My loaches And snails

nes999 · Post by **nes999** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 12:10 am

I was wondering what is the easyest snail for my loaches to eat

starsplitter7 · Post by **starsplitter7** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 8:35 am

A bit more information would be very helpful.

Where do you live?

What snails are available to you?

What kind of loaches do you have?

Are you sure your loaches like snails? Some individuals are not snail enthusiasts.

Diana · Post by **Diana** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 1:39 pm

In the US, pond snails are rather commonly available, thin shell, and grow big enough for the larger Loaches to be interested, small Loaches may eat the eggs and youngest snails.

I feed garden snails to my largest Loaches. One snail dropped into the tank at night and there is an empty shell the next day.

Malaysian Trumpet Snails have too hard a shell. Some Loaches (and other fish) learn to suck the meat out of the shell. I have several tanks with a litter of MTS shells on the substrate from snails the fish have eaten this way.

Many Loaches will pester large snails sold as pets, such as Apple Snails. Do not keep these snails in tanks with fish known to eat snails.

I have a few different species of Nerites in tanks, some with loaches, some without, and the Nerites seem to be OK. This does not mean that all species of Nerites will be safe from all Loaches, just what I have seen in a couple of specific cases.

nes999 · Post by **nes999** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 8:06 pm

Where do you live? in the united states

What snails are available to you? all of them i know a pet store owner and he told me there isnt much he cant get me

What kind of loaches do you have? cls, kotia botia, weather loaches

Are you sure your loaches like snails? Some individuals are not snail enthusiasts. ive seen all of them eat snails in other tanks. i repoed them from i person who thought 18 loaches plus a ton of other were fine in a 20gal long tank.

Fishbone · Post by **Fishbone** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 11:11 pm

Well, I live in Florida, and something i have done for my loaches is to go into one of the larger pet "superstores" (i.e. petsmart), and sometimes they will just scoop snails out of thier plant tanks for you, (most of them have snails in them, unless they have a couple clowns in there to clean them out...) Or just buy one of the larger, inexpensive plants, like a sword, if you see snails in the tank, & they are often pre-loaded with snails & larvae (is that even the right term for snail spawn?).

starsplitter7 · Post by **starsplitter7** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 12:13 pm

Hi Fishbone,

Another local.

Welcome.

I have done the same thing. Gone in when the store isn't busy and ask that they scoop snails for me. The one thing to worry about is that the snails can introduce diseases and parasites into the tank.

nes999 · Post by **nes999** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 1:03 pm

my pet shop sells them for 2 dollars a piece for every snail. so i figured my loaches deserve the best. and they dont have live plants in tanks they are in plastic tubes

starsplitter7 · Post by **starsplitter7** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 1:34 pm

nes999 wrote:my pet shop sells them for 2 dollars a piece for every snail. so i figured my loaches deserve the best. and they dont have live plants in tanks they are in plastic tubes

If the snails are $2, that's probably pet snails like apple or mystery snails.

I would look for some pond snails. Most places will happily give them to you for free.

nes999 · Post by **nes999** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 2:00 pm

hum.... im going there later ill ask wile they give me some algea.

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