# Snails and loaches



## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

Hi all,

I'm almost done cycling a planted SA 29g, and of course I have snails. On these boards, some folks think they're not all that bad, but some folks don't like having uninvited guests.

1) Is this summary essentially correct?

2) Is it unethical to buy a clown loach for my tank and then return it to the LFS after it has done its job?

3) If not, is there a snail-eater that will coexist with 2-4 Bolivian Rams, 12 Rummynose Tetras and 2 Bristlenose Plecos?

Thanks,

kevin


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## PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn (Dec 26, 2005)

1, yes thats about right, in low populations they do a lot of good for the aquarium, when the fish are overfed(or a lot of organic matter from the plants) you can get problems, but overall the snail popilations stay pretty low

2, I dont think its fair to the clown loach to have to be moved so much (plus you'd need to do it for a couple months to get anywhere near eradicating them)

3, some of the smaller loaches (polka dot loach (Botia kubotai) 5", Dwarf chain loach (Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki) 2.5" (given their diminutive size, I dont know how effective a snail eater they are)

IMO manual removal and idetifying and fixing the cause is the best way to deal with snails


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## peterl (Nov 27, 2006)

1: yes

2: I agree with PM. I won't judge the ethics of buying fish to perform a task then returning them. I have often contemplating returning danios after a tank is cycled. I usually end of keeping them, though.

3: I defer to PM on this one.

I have snails in all three of my tanks. The population in the 55 gal. BR tank stays pretty much in check. I added MTS to my 20 long to help clean up. I also have pond snails (yuck!) and rams horns in there. In my 15 gallon planted shrimp tank, I have a rampant population of both pond and rams horns. I attribute this mostly to the plant detritus. Between the shrimp and snails, the tank is spotless! Not even one speck of dot algae. But, about once a month, I remove a snowball-sized mass of snails. I bait with a piece of lettuce or cucumber (which I add anyway once a week for the shrimp and otos) then the next morning pull out anywhere between 25-75 snails and toss them. Three days of this and the population in back in control,.

Under no circumstances would I use chemicals to kill the snails.


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## naegling23 (Jan 4, 2008)

just an odd comment, but wont the rams eat the young snails?

I know I have seen snail eggs, and have seen snails once upon a time in all of the tanks I have ever had. The cichlids make short work of the young ones. If you remove the adults that you see, I would think the fish would take care of the rest no?


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## KoenEeckhoudt (Oct 28, 2007)

I've kept loaches in my 29 planted, and didn't see any snail for about 6 months... I removed them (they got too big for the 29, --> 125 they went  ) and a month later, the planted tank is full of snails again.


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## westwood8183 (Jun 15, 2003)

Yoyo loaches might be a possibility for a smaller tank. They don't get very big and should keep a snail population under control.

Anyone have a solution for all the empty MTS shells that my clown loaches leave behind? :x


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

Thanks for all the replies. I'm going to see if the snails and I can get along for the time being. My wild hope that my Serpae Tetras would morph into snail killers hasn't come to fruition.


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

naegling23 said:


> just an odd comment, but wont the rams eat the young snails?
> 
> I know I have seen snail eggs, and have seen snails once upon a time in all of the tanks I have ever had. The cichlids make short work of the young ones. If you remove the adults that you see, I would think the fish would take care of the rest no?


A long-dormant post, but that is indeed what happened. Since I've had my Bolivians I've never seen more than one or three snails at one time.


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