If you don’t like the sight of snail eggs on your tank’s glass, you can easily remove them. While this will not solve the problem and keep a pest snail infestation under control, it will at least do some good and keep the aquarium glass in tip to shape.
There are a few methods that you can use to get rid of the eggs from the glass, but we’ll focus on the easiest one that I use most of the time.
To easily remove snail eggs from your aquarium glass, simply use a standard, new kitchen sponge. Use the tougher part to scrape the eggs upwards on the glass and remove the eggs with a towel which you then dispose in the trash.
Depending on how many snails you already have in your aquarium, you will have one or more packs of snail eggs to get rid of.
Just make sure to never use a kitchen sponge that was actually used before in the kitchen. Soap and other food debris would harm your aquarium. Always use a fresh sponge – or one dedicated for aquarium use only.
Since removing the snail eggs from the kitchen sponge is a bit more difficult than you might think, there is an additional method you can use – but it’s a bit more time intensive and it requires a tool you might not already own.
Removing snail eggs from glass – alternative
I have tried with great success to remove snail eggs from my aquarium’s glass with a… turkey baster:
That useful fellow (you can get one on Amazon – affiliate link) is really cheap and comes in handy when it comes to getting rid of all the eggs.
Usually, it won’t be able to simply suck them off the glass and you will need to scrape them off with a shaving razor.
If you use a razor, make sure you lightly scrape the eggs off. You don’t want to damage the glass of your aquarium so apply gentle pressure and use with great care.
As soon as the egg sack is scraped away from the glass, use the turkey baster to suck it in and dispose of it in a napkin.
Will removing egg snails from the tank’s glass solve a snail infestation?
Most likely not. Even if you only have a few snails, they could still lay eggs on the back of your plants’ leaves or other decorations in the aquarium.
Snail eggs are usually the most common white spots you see in aquariums – and if you saw them, you know that they can get everywhere.
However, you will keep the snail population under control a little bit if you constantly remove the egg sacks from the tank’s glass and also remove any snails you don’t want in the tank. But it’s not going to be easy to get rid of them all.
I personally don’t mind them at all in the aquarium and only remove snails every few months when and if population explodes. Simply throw in a big slice of zucchini and remove it after 30 minutes with a gazillion snails on it.
What fish will eat snail eggs in an aquarium?
If you don’t want to scrape eggs constantly off your aquarium’s glass, you should know that some fish will eat the eggs with more or less commitment.
These fish will also usually eat snails too, so make sure you actually want to get rid of the entire snail population if you choose one.
1. Bettas
Favorite among beginner aquarists (and not only), Bettas will eat snail eggs off your glass and also eat smaller snails every now and then.
Male Bettas seem to be better at this job and since you can’t hold more than one in a tank, they won’t be able to properly handle larger infestations.
2. Botias / Loaches
While these are not the most spectacular fish ever as they tend to stick to the bottom of the tanks, they will constantly be looking for food and feasting on snail eggs, small snails an other small living beings in your tank (including shrimp, but not other fish).
There are various that you can choose from, but my favorite are the Dwarf Chain Loach or the Zebra loach.
3. Gourami
These fish are ideal in larger groups, so not really appropriate for most tanks due to their sheer size. But if you have a larger tank, a group of Gouramis can keep the snail population under control, including by eating their eggs off the glass.
4. Dwarf Puffer
All puffer fish will eat snails, but the Dwarf Puffer is my favorite simply because it’s very small – adults are around 1″ in size (2.5cm).
Despite their reduced size, they actually love eating snails and will feast on snail eggs as well.
Do have in mind that they are not great companions in a community tank as they are pretty aggressive towards other fish. Plus, they need a different diet compared to your regular fish, including constant live food.
But they do feast on snails and their eggs, so if that’s your main concern, they will solve it faster and better than most!
Conclusion
Manually removing snail eggs from your aquarium glass is not too difficult and usually using a kitchen sponge for scrubbing will do the trick perfectly.
Using the turkey baster is usually more effective as random eggs won’t escape as they might when using the sponge, but it’s also a bit more time consuming.
But it’s good that you have options – you can try them all, including adding new fish to your tank – and see which works best for you.
Do you have additional methods for removing snail eggs from your aquarium? Let us all know by sharing your comments below!