what kind of loach for snails

[Buddha_Red]

Could anyone point me in the right direction for getting a loach to eat snails? the last batch of plants i got must have been loaded with small ones, i have found three babies so far..

I do not want a snail infistation. once the snails are gone is there special things i neeed to feed the loach? how big do they get?

a url would be fine, i cant find much useful info anywhere but here.


thanks

[oscarbartoni]

If you just have a few snails then you can crush the snails against the glass and the other fishes will thank you for fresh "live" foods. If you are afraid of an infestation then another way would be to trap them by floating a piece of lettuce in the tank at night and in the morning there shoud be several snails on the lettuce. You take the lettuce out and dispose of it properly and in the evening put another piece of lettuce in and continue until there are not more snails left. This way you don't have to get loaches or any other fish unless you want them for your tank.

[Buddha_Red]

great thank you very much! i will try that

[AngelMom]

If you need (or want) to do loaches for snail patrol, get some Burmese loaches. They like snails as much as the clown loaches, but they only get to be about 3 inches long (versus 12 or more for the clowns).

[Buddha_Red]

thank you so much, i do not like buying fish that i have to get rid of later. I let my pleco's into a freshwater lake and they went to eating right away.

I think of each of my fish as sepperate pets and i hated having to get rid of any. I wont use chemicals to get rid of the tiny snails because i do not want any of my fish to die or possibly die.


I have picked out 10 tiny snails clinging to the anacharis which is where i got them i believe. I learned a great lesson, becareful who you buy plants on ebay from. some just dont know or care about what they are doing.

If they didnt reproduce so fast, i wouldnt mind having a couple in my tank, but i can just imagine them all over my tank which is something i totally do not want.


I will try to locate the loach you mentioned anglemom. thanks again.

[oscarbartoni]

You should never release a fish that in not native to a particular water. There are things that can hapen such as the fish that you relesased dying because of the wrong types of food or being eaten by other fishes, or becoming sick from other fhish that are immune to some diseases or worse having your fish releise an illness into a lake and killing off the native fishes. If you have to get rid of a fish theink of giving it to a pet shop or someone who can take care of it. If no one will take it then it probablly will be best to kill it so that it willnot suffer or cause suffering of other fishes.

[AngelMom]

FYI ............ just found out that another name for them is Angelicus Botia Loach.

Good Luck.

[Buddha_Red]

I bought two skunk loaches but so far they dont seem interested in snails,ive seen them kill one out of 3. But im expecting as they grow they will get better at it


what fish were you talking about? the loaches in freshwater? Mine seem totally fine.

[Buddha_Red]

My Skunk Botia still isnt interested in snails. Do you think its because they are small? They eat alage but not snails. I found three more on my glass this morning, tiny ones


Do they mature and start eating them?