Dwarf Chain Loaches And Snails?

[jwar090]

Ok, so I have 4 dwarf chain loaches in my 250 litre planted tank. 
 
I thought it might be good to get some snails to add some more interest to the aquarium, but I am very aware that chain loaches love to eat them. 
Is there any breed of snail that could survive in a tank along with the loaches? or would any type just get eaten? 
 
Any info would be much appreciated!  
thanks 

 

[star4]

I have malaysian trumpet snails in with 8 dwarf chain loach, they dont seem to touch them, 

 

[EllieJellyEllie]

Apple snails might work, they get to the size of a golfball

 

[jwar090]

I may well give the Malaysian Trumpet Snails a try! Googled them and they look like they could be a really useful addition in my tank. 
 
Used to have quite a lot of apple snails, we actually introduced the loaches to keep their numbers under control and they managed to abliterate the lot of them! (Even the largest ones!) 
 
Thanks both of you for responding 

 

[ag-au]

Heed the warnings of MTS breeding lol we added 2 to aerate the soil and now they are a little army. About 10 babies crawling around right now and it's only 3 months after we got the 2. But that might be good if the loaches do decide they are tasty.

 

[BelldandyShanny]

I have mts, and my yoyo loaches eat them a bunch!  I had quite a few of them to the point where I saw more snails than fish...then I got my loaches and they do keep the numbers acceptable, so once your mts start breeding your chain loaches may pick off some of the smaller snails, which really isn't a problem cause you'll get many =)

 

[Essjay]

I have zebra nerite snails in the same tank as dwarf chain loaches. I've had the snails for two and a half years and they are still going strong so the loaches haven't harmed them. Nerites don't breed in freshwater so they don't take over the tank.
Zebra and red nerites are big enough to cope with the loaches, but I would'nt risk the smaller horned or black/yellow striped ones with them

 

[jwar090]

Just looked up zebra nerite snails and they look so pretty! They could potentially be a better option too seeing as they can't breed in the aquarium. 
However, if I got some MTS when they do start breeding it could be good for the loaches as they would get a tasty treat! 
 
Decisions Decisions! 

 

[Essjay]

You could always get both

  MTS stay mostly in the substrate but nerites wander all over the tank.
 
The only downside to nerites is that they do lay eggs that look like sesame seeds on surfaces. In my tank, wood is the favoured site - my wood looks as though it has measles.

 

[BelldandyShanny]

yeah I have that problem too. mts are a nice option if you want your loaches to be able to hunt, as I said mine keep them nicely under control without decimating my snail population and I have plenty of sand for them to play in.  If you get some just make sure you get the biggest ones you can find because I've found those are typically safe from my loaches, so they will get you some babies under the sand for them to hunt.

 

[jwar090]

I do like the idea of getting both, but will definitely try to get the biggest I can in order to make them loach proof!
Thanks for all your advice

 

[jwar090]

So thought I would give a quick update - Today I went and got 1 Nerite Snail and 5 MTS. All are fairly large so fingers crossed they will do well in the tank! 

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The thing about loaches and snails is size. Small loaches eat small snails and big loaches eat big snails. If one has a snail issue in a tank small loaches can not fix it because the bigger snails survive. The problem is a big snail is a lot smaller than a big loach. This means one can not add any larger to loach to any size tank. Bigger loaches belong in bigger tanks. You can not use clown loaches for snails in small tanks.
 
I used to harvest my pest pond snails and throw them into the clown loach tank. However, because they eat snails by sucking them out of the shell, the clowns eventually got too big. I was afraid that instead of being able to suck out the goodie, trying to do so would mean they inhaled the snail shell and all. Incidentally, that tank was set up with used fluorite fI bough used. the gravel had MTS in it that lived fine for months in damp gravel before i used it. the clowns wiped out the MTS completely. Clowns can suck that trap door open whereas smaller loaches cannot.