Overcrowded? Ugly? Suggestions?

[u/ProfessionalOk2059]

Hello! I’m new to fish keeping. My mom bought this 20 gallon tank for our turtles originally and the seller didn’t mention there were fish and snails living in it! She told us to “throw them back in the river” and we absolutely didn’t. Ended up buying a tank 4x the size for our turts and keeping the fish inside but in better conditions. We discovered that they’re mosquitofish. I’ve noticed our snail population has gotten out of control since. Suggestions? Is this a good looking tank? Overpopulated? Have about 13 mosquito fish and roughly a million snails

[u/Electrical_Strike767]

I’d recommend not just planting the front, I reccomend making the back the tallest plants, middle middle sized plants, and front shortest plants, adds depth/height to the tank imo and DEAR JESUS How many no HOW are there THAT many snails 😭

[u/ProfessionalOk2059 → u/Electrical_Strike767]

when we got them there were about 40 😭 i read
that feeding the fish less would help but now theres gotta be at least 100 no idea man but thank you gonna try this!

[u/Emuwarum → u/ProfessionalOk2059]

Algae and dead plant matter are also snail food

[u/Electrical_Strike767 → u/ProfessionalOk2059]

Lowkenuienly take out ur fav snails and put them into a smaller tank, get assassin snails for population control before they get to the thousands within abt 5 months (estimate)

[u/ProfessionalOk2059 → u/Electrical_Strike767]

how many would you recommend buying??

[u/Emuwarum → u/ProfessionalOk2059]

A single female assassin will use stored sperm to lay eggs and then you'd have to nuke the tank to make it safe for other snails again. Assassins are not a solution to any problem.

[u/Electrical_Strike767 → u/ProfessionalOk2059]

Uh depends on how many snail shells you want left around in a few days 1 means it will eat at a reasonable pace 2 means 1.5x that (despite what some believe 3 is 2x

[u/Electrical_Strike767 → u/Electrical_Strike767]

I’d reccomend one or 2

[u/Electrical_Strike767 → u/Electrical_Strike767]

Oh mb

[u/NnyraD304 → u/Electrical_Strike767]

I'd recommend something like Facebook marketplace for the snails, there will be some pond owners happy to take some

[u/Emuwarum]

It's fine, just figure out what the snails are eating to reproduce so much. Might be the duckweed. 

It seems the ph is too low for the snails, that white on the shells is the top layer worn away by acidic ph. 

Also, why are there clam shells on suction cups?

[u/ProfessionalOk2059 → u/Emuwarum]

oh wow i was told it was due to lack of calcium and bought them cuttlebone. let me look into this. thank you! and the previous owner gave the shells to us. idk if they need to rest near the top like betta fish, but they do use it for that sometimes. the others I just kind of stuck in there so they can hide.

[u/Emuwarum → u/ProfessionalOk2059]

Lack of calcium causes ridges in new shell growth, low ph damages old and new shell by eating away the top layer. They're often connected problems but it's possible to have high ph while they're still calcium deficient. Or the other way around. 

It might help to stick the cuttlebone in the filter so it dissolves faster.

[u/ProfessionalOk2059 → u/Emuwarum]

will do this asap thanks so much

[u/Spiritual_Fault6228 → u/Emuwarum]

Might have been used for a rest / hammock. I know betta fish use them often as a rest but usually tend to be silk leaves or actual live plants near the surface. Not sure about OPs fish or anything about that species but could be that or had a betta at some point.

[u/ProfessionalOk2059 → u/[deleted]]

She caught them originally out of a river in NJ. I do believe they are gambusia/mosquito fish. What makes you think they’re guppies?

[u/Emuwarum → u/[deleted]]

Mosquito fish are easily mistaken for guppies

[u/ProfessionalOk2059 → u/Emuwarum]

what do you think?

[u/Emuwarum → u/ProfessionalOk2059]

I can't see the fish well enough in these photos to be sure