loaches vs. snails

[spyyro]

I'm planning on getting some loaches (I know they eat snails) and I plan on getting some snails. I like the MTS but have heard they are harder for them to eat. Will they eradicate the snail population completely or no? I'd like to be able to keep both the snails and the loaches. Any suggestions? Any snails I should definitely stay away from for whatever reason? I've never had any at all so I know nothing about them. I just know I like the MTS shells. I don't have any live plants to worry about. I may in the future but none ATM. Thanks...

[MSU Fan]

Originally Posted by spyyro

I like the MTS but have heard they are harder for them to eat. Will they eradicate the snail population completely or no?

In my experience, good bye snails. My experience lies with pond and MTS snails, not the bigger ones. My loaches may have had problems eating the MTS, but trust me, that didn't slow them down...

[Billsgate]

Yup, 3 loaches whiped out my 200+ mts population in my 30 gal over a period of a few months...

[spyyro]

So then I guess it's safe to say that snails can't or won't be a regular part of their diet. There's no sense in me getting some snails if they are just going to eat all of them. I was sort of hoping they would just keep the population down. I guess in the end, it's all just a constant supply of food for them until they're gone.

[theotheragentm]

A lot of people will breed snails in a tank for their loaches.

[Burks]

You could just breed the snails in another tank and transfer the largest to that tank. It may take them a bit longer to eat the large MTS. I know some people have large MTS living with loaches. The small ones, they don't stand a snowballs chance in heck.

[Billsgate]

That's something you could do, keep a small container somewhere with some gravel and put mts in, they are pretty temperature resilient, although they breed better in higher temps. Just feed them a sinking algae wafer once or twice a week, depending on how much you have.

[hc8719]

Originally Posted by spyyro

I just know I like the MTS shells. I don't have any live plants to worry about. I may in the future but none ATM. Thanks...

MTS don't eat plants anyways. My kuhli loaches appear to ignore my larger MTS