New Loach, what to get?

[ahmandi2]

We've got a well established and healthy 55G. We have 2 Praecox rainbows, 1 danio, 6 neon tetras, 1 bn pleco, 2 dojos and 2 khulis.
We also have a billion uninvited guests . I was wondering what type of loaches I can get that do not get big, but will eat the snails? I know, clown loach, but those get too large .
Any suggestions? Maybe a few zebras?
Opinions would be appreciated.
Thank you!

[HSTurning]

My zebras do seem to like snails. My kubs and yoyo on the other hand love them. They play "catch me if you can" with the empty shells. YMMV

[sh79]

i would do yoyos forsure.

[Diana]

I have had Dojos that eat snails, and others that do not. Too bad yours seem not to be interested. Try this:
Pop some snail shells and leave the snails in the tank. Perhaps the Dojos do not know that there is a tasty meal in that hard shell.

[ahmandi2]

Hi all,
what is a "kub" loach? I'm a newb with all the loach terminology .
Diana, I actually do squish the snails I can reach and let them fall to the gravel; the loaches now know that smell, and they're happily horking them down every time I can do that. My other fish are learning how tasty a "cracked" snail is as well! Problem is still that none of them will eat the unsquished snails. They do not recognize them as food (no smell perhaps?).
So, it seems that yoyo's are a good possibility.....thank you guys so much!

[mattyd]

kub is short for Kubotai.

[ahmandi2]

I always learn something here .
Thanks Matt for the explanation on "Kub"

[mattyd]

They are a really cute little loach. I like mine.

I would agree with some of the others above: get 4-6 kubotai loaches (sometimes also known as golden band loach or angelicus loach) or maybe get 4-6 zebra loaches (botia striata). Or similarly, get 6-10 dwarf loaches (sidthimunki).

I had a dozen kubotai and 7 zebra and 5 dwarf loaches in a tank together, and I never noticed snails. As soon as I moved the fish across to a much larger 6ft tank the snails started up again within 2 days. Now I have to set a trap for them, and I dump the snails every two days into my clown loach tank.

If you get small, young fish of any of the above loaches then they won't go for your larger snails. You will have to remove them yourself. But they'll keep most of the small snails under order. If you get the dwarfs then you'll enjoy their antics far more than the other loaches (clown loaches are the only ones I have that come close). But the dwarfs are so much smaller that they won't really do much to your larger snail population (hence why I suggest getting more of them).

Here in Australia you can frequently get very small 5cm (2") clown loaches for $5 each, but zubotai, zebra or dwarf loaches fetch in the order of $20+ each. Our government has strict laws on quaranteen and allowable species, and unfortunately whilst they don't carry the particular pathogens or viruses that can harm our local fish the government only allowed 5-6 species of any sort of loach to be an allowable import. As such, if a bunch of baby yoyo loaches come into the country and pass quaranteen and the batch contains a few zebra or kubotai babies then the extra loaches are seperated out by the observant fish-importer and sold for a much higher profit.

[Mike Ophir]

my advice would be to diversify your porfolio and get a few of each of the following:

1. B. striata
2. B. dario
3. B. kubotai
4. B. rostrata
5. Y. sidthimunki

M. Ophir

[Diana]

I would not get 'a few' of each. Stick with one species and get more. They are social fish and are better with more of the same species.

[Jim Powers]

Hey, Mike, good to see you posting again!
Good choices, as usual.

[Dojosmama]

How warm is your tank? If you have Kuhlis, it must be quite warm. Dojos prefer colder water. Could be why they aren't interested in eating the snails. Water which is constantly above 70F will shorten the life of a Dojo. Just thought you should know ...

-- Dojosmama