To Clown Loach Or Not To Clown Loach....

[Dragonslady]

I have been trying to deal with a pest snail take-over for the past month or so will little-to-no success. Last night I went to my LFS to get some advice (after trying scooping them out, lettuce in a bowl, feeding my fish less, etc.) and I was told to get 2-3 clown loaches to help. I explained that my tank is full, and it's not large enough for a healthy clown loach environment. He said I should get them anyway and just sell them back to another LFS when they get too large.

I don't feel very comfortable with this solution, and I'm hoping to get some advice and feedback here.

My tank is 29 gallons. It's moderatly/heavily planted with live plants. It's stocked with: 8 harlequin rasboras, 7 pygmy cats, 1 balloon molly, 1 black molly, 1 male betta, 2 bumble bee gobies, 6 otos, and a slew of pest snails.

Thanks in advance!

 

[tom130691]

assassin snail ftw

youll need two for them to breed so buy one it will eat the other snails and leave there shells as some extra gravel

 

[Big_eyes]

I have been trying to deal with a pest snail take-over for the past month or so will little-to-no success. Last night I went to my LFS to get some advice (after trying scooping them out, lettuce in a bowl, feeding my fish less, etc.) and I was told to get 2-3 clown loaches to help. I explained that my tank is full, and it's not large enough for a healthy clown loach environment. He said I should get them anyway and just sell them back to another LFS when they get too large.

I don't feel very comfortable with this solution, and I'm hoping to get some advice and feedback here.

My tank is 29 gallons. It's moderatly/heavily planted with live plants. It's stocked with: 8 harlequin rasboras, 7 pygmy cats, 1 balloon molly, 1 black molly, 1 male betta, 2 bumble bee gobies, 6 otos, and a slew of pest snails.

Thanks in advance!

Not to clown loach!

As you say your tank isn't big enough plus it isn't worth the hassle of trying to get rid of them after.

There are plenty of other smaller vareties of loach (which I'm no expert on) but I'm sure they must eat snails too. I was told when I got my yoyo loaches that they do. I aren't sure but I'm sure someone can come along and confirm this.

 

[crazychris]

From experience, clown loaches seem to get rid of snails better than lohacata or other smaller loaches. When my dealer has a snail problem in a tank he just drops a couple of clowns in.

 

[Dragonslady]

I have read before that assassin snails are not the best at fixing the pest snail problem because their metabolisms slow down... something like that, anyways... and they do not eat very often. I'm not sure if my information is correct, but that is part of the reason I have been holding off on getting them.

Even with the smaller loaches, I don't really want to get into a situation where I'm going to have to rehome these animals. I might have a friend who would take them, but that isn't certain, and could fall through.

 

[juggernuts]

Hey there, i too had a HUGE snail problem in my 260l tank a couple of months in, and after purchasing a chinese algae eater! then took it back, found the right guys for the job!

Botia Striata - I bought two, moderatly cheap too. Now these guys crunched through snails in the night like there was no tommorow.

They are also extremely friendly and active but dont even glance at any other fish, id reccomend these all day long

hope this helps

Paul

 

[Davo86]

Any botia species will eat snails, a small group of three of any of the smaller species like kubotai, Striata or Dario would be fine for life.