Do Apistos eat snails?

[Rycraft]

I'm talking the really tiny ones. I have a plant holding tank with some small bladder snails in it. I've been occasionally pulling them out and throwing them in my big tank for the zebra loaches to eat however I thought about throwing them in my 20 gallon high tech set up for additional algae control but am wondering if the Apistos would eat the really small babies to help keep the population in check?
I know our angel fish in the big tank will occasionally eat the really little ones when I toss them in but obviously they are much larger than Apistos.
I have an Apistogramma Valifera pair if that makes a difference.

 

[MacZ]

Apistos do go for freshwater limpets if they find them, but I had to find out at least A. ortegai and A. hongsloi only eat snails when they find them. No hunting for snails as far as I could observe.

 

[Rycraft]

Interesting. I may throw a few tiny ones in there and see how they respond.

 

[MacZ]

Be careful, if they are too big they might cause an intestine block. Cichlids eat snails including the shell, they neither can crack the shells like puffers nor suck them out like loaches.

 

[anewbie]

I don't know if apisto eat snails but one of my tanks that had a snail out break (from plants) seemed to have lost all the snails - every last one that wasn't a nerite or mystery. It also happens to the be the tank that i keep apistogramma - probably just a coincidence. ...

 

[Mike Wise]

There is a published report of an A. macmasteri male that would take snails too large to eat, but take them in his mouth and smash the shell against the tank or decor and then eat the snail. As MacZ wrote, apistos do not actively hunt snail.

 

[Bowluvr]

If they are hungry, they will eat snails. I've returned from vacations (I don't have them fed if it's less than a week) to find my bubble, ramshorn, and even larger MTS, populations noticeably reduced. Once they learn snails are edible, they continue snacking on them when the mood strikes. I've had many species go after snails over the years.

 

[Jon Webb]

Pinch the snails to crush their shells before you drop them in the tanks.