Yoyo Loaches not eatting snails?

[Jezebel]

I bought 2 yoyo loaches, approximately 3.5 inches long to get rid of the exploding snail population in my fish tank.

I've had them for a week and thus far have not seen them show any interest in eatting the snails. When I bought them, I noticed the tank they were in was littered with empty snail shells.

Anybody have any ideas? I bought these loaches specifically to eat them so I'm a bit disappointed. I do like the loaches but I don't have enough room to keep them and add clown loaches in my tank.

I had tried the snail poisons before reading about the loaches online and that did nothing.

 

[WaterPond]

hmm, i dont quite agree with buying a fish just to do a "job".

I am captivated by fish's personalities, and if you give the yoyos a chance you will see that they are very amusing.

Usually the botia species love snails(so i have heard), so don't give up on them. There are betta ways to get rid of snails, a little mosre work, but its does produce results.

Put a peice of lettuce in the tank(i use romaine) before lights out. THe snails will all climb onto it at night then you remove the lettuce and the snails. I place mine in a bowl so they will breed then i feed them to my dwarf pufferfish.

Good luck, i hope this helps

Oh, and WELCOME TO AA!!!

 

[lmw80]

Welcome to AA! How long have you had the loaches? maybe they just need to adjust to their surroundings before they start to munch away.

Also, are these the annoying pond snails or are they longer and spiraly. The longer spiraly ones are malaysian trumpet snails and their shells are usually too hard for the loaches.

The lettuce suggestion is a good one and I have used it in the past!

 

[Jezebel]

They're the long, spiraled ones. The fish store I bought half my fish from has an epidemic of them. I could see the possibilities by looking around their store. Since they had good quality fish, I was extra careful by making sure I took out anything from the bags, including as much water as possible, before putting the fish into the tank. How one slipped past me I'm not sure.

 

[bs6749]

When I bought mine to get rid of snails I never really saw them go after teh snails either, but within a week and a few days they were gone. They had eaten every last one of them. Try feeding less or maybe skip 2 days of feeding and see if that helps. Anything else in the tank other than the loaches and snails?

 

[Zagz]

MTS are tought snails and loaches generally don't eat them. I have loaches in my discus tank and a ton of MTS. The loaches don't touch the MTS at all.

 

[newfound77951]

My striata loaches can and will eat MTS....I've seen them do it.

If you do have MTS, there are lots of folks here who would probably like some!

I'd give the loaches a little while to settle in, mine took a while to feel comfortable and start eating; they eliminated all the pond snails in my 55 gallon (several hundred) but it took the 2 loaches about 6 weeks to do it.

 

[Jezebel]

I've got 1 pearl gourami, 1 dwarf blue gourami, 5 hatchet fish, 1 male and female sailfin mollies, 1 bumble bee goby, 8 neon tetras, 10 cherry barbs including 1 fry , 5 kuhli loaches, 1 pleco, 2 cory cats, 2 algae eatting shrimp, and 4 giant danios.

 

[JulieB]

My filter became overrun with snails and I started to see them on the plants in the tank. I got 2 yo yo loaches and I haven't seen a snail in the tank since (still in the filter though). I have never seen a yo yo eat a snail, but there are no snails in the tank and I'm giving the yo yo's the credit

 

[severum mama]

My yo yos will eat ANY snail. Just give them some time and hope yours are as greedy as mine. I've even seen them eat MTS- they suck them right out of the shells!

 

[7Enigma]

MTS are great tank inhabitants and should not explode in population unless there is a lot of detrius in/on the substrate. Many people on this forum would like to have them so you could go to the barter/trade forum and get some plants/fish/equipment for them, or $$$ if you wish.

I have also heard that loaches have a difficult time with them, but some apparently will learn to suck them OUT of their shells, since they tend to be too hard to crack. It's also possible (but not likely) that the loaches don't know they are a food source. I've heard of several people crushing a couple of snails in order to introduce the food source (heard this both for loaches and dwarf puffers). You could try crushing a couple and seeing if that does the trick. If not, you'll have to do it the old fashioned way (bait and catch).

If you only bought these fish for snail removal I would recommend returning them if possible, otherwise, I have heard they are a very interesting species and you might just enjoy them.

I know if I had a huge population of them and didn't want them in my tank (I'm actually breeding them in a 10gallon tank right now ), I would be all over the B/T forum and getting some free plants/fish/$$$!

 

[tkos]

I would stop feeding the tank for a couple of days. If your fish are healthy that won't be a problem. I wouldn't be surprised as well to see khulies go after the snails. I have seen khulies go after apple snails (with little success but the snail was annoyed).

Oh and your bb gobie is actually a brackish water fish and won't do very well long term in fresh water.

 

[Jezebel]

The water is slightly brackish. It wasn't doing well in 100% freshwater although I bought it from a store that said they had them acclimated to it. The mollies were a lot happier, my barbs spawned and my algae eatting shrimp produced eggs although none of them ever hatched after I added about 4 tablespoons of salt to 60 gallons.

I will try crushing a couple snails and see if that does the trick. I really like the yoyos loaches as they're very active and constantly searching for food. It would just be too crowded to add clown loaches to that as well but I'm hoping things will work out.

 

[lmw80]

sounds good....keep us updated!