Pest Snails

[Baccus]

Dwarf chain loaches are quite small (and pretty to boot), they don't seem to be able to manage Malaysian trumpet snails but they do a great job of keeping rams horn snails and pond/ bladder snails in check.

 

[damanax]

Due to the gourami attacking my guppies and being forced to return him to the LFS, I now have nothing eating them in that tank. Are there any snail eaters I could get for a 65l tank that would work with the 4 (potentially 3 if my old man guppy's injuries prove fatal

 ) male guppies? Would either kuhli, dwarf chain or panda loaches work with the appropriate group size in the tank? It's roughly 60cm long and rectangular but I can't remember the other dimensions.
 
Tried the lettuce leaf last night and took out 10 snails from the tetra tank. Should I repeat this every night or every few days? The snails have actually done a good job cleaning up the algae so I've decided I don't want to remove them all anymore but it would be nice to have some control over their population 

 

[Baccus]

Keep going with the lettuce leaf every day/ night just remember to remove all of the lettuce because it can go off pretty quickly. I often use raw carrot cut in half as a snail bait/ trap, they love it and its easy to remove the carrot and scrape the snails off. The bonus is you can use the same piece of carrot a  couple of times. I even deliberately drop in a catfish wafer knowing that the snails will swarm over it and then scoop out a mass of snails that have gathered on it.
 
I have dwarf chain loaches in with endlers and corycordas catfish, the loaches don't seem to bother anybody else in the tank (even my Bristle noses breed up a storm in this tank), but they are inquisitive fish and happily swim in all levels of the tank and will check out any fish that takes their interest. You could probably get away with a small group of 6 dwarf chain loaches ( they are a very social loach), and that sized group should be enough to keep themselves entertained.
The only time I have seen my khuli loaches eat snails is when I have crushed the snails and they come out to feed on the freshly killed snail.
I am not sure if Panda loaches are even available in Australia but I am guessing if they are they will come with a high price tag.
 
Even with large Pakastani loaches in one of my tanks they have never fully eradicated the snails, but they do keep them in check.
 
Another option for you is to add a desirable snail that will be algea dedicated like a nerite snail, you can get quite large types and they do a great job cleaning glass, the real beauty of them is that they can lay eggs in fresh water but the larval young need brackish conditions, green water and generally no filteration in order to survive. Also if you are adding any aquarium salts to your water for the guppies (which generally like hard water) this wont bother a nerite. However the same can not be said for almost all species of catfish and loach.

 

[DerpPH]

Keep going with the lettuce leaf every day/ night just remember to remove all of the lettuce because it can go off pretty quickly. I often use raw carrot cut in half as a snail bait/ trap, they love it and its easy to remove the carrot and scrape the snails off. The bonus is you can use the same piece of carrot a  couple of times. I even deliberately drop in a catfish wafer knowing that the snails will swarm over it and then scoop out a mass of snails that have gathered on it.
 
I have dwarf chain loaches in with endlers and corycordas catfish, the loaches don't seem to bother anybody else in the tank (even my Bristle noses breed up a storm in this tank), but they are inquisitive fish and happily swim in all levels of the tank and will check out any fish that takes their interest. You could probably get away with a small group of 6 dwarf chain loaches ( they are a very social loach), and that sized group should be enough to keep themselves entertained.
The only time I have seen my khuli loaches eat snails is when I have crushed the snails and they come out to feed on the freshly killed snail.
I am not sure if Panda loaches are even available in Australia but I am guessing if they are they will come with a high price tag.
 
Even with large Pakastani loaches in one of my tanks they have never fully eradicated the snails, but they do keep them in check.
 
Another option for you is to add a desirable snail that will be algea dedicated like a nerite snail, you can get quite large types and they do a great job cleaning glass, the real beauty of them is that they can lay eggs in fresh water but the larval young need brackish conditions, green water and generally no filteration in order to survive. Also if you are adding any aquarium salts to your water for the guppies (which generally like hard water) this wont bother a nerite. However the same can not be said for almost all species of catfish and loach.

 
 
Yup and nerita and clithon snails are native to aus
 
But contolling your pests is another thing, loaches are the best solution I see along with snail eating gobies ifyou have