wild shaped ones are better thought of as a pond fish.


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## crossbow (Nov 29, 2009)

I've watched one of my black moors try to eat a pond snail way to large for its mouth. I've never actually seen them succeed though. They leave the nerite snails alone in the tank..but they're growing, so eventually they might be able to suck one in!

And just an FYI, fancy goldfish need 20-30 gallons per fish, and some can live 20+ years. They demand the same care and attention that everyone's favorite furry animals do!


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## ex225 (Oct 26, 2008)

Like someone mentioned above, my goldfish will eat absolutely anything in the tank if it gets curious enough.

To answer your question, I've never seen my goldfish eat any pond snails, but I've also never seen any pond snails in the goldfish tank so maybe this means they ate em all before I could even see? I have definitely seen with my own eyes that the goldfish have eaten mystery snails (dime to nickel sized shells). The goldfish seems to watch until the snail is out of the shell and it will swoop in and use its suction mouth to pull the snail body into its mouth. Then it will shake side by side and try to rip the snail body out of the shell. I've also seen the goldfish do this with my 2 large japanese trapdoor snails (about 3" tall cone shell, about 1.5" diameter at the base).

My snail-eating goldfish is a shubunkin and this behavior started once it reached a size of about 7". I've never seen the smaller shubunkins do this, and none of the fan tails/orandas do this either. Hope this helps!

That said, I would not get a goldfish for strictly snail-eating purposes. There are many other fish that would work much better and not require a large tank or good filtration like goldfish do.


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## crossbow (Nov 29, 2009)

Also, goldfish like aquascaping. If they don't like the way you setup the tank, they will rip up and try to reorganize it for you! Of course they haven't figured out how to replant the plants yet, so they'll just rip them out and let them float around.

Damn critics!


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## PRSRocker3390 (Apr 20, 2009)

Yes, I know Oranda or most large fancy goldfish work pretty good. We use them at my job to eat the snails. I keep moving one goldfish from tank to tank and he just devours them. But they seem to only like pond snails. I think my favorite goldfish to use are the 3+ inch Calico Ryukin Goldfish. They seem to work the best especially if they are at least 3 inches. Bigger work better though it seems. Our one Ryukin can clear a tank of pond snails faster than most of our loaches. The loaches love the snails but tend to be lazy or get full after a while where as our goldfish seems to just love going from wall to wall eating every snail it sees. He spends about an half hour to an hour in each tank to get all the visible snails, depending on how many snails of course. I never realized how well they did with pond snails until I used them. Like I said, it could be just me, but I favor Ryukin Goldfish over the others for snail control. Just my 2 cents:icon_mrgr

Thanks,
Bryan


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## shazza00 (Aug 28, 2010)

*Goldfish devoured large pond snail*

I want to put my two cents in on this discussion. We just added a large pond snail to our goldfish tank today and shortly afterwards went out for dinner. A couple of hours later after arriving back at home, we found his body being devoured by the goldfish. We also added several pond snails to our minnow tank today and they are still alive and well. Just goes to show.


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