Loaches

[aquazen]

I've been noticing a small faction of snails taking over parts of my aquarium. I delt with them in the past by fishing them out and chuking them into the trash. However, all it did was slow the monsters down. I noticed three more just today.

I asked a LFS employee about this, and he suggested that I try including a loach in my community tank. They supposedly have a taste for snails and tend to leave the other fish alone.

Can anyone verify this? And if it's true, please recommend a small loach (less than 3 inches max size) that would be suitable for a 10 gallon tank. Thank you.

 

[mayreee]

Yes it's true. I don't know of any small ones though.

 

[Fruitbat]

Other than the very difficult to find Dwarf Loach (Botia sidthimunki), most loaches will eventually outgrow your 10 gallon tank. However...you could probably keep a Yo-Yo loach or two in there for quite a while before you would need to move them or get rid of them. Be prepared for some loach/loach squabbles unless your tank has plenty of hiding places for them, however.

 

[Corty]

What kind of snails?

 

[gheitman]

I bought some Dwarf Loaches to control snails in two of my 10 gallon tanks. They have done a great job and are fun to watch. Here is a picture of the Dwarf Loach.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=5870&password=&sort=1&cat=500&page=1

The Dwarf Loach is harder to find than other species (and therefore more expensive) but you can keep two or three in a tank that size. You can read more about them by following the link below.

http://www.loaches.com/species_pages/botia_sidthimunki.html

 

[pkremer]

A yo-yo loach or a clown loach would most certainly get the job done. Unfortunately, to put either of those in would basically just be to get rid of the snails and then you would want to take it back. A clown loach would take care of your snails but would get way too big eventually for your tank. One yo-yo loach could be in a 10 gallon as they don't get too large, but in my opinion/experience, they are best in groups of 3, which is too much for a 10 gallon.

Paul

 

[FawnN]

The clown loach would definitely outgrow your tank in no time. Just keep in mind that when you put a fish that potentially can get a foot long in a small tank, you could very well be stunting their growth and life span.

Just put a piece of lettuce, zuchinni or something green in your tank over night and the snails will immediately jump on it. And then in the morning just remove it. Repeat as necessary.

 

[patryuji]

Clown loaches grow very slowly...but I still wouldn't put even the youngest in anything less than a 20Long or 29 gallon tank.

A yo-yo loach will be too big for that tank at full size as well. It isn't its actual size that limits it from a 10 gallon tank (3-4 inches at full size) but its temperament. With only one it will end up trying to assert dominance over the other fish in the tank (rather than just fighting amongst their own like they do when you have a group of 3 or more).

As an experiment I tried putting one of my yo-yos in with my bolivian rams to see if they would be able to co-exist (29 Gallon tank). All was well for about 3 weeks and then I noticed a couple rams with nipped fins (pectoral, caudal and dorsal). I also observed the yo-yo constantly "whiskering" one of the less dominant bolivians. The yo-yo seemed to be trying to get into position to attack the bolivian's eye. I moved it back to the big tank (I was hoping I could keep them in the 29 gallon tank since the polypterus will be big enough to eat yo-yos in a year or so).

As a side note: I have never seen a yo-yo even care about corydoras, and they often don't mind giving up territory (along the bottom) to plecos but I think your guppies would be harrased in that small tank.

 

[FawnN]

to plecos but I think your guppies would be harrased in that small tank

Are you talking about my set up?

 

[patryuji]

to plecos but I think your guppies would be harrased in that small tank

Are you talking about my set up?

No I checked the thread starter's profile for an idea of what would be living with the loaches.

Both of the thread starter's 10 gallon tanks listed guppies.

 

[FawnN]

ooops, sorry.

 

[pkremer]

My yo-yo's don't even notice that my pleco exists. They sometimes will cruise right over the top of him while they are searching the gravel. They certainly have never bothered him.

My yo-yo loaches don't mess with anyone else for that matter. My swordtails and gourami have never been bothered. When I was quaranting just one of them, however, it was a different story. The lone yo-yo was very crotchety, and claimed a decoration for himself and bothered the other fish in QT with him. Once there were 3, he calmed down and the only squabbling is between the other yo-yos now. It's like the other fish don't exist.

Paul

 

[aquazen]

I could not tell you what kind of snails they are. I'm actually ticked that they got in there in the first place. The good news is that they aren't hard to spot and I just pick them off whenever I see them...maybe once a week or so. I recently did some redecorating and washed the treerood resin in my 10 gallon and found about 7 of the little buggers hiding in there.

Thank you all for the great information. I'll see if I can get my hands on a dwarf loach. Wish me luck.

If anyone is interested, I've got pics of my recently replanted tank.

http://vernonschiu.multiply.com/item/share/vernonschiu:photos:7?xurl=/photos/album/7&