Do Guppies Eat Snails? (Can they live together)?

Snails are also a very friendly and calm species, such as guppies. Adding snails in your freshwater tank with guppies is a good idea, as snails will help you clean your tank by eating the leftovers and most of the algae, but can guppy eat snails? Can they both live together? Let us find out.

Guppies will not eat or disturb snails; it is also physically impossible for a guppy to eat snails because snails won’t fit in a guppies mouth. However, guppies will eat snail eggs. Keeping guppy and snail together in a tank is completely safe as they will not harm each other.

There are types of snails that are good to keep with your guppy, so let’s get more deeply into it. 

What can guppy typically eat?

FoodServing QuantityNo Of Times
Brine Shrimp1 pinch at a time1-2 times a week
Veggie Pellets1 pinch at a time2-3 times a day
Bloodworms1 pinch at a time1-2 times a week
Tubifex Worms1 pinch at a time1 time a week
Mosquito Larvae12-15 at a time2-3 times a week

The best way of feeding your guppy fish is by providing them with both vegetable and fish food in their diet.

Feeding them both vegetable and fish food will fulfill all the nutrition needed to them for their good health.

Can snails eat guppy?

Snails are slow creatures. They move very slow and cannot catch the guppies. However, they can feed on dead guppies. Thus, snails help clean your freshwater aquarium by feeding on dead fish, most algae, and other waste. 

Will guppy eat snails egg?

It is possible that your gyppy eats snails eggs. Guppy will usually attack the snail’s eggs which are not under protection. Guppies eating snails eggs can be good for you, as you will not want to get your aquarium overpopulated by the snails. 

Types of snails you can keep with your guppy

There are different types of snail that you can keep with your guppy. Mainly all kinds of snails we can keep with guppies because of guppies’ friendly character. Guppy’s likable character is not only the reason we can keep all types of snails with them, but guppies are likely to mind their own business most of the time. 

Guppies can live happily with all types of snails, but some snails will be good and work better for your guppies:

Assassin snails

Assassin snails are known to control the snail’s population. Their name perfectly matches their ability to hunt down the other snails, but there is no worry for guppies. On the contrary, assassin snails are very friendly with guppies. 

Assassin snails will attack the snails which are of their size or smaller. However, they will not attack the bigger snails, but they can attack them when they form a group. 

Keeping assassin snails will be beneficial, as they will take care of the overpopulation of the snail in your guppies tank. 

Assassin snails prefer a water temperature of 75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit and can live with guppies comfortably. 

Black devil snails

The black devil snails are popularly known for their activeness. Black devil snails are very active, and they move around a lot. However, the name doesn’t do justice with their character, as they are entirely peaceful creatures. They look lovely and unique, as their bodies are covered with black. 

The black devil snails feed on algae, fish leftovers, and substrate, but they can feed on live plants if there is nothing to feed, so this is something to consider about black devil snails. 

Black devil snails prefer a water temperature of 71 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit, which means they can easily live with a guppy, as guppies also prefer a similar water temperature. 

Ramshorn snails

Ramshorn snails are some of the most beautiful snail species. Ramshorn snails can be a good aquarium cleaner if their population gets to manage in a good way. They feed on algae, dying plants, and dead fish, so it can be beneficial for you to clean the aquarium. 

Ramshorn snail will spread very quickly, so an owner should always keep an eye on their population. 

Ramshorn snails live in a water temperature of 70 to 78 degrees Fahrenheit, so they will be comfortable living with guppies, as guppies also prefer a similar water temperature to live comfortably. 

Nerite snails

Adding one or two nerite snails in your tank is a wise decision. Nerite snails keep your water clean and also eat the excess algae. An owner can keep nerite snails with guppy fish as they both will not come in each other’s way, and it’s completely safe. 

Nerite snails don’t reproduce in freshwater. They need brackish water to reproduce, so it is also beneficial as there will be no problem with the excess population of nerite snails in freshwater. 

Nitrite snails prefer a water temperature of 72 to 78 degrees Fahrenheit, similar to the preference of guppies.

Golden mystery snails

Golden mystery snails are great to add some color to your aquarium. Only adding color is not only the purpose of adding them in your aquarium, but they can also keep your tank clean by feeding on algae from the glass, plants, and decorations. 

Golden mystery snails are very peaceful snails and can live peacefully with any plants, fish, and shrimp. 

Golden mystery snails can grow up to 3 inches in diameter, so an owner has to care how many to add to their tank. 

Golden mystery snails prefer a water temperature of 68 to 84 degrees Fahrenheit, similar to the preference of your guppy. 

Methods we can use to reduce snail population

The only disadvantage that too many of the snails can cause is getting tank full with snails. We can prevent populating the tank full of snails by doing many things. Some of the solutions you can use to prevent your tank from getting full of snails are:

  1. Clean your aquarium completely from top to bottom. 
  2. You can use chemicals to kill the snails.
  3. The most productive way to prevent your aquarium from too many snails is to avoid overfeeding your guppies.
  4. You can have an assassin snail in your tank that will feed on snails. 
  5. You can use the snail traps to catch snails in your aquarium.

Conclusion

Guppy and snail can live together comfortably and happily. Having snails in your aquarium can be beneficial, as they feed on dead fish, algae, and the fish leftovers, which makes your water clean. However, guppies can’t eat snails as snails seem to be very big for their mouths, but guppies can attack the snail’s eggs and eat them. Snails, too, don’t feed on guppies and cant feed on guppies because snails are very slow creatures and can’t catch guppy. However, you can add snails to your guppy tank as they will not come in the way of each other and will be completely safe from each other. 

Related Question:

Can guppy eat mosquito larvae?

Guppy can eat mosquito larvae as mosquito larvae are a very good source of nutrition. Guppy loves to have mosquito larvae in their diet.


Reference: NCBI, MvOrganizing

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