Loaches Online Forum

Any one know which loach will be the best for eating snails? I have a 150gal planted discus aquarium. I had a pond snail problem, but it is now under control with a pack of 6 clown loaches.

My problem is the snails that burrow into the gravel. Every time I clean the aquarium, there are a lot of those little dudes in the gravel, and I can't siphon all of them up.

I need some loach that can get a little deeper than the clown loaches.

Thanks

I had exactly the same problem with these coned snails, started off as a few then next thing thousands. My girlfriend used to pick them out but all back couple days later even more! Got clowns, then noticed empty shells, but didnt clear it all, So what i did was completely strip the tank putting the fish in a spare tank (or bucket if you havent one). Completely take the gravel out making sure all snails are out aswell and replace gravel with sand. I used play sand which is absolutly safe for the fish aslong as you wash it first (in a bucket) making sure all the froth has gone.
Plus your tank will look alot better!
Good Luck!

Botia striata (Zebra loach) are good for eating little snails

papaloach wrote:I had exactly the same problem with these coned snails, started off as a few then next thing thousands. My girlfriend used to pick them out but all back couple days later even more! Got clowns, then noticed empty shells, but didnt clear it all, So what i did was completely strip the tank putting the fish in a spare tank (or bucket if you havent one). Completely take the gravel out making sure all snails are out aswell and replace gravel with sand. I used play sand which is absolutly safe for the fish aslong as you wash it first (in a bucket) making sure all the froth has gone.
Plus your tank will look alot better!
Good Luck!

Ugh!!! As I stated before, my aquarium is a PLANTED 150gal, and has over 3" of gravel and substrate in it! Taking out the gravel is not possible, unless I want to start over -- that would be very complicated and time-consuming -- not to mention expensive !

Take a look at my aquarium from last month, and you might understand.

http://i860.photobucket.com/albums/ab16 ... _1337a.jpg

I'm just looking for some way to better control the number of the snails. I know that complete eradication of the population is not possible without completely tearing up the current environment. I looked uo the profile of the Botia striata, and it might do the trick. Thanks for the input!

H

Assassin Snails will be the best answer here. While Yoyo Loaches are great snail predators they are also large (6"/ 15 cm) fish that dig a lot. They would highly likely get rid of the snails, but also uproot a lot of plants.
Swapping out substrate is not a good answer, snails will hide among the plants, and missing just one would introduce the problem all over.

Yoyos are compatible with the warm, soft water that Discus thrive in, and mine did not bother the Discus. Couldn't keep anything planted in that tank, though.

Assassin snails are not fast, and they will not get rid of 100% of the pest snails, but they will keep the population way down.

Diana wrote:Assassin Snails will be the best answer here. While Yoyo Loaches are great snail predators they are also large (6"/ 15 cm) fish that dig a lot. They would highly likely get rid of the snails, but also uproot a lot of plants.
Swapping out substrate is not a good answer, snails will hide among the plants, and missing just one would introduce the problem all over.

Yoyos are compatible with the warm, soft water that Discus thrive in, and mine did not bother the Discus. Couldn't keep anything planted in that tank, though.

Assassin snails are not fast, and they will not get rid of 100% of the pest snails, but they will keep the population way down.

Thanks!!! I'll hunt down some assasins and add them to my aquarium!
http://i860.photobucket.com/albums/ab16 ... A-WING.jpg

H

Diana wrote:Assassin Snails will be the best answer here. While Yoyo Loaches are great snail predators they are also large (6"/ 15 cm) fish that dig a lot. They would highly likely get rid of the snails, but also uproot a lot of plants.
Swapping out substrate is not a good answer, snails will hide among the plants, and missing just one would introduce the problem all over.

Yoyos are compatible with the warm, soft water that Discus thrive in, and mine did not bother the Discus. Couldn't keep anything planted in that tank, though.

Assassin snails are not fast, and they will not get rid of 100% of the pest snails, but they will keep the population way down.

Any good suggestions as to where I can buy them?

H

Botia Kubotai (polka dot looaches) are great for eating snails in my experience. they also stay a little smaller than the yoyo's. they also tend to be a little more active during the day than my clowns.