Snails And Loaches

[MewMew42]

Id liek to get some apple snails or nerite snails, but i have 2 not biger than 3" yoyo loaches and quiet a big red finned loach hes about 20cm ish, but he hides in his coconut all day and night...[he was a rescue]

so would they eat them? the nerites are about an inch long roughly

otherwise what could you suggest as a good algae eating alternative? i dont want a bn really or otos [they never seem to last]

thankssss

 

[walkers101]

SAE do a great job

 

[MewMew42]

SAE do a great job

of algae on teh glass to?

=]

 

[walkers101]

yea (im going on experiance with my one) he is up and down the glass all day

 

[MrNiceGuy]

SAE do a great job

is there any reason why theyre so hard to find? i dont understand it, algae eaters are so common yet the best kind (SAE's) are so scarce.

 

[walkers101]

in my LFS they always have them in plus if you speak to someone in your LFS they will be able to order them in no idea why most dont usually stock them on a constant basis

 

[loachman]

What type of algae do you want eaten?

For filamentous algaes, mollies work well. SAE and American flag fish are also supposedly good.

For film algaes, ottos, SAE, and most plecos work well. CAEs are okay when small, but aren't worth it IMO. They're not great algae eaters over their lifespan.

Snails often won't work with loaches (botia and similar genuses). They'll either eat them outright by sucking them from the shell or will pick at them to the point of killing the snail. Some people seem to suggest they have limited luck if the snail is much larger than the loach, but this is not viable long term.

Malaysian trumpet snails are really the only thing that will work at all with loaches. The loaches have a harder time eating them and the snails hide in the substrate where they're harder to get to. Therefore, loaches typically won't be able to decimate their population like they can with other snails. It's not guaranteed to work though.

SAE do a great job

is there any reason why theyre so hard to find? i dont understand it, algae eaters are so common yet the best kind (SAE's) are so scarce.

CAEs are dirt cheap and most people buy them thinking they're good algae eaters. SAE look the same and are more expensive. They're also mislabeled by distributors.