clown loaches and snails ??

[strokinbyeu]

i have 3 clown loaches in my 75gal tank with sand substrait. i have herd that clowns like to munch on mts.
is it a health issue if they dont have them?
whats the benifits of them eating them?
whats the downfall to having the mts in my tank?


ps i have fake plants no live ones

 

[neilanh]

Clown loaches do enjoy eating snails. But they don't require them if you're feeding them a good diet.

Snails do help to munch on algaes and leftovers in your tank, so they are beneficial to have - but again, not necessary.

The only downfall would be if for some reason your clowns don't have a taste for snails - MTS can quickly multiply so you would have lots of snails. Not really a downfall, just not something a lot of people like.

 

[strokinbyeu]

if they would bloom and my clowns didnt have a taste for them could i treat the tank with an alge remover to kill off the snails? i dont have any other inverts and i can feed alge wafers to my hillstream loach.

 

[strokinbyeu]

has anyone ever herd that eating the snails will help them become more orange than yellow?

 

[meegosh]

I don't think the snails are the missing link to the color issue. I would say a well balanced diet in general would be the key to getting them to color up nicely. My clown loves MTS and has completely destroyed the populations in both of my tanks.

 

[strokinbyeu]

so u think if i get 20-30 to start they will beable to keep up with the population?

as for diet they get flake food for the most part but i feed 2-3 bloodworm cubes a week and some shrimp pellets everyother nite.

is there somthing im missing?

i realy enjoy watching the three of them

 

[neilanh]

I guess it depends on how big the snails are vs how big the clown loaches are.

IME, 20-30 snails in a tank with 3 clown loaches won't last 24 hours. I've done it with 3 3-4" clown loaches.

That sounds like a pretty good mix of foods. Maybe add in a veggie type wafer into the mix to really round out their diet.

 

[strokinbyeu]

yea mine r lil smaller than that 1 is prob 2in maby 2.5in the other 2 i just got a few weeks ago there 1.5 but lot thinner that my original.

all iv ever seen in waffers is alge waffers but i guess iv never really looked any typ of vegi waffer would be good for them? would it be good for the rest of there tank mates also?

 

[strokinbyeu]

here are my 2 new ones