Clown Loach?

[Laird-and-Dad]

Hi all! A couple weeks ago, some ramshorn snails hitchhiked into our tank on a bunch of anarachis. Now, we probably have anywhere from several dozen to several hundred. We have read, that clown loaches will eat the snails.

So, first question. The clown loaches at my LFS are only an inch or two long. How big do they get? Would they get to big for a 23 gal tank? If so, would a 30 gal be okay for when they get bigger?

That brings me to my second question. We are a little bit overstocked as it is. I was thinking about putting our 4 zebra danios in the 30 gal that I just got. Now, I have a DIY filter and a canister running in the 23, so if I were to take one element from the DIY and put it in the 30, could I then have it cycled enough to add the 4 zebras? And, since I'm taking the zebras out of the 23, would the remaining bio filter be enough to sustain the rest of my current fish, or would there be an ammonia spike? Then, in a week or so, could I add the clown?

Lastly, when the clown finishes off the snails, I would like to move him to my 30 gal. Would this be an okay size for him to reach his full grown size?

Thank you so much!

-Laird

 

[dalto]

Clown loaches get to be over a foot long. They require at absolute minimum 4ft tank and more reasonably a 6ft tank.

Get yourself some assassin snails. They will kill your snails as well and are inexpensive and don't require much tank space compared to clown loaches.

On the filter question, what do you mean by an "element"?

 

[Laird-and-Dad]

Clown loaches get to be over a foot long. They require at absolute minimum 4ft tank and more reasonably a 6ft tank.

Get yourself some assassin snails. They will kill your snails as well and are inexpensive and don't require much tank space compared to clown loaches.

On the filter question, what do you mean by an "element"?

Ok. That's pretty much what I thought. Still wondering about moving the zebras. What I meant by an "element" was just a sponge. Here's a picture of the DIY filter:


Sorry about the hard water stain.

 

[dalto]

Yes, moving one of the sponges from a sponge filter will kick start your new tank for sure.

You still need to keep an eye on it initially as you could have a mini-cycle but it should be nothing like a new tank cycle.

Also make sure you don't let the sponge dry out or come in contact with chlorinated water while you are moving it.

 

[Laird-and-Dad]

Oh. Ok thanks! Would it affect the bio filtration of my 23?

 

[Laird-and-Dad]

Also, I have read that dwarf puffers will eat snails. Could I put a few (how many?) in the 23 and then transfer to the 30? I saw they only get to be an inch. Would this work? The assassins apparently get up to 3 inches. Is this true? I'm reluctant to get snails that get that big. Also, what would I feed them once they ate all the snails?

 

[emilygupps]

Also, I have read that dwarf puffers will eat snails. Could I put a few (how many?) in the 23 and then transfer to the 30? I saw they only get to be an inch. Would this work? The assassins apparently get up to 3 inches. Is this true? I'm reluctant to get snails that get that big. Also, what would I feed them once they ate all the snails?

Puffers are mean little fish.


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[Angela1108]

I honestly think the assasin snails are your best bet. Puffers like Em said are mean and can get territorial and attack everything in the tank. They do best alone

And the loaches get massive and also are shoaling


Assasin snails might try and reproduce but none of them will make it- the larvae/babies/whatever you want to call them need brackish water. So you might see eggs but will never get babies


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[Laird-and-Dad]

Ok. I'll look into the assassins, but none of my LFS have them. The closest place that has them is a 1/2 hr drive. Doable, but not ideal. What do I do with the assassins after they eat all the ramshorns?

 

[Angela1108]

Bloodworms and brine shrimp- they are kinda scavengers. Sometimes algae pellets


If you post on here in the classifieds I am sure someone would have one for sale


The other thing is sometimes if you go to local petstores if they have pond snails they will just give them to you. We got some on some plants and were excited. They heard that and they scraped all the visible ones they had and sent them home for us - we have clown loaches. Now we kinda let them do whatever in our small guppy tank and bring them over to our big tank with the loaches for a treat


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[Laird-and-Dad]

Ok. Thank you so much!

As for blood worms and brine shrimp, do they need to be live? I have the freeze-dried stuff already. Would that be ok?

I will keep the classifieds in mind, how much do you think people would sell them for? How many should I get?

 

[Angela1108]

They should be ok with the dried ones. Not really sure on price or how many- if you just for a couple though it would take a bit for them to eat all the pain snails and then you wouldn't have to worry about feeding for a while. You can post in the classifides as wanted though and ppl with them for sale would contact/reply


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[emilygupps]

I honestly think the assasin snails are your best bet. Puffers like Em said are mean and can get territorial and attack everything in the tank. They do best alone

And the loaches get massive and also are shoaling


Assasin snails might try and reproduce but none of them will make it- the larvae/babies/whatever you want to call them need brackish water. So you might see eggs but will never get babies


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For real they don't breed in fresh water? I just bought four.

And like OP I too considered a puffer. I even went as far as to ask my lfs guy if I could borrow three baby loaches until my snail problem was fixed. Haha he laughed at me.


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[Angela1108]

I didn't think they did. I thought I remember someone saying that they didn't. I could be wrong though?


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[emilygupps]

I think you're thinking of nerites that need brackish.


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[Angela1108]

Hmmm I have found sites with differing info. Just did a google search- and they say that they are slow to breed/multiply




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[MICEY]

yoyo loachs will eat your snails and don't get that big 3-4 " and don't stop moving , they keep the bottom of the tank spotless any food that gets down there is nailed in minutes
and they love snails

 

[Laird-and-Dad]

Ok, so I found a new LFS, and they said that they would take the clown loaches back once they got too big. So, umm yeah, against my better judgement, I got them (partly too because my dad has been pestering me to get them). I guess I figure that if I can take them back whenever I want, it can't hurt. And hey, maybe that's as good excuse as any to get that 100 gal that I really want lol. Here are some pics:



They are a beautiful fish. And they do a great job with the snails.

 

[Kittykat364]

I actually did the same thing as you did, except my issue was MTS (Malaysian trumpet snails). They are doing a great job so far, I've had ours for 2 weeks and I rarely see a snail anymore. My dad just got infested too (he doesn't know how) and he's manually removing the snails atm but the loaches might take a turn in there too. Just keep in mind you don't want them to get too big before you take them back or the store might not accept them since they don't have tank space (that's what my LFS told me).


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[Angela1108]

They are relatively slow growers too so as juveniles the size issue isn't as big of a deal- just long term


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