Adding Loaches?

[DBradar3]

I have a forty gallon tank with a pond snail problem. It started with ONE from a live plant I had shipped in and now I'm up to 50+ in only a few weeks! I've been removing them manually, but they repopulate fast due to the algae growth I have.
As a natural fix I'm thinking of adding dwarf loaches, but I don't want to overpopulate my tank either.
Right now I have five adult mollies (babies come and go), five otocynclus, and eight corydoras.
Could I add the dwarf loaches without overpopulating, and how many?

Thanks!

 

[brendenscott]

I have a forty gallon tank with a pond snail problem. It started with ONE from a live plant I had shipped in and now I'm up to 50+ in only a few weeks! I've been removing them manually, but they repopulate fast due to the algae growth I have.
As a natural fix I'm thinking of adding dwarf loaches, but I don't want to overpopulate my tank either.
Right now I have five adult mollies (babies come and go), five otocynclus, and eight corydoras.
Could I add the dwarf loaches without overpopulating, and how many?

Thanks!

Could add 3 no problem and they will take care of the problem real quick I promise you that. My 20 gallon has some snails and I manually remove them and add in my 60 gallon tank to feed my 5 clown loaches. They wipe them out so fast there is not a single snail in the 60 gallon tank after about 30 minutes after adding about 10 or so snails lol. They make very quick work.

Another option would be to just borrow/rent a couple clown loaches from your lfs for a few days if you don't permanently want them.

 

[Autumnsky]

QTing fish is important as fish from a lfs could have any type of illness.

Sidthimunki Botia Loach (Ambastaia sidthimunki) are the smaller of the Loaches, usually a but costly - 2ish"
Yoyo/Lohachata Botia Loach (Botia lohachata) are a mid size fish 3-4+ inches and readily eats snails

They all like to be in groups of around 5 or more.

 

[DBradar3]

Do the sidthimunki botia loaches eat snails, or just the ones 3" and bigger?

 

[lordheavyc]

In got three kuhli's I my fifteen gallon. They've taken care of any snail problem I thought I was gonna have. They even ate a large red snail that I actually kind of liked .
I would say as long as your not over feeding them (which can contribute to the snail problem) they'll stay hungry enough to decimate the snail population. It'll be nice to because you'll have all these decorative snail shells littered across the substrate. I did anyway lol

 

[toddnbecka]

Toss a small copper fitting or an old penny into your filter for a while. It will release copper ions into the water and gradually kill the snails, then you can take it back out. Safe for fish and plants, as well as your beneficial bacteria, will also kill shrimp and other inverts though.