out of control snails

daisycutter

sounds odd but some of the larger snails will eat smaller ones ive had my new mystery snails eat all of the resident ramshorns and start on my hydras(unwanted pests) and there large (not yet anyway but) higly visable snails that can be removed easy

Lupin

Clown loaches are part of the botia loach family. Other loaches that are available in the aquarium trade are Botia histrionica, Botia dario, Botia almorhae, Botia kubotai, Yasuhikotakia nigrolineatus, Yasuhikotakia morleti (Skunk Loach), Yasuhikotakia modesta, Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki, Botia striata and Botia rostrata.

It is understandable that clowns are frequently used to eliminate snails as they are often the ones that are commonly available, however, I won't recommend them in a tank less than 55 gallons. They needed plenty of space which will allow big spurt of growth. There are plenty of loaches available out there. All these botia loaches are carnivorous in nature relishing over crustaceans, insects, worms, etc. On the side note, these loaches are also notorious for boring holes on plant leaves but this is down to luck whether you got the ones that love to eat plants or not.

Avoid Yasuhikotakia modesta and morleti if you plan to keep loaches in a community. Both of these loaches often direct their aggression towards other species of fish.

mHeinitz57

yeah my clown used to tar apart my Anacharis but he leaves my swords,mondo grass and gold ribbons alone.

GNOME

I had two Chinese Hillstream Loaches and my snail problem went away. The loaches have since died but no snails.

Lupin

Hi Gnome.

I'm interested about this. Are these loaches Beaufortia kweichowensis or Gastromyzon species? I have not heard nor seen them eating snails. With the size of their mouths, reconsideration must be done with food stuffs like the snails.

Afisher463

I heard that these snails will after a while start to infest and take over some fresh water plants that you buy.

Silver Aro

haha, I had those before. I believe I got rid of them with puffer fish....they like to chew on them snails...shells and all. Lol great way to feed puffers. at no cost.

squiggles1

i know, puffers are mad snail eating machines! mind you most people don't want just a couple of dwarf puffers in a tank (since it's 10g) but they would kill other fish if they were in there with them. When i clean out the fluval for our 30g i dump like 100 snails of all sizes in their tank and they pick until everyone of them is gone...like a day if that.

ShawnMcc

I just bought a snail trap does wonders especially with algae wafers. caught about 30 of the snails already!