Small Snail-Eaters?

[DarylF2]

I have a very small (6-gallon Eclipse Six) tank and a 20-gallon long tank. Both tanks just completed cycling and I'm starting to stock them.

The 6-gallon tank has 1 Corydoras and 2 Neon Tetras; I plan on adding 2 Otocinclus catfish and 3-4 more Neon Tetras. This tank has 5 plants (a Wisteria (Hygrophila difformis), a Tropica Fern (Microsorium pleropus), and 3 Aponogeton) as well.

The 20L tank has 2 Fancy Guppies; I plan on adding 5-6 Marbled Hatchetfish, 2-3 Corydoras, 2-3 Otocinclus catfish, possibly 1-2 Kuhli Loaches, and the centerpiece: 2 German Blue Rams. It has a lots of plants, and will be fairly heavily planted before I add the Rams (in 3-4 months).

Both tanks are small and will be pretty much stocked to capacity.

I'm concerned about snails in these tanks. I don't have any yet, but I'd like to add plant cuttings from my 38-gallon tank which has a lot of small (family Physidae) snails (which my Salwnsis Botia loaches love...). Adding loaches works WONDERFULLY to keep snails in check, but the 6-gallon tank is too small (and full) for any loaches, probably. The 20L is big enough for very small loach varieties, possibly... But I don't want to add anything that might upset the Rams.

Should I just use the zucchini-trap method to catch snails? Any other suggestions?

 

[chotie]

zucch trap does wonderfully. in the end, since you can get most snails in a small tank, you will eventually take them out and you wont have a snail infestation.

also, 2 fancy guppies get large (5+ inches). i would take those out since with them, the 20 is way overstocked.

 

[JustOneMore20]

As long as you don't overfeed, the snails shouldn't get out of control.

 

[DarylF2]

In my 38, if I didn't add extra algae tablets for the snails to eat, they'd nibble on my plants. And all my tanks are planted...

EDIT:

also, 2 fancy guppies get large (5+ inches). i would take those out since with them, the 20 is way overstocked.

These will get to 5+ inches?

Wow. I had no idea...

 

[rich311k]

Guppies do not get 5+ inches long, 2 inches tops for a large female.

 

[chotie]

whoops! i had goldfish on the brain!

 

[DarylF2]

Whew! I was wondering what kind of freakish guppies they were breeding these days.

 

[Ky'smommy]

haha my dads female guppy got over 2 inches but not much over maybe 2.5 at the most she was huge. but think cause he has an understocked tank.
she has lots of room to grow. i also think it had something to do with the babys she was popping out once a month. but she did after her last bunch. her HOLE wouldnt close after giving birth i was quite sad she was originally mine but i gave her up cause i already had a female and i thought he would have fun with her. since i had two big girls. and his grew and was huge and had like 5 batches of babies while mine had one and then died 1.5 months later.
sorry now im mumbling .