Clown Loach For Controlling Snails

[LastBoy5cout]

Having looked in my fish tank recently and been alarmed by the sheer amount of Malaysian trumpet smails in my tank thought I might try and curtail their plan for tank domination.

Read the post/FAQ in the invert section regarding ridding some of these molluscs, I have a 90 litre Jewul tank with 5 red eye tetras, one plec, and 6 platies.

Would adding a clown loach cause mayhem or if they are compatiable do they need to be added in shoals or pairs or singles?

All advice welcome.

 

[kewskills]

Clown loach is way too big for such a small tank.
Try anoth small type of Botia.
I shall research and post later

 

[Miss Wiggle]

they need to be in groups and get too big for your tank i'm afraid.

there are however plenty of smaller loaches that do the same job and would be suitable, in general loaches need to be in a group (although there may be exceptions)

i'm not a loach expert but try looking up dwarf chain loaches and yo yo loaches. I believe a group of these would be better suited to your tank

 

[LastBoy5cout]

Thanks for the responses peeps, I shall await your reply Kewskills.

 

[Neo8223]

Well it does depend if they have an outgrow tank or not. I keep 3 very small clownloaches in a tank smaller than the 90L one. However, when it gets bigger in 2 years or so (as they are very slow growers) i'll put them into a 72 gall tank. Remember, Clown loaches live for over 40 years in the wild and they are considerably slower growers than most other fish.

They always have really vibrant colours (except when feeding where they turn very pale) and they regularly make clicking noises which mean that they are happy! Epecially when eating snails. When keping clown loaches, having hiding places like caves are essential!

However, some clown loaches do not eat snails, and i've previously had an infestation of a 50 gall tank where the clownloaches have just swam straight past the snails and went for the algae wafers.

 

[loachman]

90L / 24 gal is really too small for any of the botia species long-term. Additionally, with their need to be in groups, you'd be going over recommended stocking levels.

If you are set on it, you may be able to get away with Y. sidthimunki as an alternative loach species. They tend to stay smaller than the other species.

I have no experience with MTS myself, but I've heard that loaches have a harder time eating that species of snail.

 

[nmonks]

Having looked in my fish tank recently and been alarmed by the sheer amount of Malaysian trumpet smails in my tank thought I might try and curtail their plan for tank domination.

Except biology doesn't work this way. The Melanoides snails are merely turning energy (uneaten food, dead plants, fish wastes, algae) into snails. They can't break the laws of physics, so if there's no food there, they can't multiply. So if you have a LOT of snails, you're actually saying you overfeed your fish or else don't keep it clean. There's no two ways about this => no food for them to eat = no energy for reproduction = no more snails.

So, if you want to kerb their numbers, your job is basically to cut back on what there is for them to eat. Clean the tank, siphon the gravel, remove dead leaves, scrape off algae, remove excess food, don't use food that sinks straight into the gravel uneaten, etc.

Melanoides are pretty harmless animals. They don't do any damage to plants or fish. If you keep the tank clean, their numbers will gradually decline as the older snails die without producing many offspring. Puffers, chain loaches, dorad catfish, Synodontis catfish etc have all been used as snail-eaters over the years but with varying degrees of success. Much better results come from simply keeping snail numbers down in the first place.

Cheers, Neale

 

[Hollymolly4]

I got a polkadot loach to rid my tank of snails. I haven't seen a snail in my tank since two days after putting him in there! Yes, they should be in groups, but he did great just by himself. I recently added two more (one died) so he has one friend. Worked awesome for me!! I even considered getting more snails to put in there for him! LoL

 

[rocknurworld2006]

Having looked in my fish tank recently and been alarmed by the sheer amount of Malaysian trumpet smails in my tank thought I might try and curtail their plan for tank domination.

Except biology doesn't work this way. The Melanoides snails are merely turning energy (uneaten food, dead plants, fish wastes, algae) into snails. They can't break the laws of physics, so if there's no food there, they can't multiply. So if you have a LOT of snails, you're actually saying you overfeed your fish or else don't keep it clean. There's no two ways about this => no food for them to eat = no energy for reproduction = no more snails.

So, if you want to kerb their numbers, your job is basically to cut back on what there is for them to eat. Clean the tank, siphon the gravel, remove dead leaves, scrape off algae, remove excess food, don't use food that sinks straight into the gravel uneaten, etc.

Melanoides are pretty harmless animals. They don't do any damage to plants or fish. If you keep the tank clean, their numbers will gradually decline as the older snails die without producing many offspring. Puffers, chain loaches, dorad catfish, Synodontis catfish etc have all been used as snail-eaters over the years but with varying degrees of success. Much better results come from simply keeping snail numbers down in the first place.

Cheers, Neale

100% CORRECT couldnt be anymore accurate!!

a good snail eater is skunk loack but they are nippy to other fish or humbug catfish which is very peacefull!

 

[groovitudedude]

Yeah, my CL's will probably even outgrow my tank eventually.