Mts And Zebra Loach

[scottca]

Hi all,

I have a large MTS outbreak (very bad) in the tank that I'm starting up again. I asked my Ltd about possible loaches and he recommended a zebra loach. He also advised that I could keep him on his own and he would do just fine.

He has been in just over 24 hours and appears to not be interested in snails at all! (He doesn't have to look far)! I was told to hold off feeding for a few days so make sure he gets in the habit of eating snails and not the food i put in.

He also seems to constantly be looking at the glass at the edges of the tank, should I have got more than 1? Is he looking to shoal? Will be eventually start eating MTS?

Thanks in advance,

Craig

 

[serbusfish]

I dont have any atm but im planning to include them in my new tank and have been told they need to be in a group, minimum should be 5 I think.

 

[greenmumma141]

I think with zebras, 5 is recommended but i think you would be okay with 3. They would settle in a lot faster, that's for sure. Ive never heard of having just one loach as being okay? I would go with 3 if you don't want the numbers. I think it will probably take a couple days for them to settle and start looking for food, but once they do, they should go for the snails! IMO, a couple more loaches would certainly help

 

[Baccus]

On his own the loach is more than likely stressed (watch out for white spot/ ich/ outbreaks on it), when I got my first Pakastani loaches which where quite small I taught them about eating snails by crushing the snails in the tank and letitng the loaches feed on the squished snails. Incidently my other fish all love the treat of crushed snails as well.
The only trouble I see is that MTS generally have very hard shells and a strong "trap door" while also mainly hanging out in the substrate, so loaches which can dispatch say Ramshorn snails easily can struggle with full grown MTS.
Also what type of substrate do you have? If gravel the loach will have more trouble nosing about in it looking for snails. If sand the loach should find it easier to hunt snails in the substrate.

 

[scottca]

Thanks guys much appreciated!

Ill look at going to the lfs this weekend and maybe getting him a friend, im not sure ill have space for a shoal, would 2 in total maybe stop them getting so stressed?

I crused a few snails last night and this morning they were gone, along with a few empty shells I think so im hoping he has now got the message and will start to hit the growing population!

I have sand as my substrate so hopefully they should be able to nose about ok.

 

[fluttermoth]

Three would really be the absolute minimum; you really couldn't/shouldn't do only two. If it does make you slightly overstocked, just do extra or larger water changes to compensate.

 

[scottca]

Sorry just noticed you recomended 3...

for bottom dwellers, I have 3 bristlenoses and now 1 zebra loach, its a 180L fluval Vicenza, will I be ok with 3 loaches in total? I didnt want to crowd the bottom too much as its also quite densely planted?

Thanks Fluttermouth, you managed to reply before I did - ill be ok stocking wise in terms of the tank, just more concerned about stressing out the BN's as they wont have as much room

 

[Tizer]

In a 180, i'd put at least 6 Zebra Loaches, the BNs will be all over the tank and wont care about the zebras feeding on the bottom too.

 

[fluttermoth]

In a 180, i'd put at least 6 Zebra Loaches, the BNs will be all over the tank and wont care about the zebras feeding on the bottom too.

This would be my advice exactly. I've kept lots of different plecs with zebra loach, and they don't bother each other.

 

[tribalbrit]

Assassin snails will clear them up in no time. Mine have run out of snails to eat so I'm feeding them pond snails now, yummy.

 

[greenmumma141]

If you dont want the full 5 or 6, I would advise to go with 3 total, I think with two you will just have two stressed out loaches.