Zebra And Clown Loaches

[Michelleuk]

I have lots of snails in my tank and I know clown loaches are got of controlling them. I already have Zebra loaches would they be ok if I introduced clown loaches.
 
Is there any other fish that snack on snails?
 
 

 

[Ninjouzata]

Unless you have a 6ft+ tank, I wouldn't be getting any clown loaches.
Are your zebras not taking care of the snails?
Any reasons you can think of that the snails would be out of control, such as overfeeding?

 

[Chaydell]

What size tank do you have?  I only ask because clown loaches are schooling fish and can get very large.  I forget the minimum size recommended for clowns.  Besides them I have read that yoyo loaches are good for eating snails.  Another option would be to cut your feeding amounts for your fish in half.  Usually when snails hit massive reproduction rates it is because the tank is being overfed.  And another option yet would be to make a snail trap.  Take a piece of lettuce and weight it down to your substrate right before turning your lights out for the night.  Snails will generally gather on it to feed.  Remove it and the snails in the morning and throw them out.  Repeat until your snails are under control.  I am sure there is someone more knowledgeable than me who can answer your question better, but these are things I read when my snail population got out of control.

 

[Ch4rlie]

How about some Assassin Snails?
 
They are pretty good at getting these pest snails. Just not as fast as loaches 

 

[Chaydell]

Assassin snails would work, but if she doesn't get to the root cause of the population bloom wouldn't the assassin snails start to overpopulate too?

 

[Ch4rlie]

Yes, they will get to the root of population of pest snails. Assassins eat the pest snail eggs too!
 
Assassin to overpopulate, not if you just get one. To breed assassin, need both a male and female, so not a self populating snail.
 
But even if you got a pair to breed, they are pretty slow breeders.
 
Perhaps, once have pest snails have been eradicated after a few months, you could take out the Assassin snails and re-home these or sell them?

 

[Chaydell]

I didn't know they needed both male and female. I guess most people probably by a handful of them to get rid of pest snails and run into the problem of a second infestation.

 

[LongS]

Wouldn't the loaches try to eat the assasin snails too? I put one zebra loach into a tank and over night it eradicated every single snail.

 

[Michelleuk]

I have Assassin Snails which have been in my tank for years. They were introduced to control another snail plume, which works but they don't seem to be dealing with these snails which I think is strange. They are a different type of snail.  Maybe I get some more Zebra loaches.
 
Thank you all