Advice On Getting Loaches

[nem2k2]

I have a tank with a snail problem... it started when I got a large mystery snail for the tank, a month or so later I noticed a couple of little snails in the tank. My partner and I didn't think too much of this at the time (we thought it was kinda cute!) but fast forward a few months and now we have a whole lot of the little critters. I bought a snail trap which worked ok, except our pleco gets stuck in there every night trying to get to the snail bait...

I talked to a friend about the problem and he suggested getting a couple of clown loaches to eat the baby snails. The only problem is we don't want them to eat our original snail that spawned all these offspring. He/she is quite a large snail, if I added 2-3 small loaches to the tank would there be any danger of them trying to nibble/eat him?

The other tank denizens include a couple of dwarf gouramis, a pleco and seven neon tetras, would the loaches pose a problem for them? I have read that the loaches are quite playful fish and I have been looking for a few fish to add to my tank - fighting the snail problem on top of this would be the icing on the cake.

 

[emma12321]

How big is the tank? Clown loaches get 12" long and should be kept in groups of 3 or more so would need a 75 gallon tank minimum. Zebra loaches ( botia striata) are a good option as they only grow 3-4 inches long. Unfortunately loaches are good at sucking large snails out of their shells too so you would have to move the snails you want to keep. There shouldn't be any problems with the other fish you have.

Emma

 

[Hunkgoldn]

I have two zebra loaches and they don't even go after the snails in my tank.

 

[Barracuda518]

More then likely any loach that you put in there to eat snails is going to try and eat every snail in the tank, including the original one. It might be too big for them to eat at first, but they will pick at it until they can..

 

[seffieuk]

i've got two yoyo loaches, they eat the small snails but don't seem to have realised that my large apple snail is a snail at all unlike my queen arabesque, who bounces it from one end of the tank to the other