Best loaches to get for "Rid-a-Snail"?

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Hey all,
I've had enough battling with the snails. I killed about 30 of them a few days ago (all the ones they were visible) and then today it seems as tho they have multiplied by 3! There are sooo many snails in my tank, I want to get rid of them. The tank is a small 10 gallon tank, but they will be moved into a 55 gallon before they get large. The 10 gallon tank has: 8 neons, 2 clown plecos, 1 cory cat. The 55 gallon has 2x common plecos, 2x corry cats, 1x dwarf ribber lip pleco, assorted gouramis, 2x serpae tetras. What are you guys/girls recommendations?
Btw, the snails are fairly small in size, the biggest one being a tad bit smaller than the size of a pencil top eraser.
TIA
-Stewie
 
Well I know that Clowns are often prescribed for snails, not sure if they are appropriate for you though. Maybe get a couple of small ones and let them loose on the snails? They are boisterous fish though and grow to about a foot, although it will take them years to get to that size. On the plus size they are genuinely fascinating fish, and absolutely beautiful when they have their full color.
 
I was kind of thinking the clown loaches myself. The only problem this presents is their growth rate. The 55 gallon is pretty well stocked for bottom feeders. If they stay under 6-8 inches for several years, then this would be fine, otherwise i'll probably have to return them to a lfs at some point unless I have some fish deaths. The bottom feeders in the 55 gallon are chubs, my 9 inch common pleco, kiah my 5 inch common pleco, runts a 2 inch dwarf rubbernose pleco, bert a bronze cory, and ernie a peppered cory.
With that much stocking for bottom dwellers, unless the clowns stayed small for a while, I think i'd probably have to return them.
Thanks for the info though.
-Stewie
 
I believe they do stay small for a good while...but maybe just get them for a while, for snail patrol and them send them packing back to the LFS. Cheeky, but you should get away with it and it'll be a nice snack for the Clowns...
 
The smaller loaches may not go after snails. Clowns should only hit about 2-2.5" in their first year, and on average won't grow more than .75" a year after that, so you would have several years in the 55 before having to upgrade again.

Clowns, like most loaches, are very social, and prefer groups of 4 or more. At least get 2, and go for the smallest you can find. You may need to crack a few snail shells for them to give them a taste of fresh meat.

Also, Clowns have spines around their mouth, and they aren't fun to get jabbed with. Be careful when cleaning the tank that you don't get poked.
 
Clowns will do the job very fast. They are shy critters so if you have anything in the tank that they can hide in they will. I've got one in my 20 right now that I've had for 6 years and he's about 6" long now, but would probably grow a little faster in a bigger tank. They are mostly active at night so as I said you may not see it often if there are places to hide. Don't know if this is common but the one I have also seems to have a taste for plant bulbs. I put some aponogeton bulbs in that tank last year, and he ate every one of them.

If you buy skunk botias say goodbye to them as soon as they are loose in the tank. They will hide instantly, and will only come out after the lights are off. They will hide in some places you wouldn't think would be possible... Under ornaments and behind anything they can find... Had one actually find a way into my UGF plate on my old tank, and he didn't show up again for 6 months when he finally died under there and his body washed up the lift tube. I even had one that managed to get behind the suction cup of my heater LOL.

Clowns seem to be best for snails though, they are hardy as well, and will take several years to grow large enough to be a problem. Plus they are cool to watch when they aren't hiding. Another thing to think about... As they get bigger (over 4") they will attack smaller fish, and since they do most of their moving after lights out it usually is a sneak attack while they are sleeping. After they get over 6" they seem to get sluggish, and you might get to see them more often as I think they get too lazy to bother hiding. They sometimes look dead on the bottom as they won't move for hours, but if you watch they will shake their fins every once in a while.
 
Thanks for the VERY helpful replies guys. I do beleive I'm going to get 4 (maybe 2 or 3) clowns. I'll take the advice on cracking the shells open, I"ll just smash them against the wall and let them fall to the bottom. I know at first since i'm wanting them to eat the snails I shouldn't give them anything specific to eat (just what they get of the food that falls or the catfish's pellets) after that is there anything special I need to be feeding them? Thanks for the wanring about their barbs malkore.
I have plenty of places for them to hide in even tho its only a 10 gallon tank. They should be fine in there till the snail problem gets under control.
Thanks again.
-Stewie
 
stewie said:
Thanks for the VERY helpful replies guys. I do beleive I'm going to get 4 (maybe 2 or 3) clowns. I'll take the advice on cracking the shells open, I"ll just smash them against the wall and let them fall to the bottom. I know at first since i'm wanting them to eat the snails I shouldn't give them anything specific to eat (just what they get of the food that falls or the catfish's pellets) after that is there anything special I need to be feeding them? Thanks for the wanring about their barbs malkore.
I have plenty of places for them to hide in even tho its only a 10 gallon tank. They should be fine in there till the snail problem gets under control.
Thanks again.
-Stewie
Click to expand...

Your snail problem will be under control quicker than you think... I could not believe how fast clown loaches work on those suckers. I never had any trouble with them going right after the snails... That seems to be their natural food, so they will go after them on instinct. After the snails are gone they will eat any kind of food you put in the tank (or should I say inhale). Mine used to wait until I dropped flake food in, and swim upside down sucking it from the top like and upside down cat. ;)

I'm actually thinking of taking him back now that I have a freshwater tank again. I gave him to my mom, and he's about 6 years old now.
 
I use Dwarf loaches to control snails in two of my 10 gallon tanks. I am looking to get some other loaches for a 20 gallon tank. Does anyone have experience with Pakistani loaches being used to control snail populations?
 
Clowns will do the job very fast. They are shy critters so if you have anything in the tank that they can hide in they will. I've got one in my 20 right now that I've had for 6 years and he's about 6" long now, but would probably grow a little faster in a bigger tank. They are mostly active at night so as I said you may not see it often if there are places to hide. Don't know if this is common but the one I have also seems to have a taste for plant bulbs. I put some aponogeton bulbs in that tank last year, and he ate every one of them.

If you buy skunk botias say goodbye to them as soon as they are loose in the tank. They will hide instantly, and will only come out after the lights are off. They will hide in some places you wouldn't think would be possible... Under ornaments and behind anything they can find... Had one actually find a way into my UGF plate on my old tank, and he didn't show up again for 6 months when he finally died under there and his body washed up the lift tube. I even had one that managed to get behind the suction cup of my heater LOL.

Clowns seem to be best for snails though, they are hardy as well, and will take several years to grow large enough to be a problem. Plus they are cool to watch when they aren't hiding. Another thing to think about... As they get bigger (over 4") they will attack smaller fish, and since they do most of their moving after lights out it usually is a sneak attack while they are sleeping. After they get over 6" they seem to get sluggish, and you might get to see them more often as I think they get too lazy to bother hiding. They sometimes look dead on the bottom as they won't move for hours, but if you watch they will shake their fins every once in a while.
Click to expand...


the temperment of my clowns is actually opposite of jgc8fan. they are active during the day but go to sleep when it gets dark outside even with my lights still on. i've had them for a couple months when they were .5 inches but now they're about 2 inches each. they're always foraging or watching me from the closest corner of the tank, although, they used to be very skiddish until i bought 2 gouramis to use as dither fish. my 20 gal is right at the stocking limit so i'll have to get a larger tank sooner than i had hoped but that's alright because they're awesome :) . i never had a snail problem and never fed them snails so i cant say they do a good job but everyone says they do.
 
I second Yo-Yo (Pakistani) loaches. They stay small and will crush your snail population. Keep at least three since they can't get enough of each others company. Mine sleep together, chase each other around the tank, sometimes I swear they're trying to hug each other.

Mine also adjusted to daylight activity, just feed them in the morning after they take out your snails. All day long they pick through my gravel searching for scraps and snails.

They're a fantastic fish!
 
Thanks for the help guys. I think I'm going to get some clown or yoyo loaches from a newer lfs. I went to this lfs yesterday and it looked CRAPPY! His fish stock was not a whole lot and just the common stuff every lfs has. After looking at his fish, I was about ready to leave when I saw his betta fish. I started looking through them and found a crown tail!! It was VERY pretty blue and it was only $3.49.. I think I got a steal of a deal on that one. Anyways, he told me he gets around 1,000 fish in on tuesday mornings at 6:30 am and he opens tuesdays at 4 pm (after enough time to acclimate them, make sure they are ready to sell). We talked for a bit, and he said he's getting 20 clown loaches in, along with some fancy plecos, etc. His prices are decent too. He's getting some sort of green pleco which he said will sell for $19.99. He then proceded to tell me usually by saturdays the pickings of the fish are slim. I guess I'll take a trip up there Tuesday to see what all he has new to sell and give the clowns from him a shot. I'm fairly excited because he had a "wholesale" list from some place called "the fish place wholesale". I tried looking it up on the internet but couldn't find it. I'm sure he could special order me anything in. He was talking about plecos and this one pleco, which i've never heard of, was $149.00. I'd like to see what it was (it wasn't a zebra). But anyways, yeah, thanks again for the help guys. I'll post back here to let you all know what I decided to buy.

-Stewie
 
I agree that clowns will help with your snail problem. I would not reccomend the skunk loaches. I have several and they are mean. Remember that small loaches will only eat small snails. Put slightly boiled pieces of lettuce in the tank at night and remove along with the attached snails to get rid of the bigger ones. Clown loaches are very entertaining. They will swim along the bottom, then roll over on their side to take a nap. Mine are active all the time. Good luck. :D
 
I have 2 whisker shrimp and a Fiddler Crab in my 10 gallon, they eat about 20 snails a day. The shrimp actually eat more!!
 
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