# Fish that Eat Snails



## pnchowdary

I have a ton of pond snails (physa sp) in my 30 gallon tank. I dont want to use chemicals. Therefore I was considering getting fish that would eat these snails. It is a community tank and I have silver mollies,guppies,platys,cories in it. I heard that puffer fish are a little aggressive and will nip at fins. So, I was considering getting a couple of clown loaches. Will the clown loaches be ok with the other fishes that I have in the aquarium?. Also, I wanted to know whether the clown loaches usually eat the fish fry?. Thank you very much in advance for all your responses.


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## Cal

That's what I used in my tank. Heck, the clown loach's are even schooling with the rest of the fish.


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## wiste

I keep clown loaches and enjoy their antics.
However, clown loaches should be kept in groups and will get too large for a 30 gallon.
If you have too many snails remove them manually.
Find a food that they find agreeable. 
Zuchinni or another vegetable often works well.
The snails will congregate and are then easy to remove.
Snails are assets. They help to control algae and consume excess food.


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## PMD1

*Puffer*

I have one dwarf puffer in my 90 gallon community tank.

The tank has a mix of angels, congo tetras, discus, panda's and apisto's.

The tank is snail free thanks to the puffer and all squabbles between the inhabitants are minor.

Best Regards,

PMD1


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## [email protected]

*snails*

I had a bad snail problem myself, even though I would soak my plants in had 
a snail before putting them in my tank. My loaches were not really doing the job, so I bought a dwarf puffer. He took out the snails, did become nippy after the snails were gone I just placed him in a 4 gallon tank (starting to plant).
And when ever the snails start show up I just place him back in my main tank again for a week or two. As long as my puffer has a steady supply of snails he takes out his aggression on the snails, he loves to shred krill.


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## monster

Boy do i know snails! my african tank was infested several months ago - must've come from one of the few plants i've got in there. loaches are the way to go. they're like vacuum cleaners for snails. once the lights went off in the tank, the snails would practically cover the walls. i picked up 6 yoyo loaches (lohachata botia) and all the snails were gone in about 2 weeks. haven't seen one since.

but the yoyo loach is a little agressive as they hold their own with the africans - strength in numbers i guess as i call them the 'marauders' - as they travel the tank like a roving gang. and at feeding time (no snails now, so they've gotta eat something else) they don't mess around with getting thei turn at food - sometimes chasing other fish away. so...based on your list of fish, i agree with Cal as the clown loach is known to be a bit more peaceful, and social, with other tankmates. thing is though that clown loaches can get rather big - i've seen them about 6-8 inches at my LFS - given your 30 gal. tank, maybe get just one to see what it can get done on it's own.


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## JanS

The best method of getting reducing the number of snails is to reduce the food source that they are thriving on. They will not explode unless the tank is being overfed, so a good first thing to do is cut back on feeding.

In looking at the adult size of a Clown loach, as already stated, they would get too big for a 30 gallon. The other factor is that they really like company of thier own kind, so it's not the best to purchase just one.


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## EahInMass

I have a forty gallon planted aquarium that involves three clown loaches and three black and white (sorry, I'm not good with names! eek!) and given that they all live in my community tank...a lot of snails still remain. I've tried cutting back on the feeding so the loaches would pay the snails more interest but in my experience these loaches are too damn smart! They know I can only go so long without feeding the tank due to the rest of the fish and so they tend to wait. These snails are truly out of hand....and I've tried numerous times to take them out by hand but it doesn't seem to deplete even a third of how many remain!:frusty:


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## Ibn

Dwarf loach (Botia sidthimunki) - does better in a school, but the one of the smallest loach that you will find.

Synodontis petricola - one of the smallest Synodontis species; great if you have hard water, but is a fairly adaptable species that doesn't mind softer water

Red eye, red tail puffer - one of the smaller puffers available and eats a wide variety of inverts and snails; not as aggressive as dwarf/pea puffers


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## JanS

EahInMass said:


> I have a forty gallon planted aquarium that involves three clown loaches and three black and white (sorry, I'm not good with names! eek!) and given that they all live in my community tank...a lot of snails still remain. I've tried cutting back on the feeding so the loaches would pay the snails more interest but in my experience these loaches are too damn smart! They know I can only go so long without feeding the tank due to the rest of the fish and so they tend to wait. These snails are truly out of hand....and I've tried numerous times to take them out by hand but it doesn't seem to deplete even a third of how many remain!:frusty:


That's another reason it's better to find the source of the problem than to just try to buy fish or something else to get them back under control.

I've seen a few cases lately where all that was needed was a good substrate vacuuming and the snails quickly were under control again. If too much gunk gets trapped in the substrate, the snails are going to have a prime food source, and they are going to multiply like crazy.
It might be something you want to take a look at anyway.


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## kwc1974

> Red eye, red tail puffer - one of the smaller puffers available and eats a wide variety of inverts and snails; not as aggressive as dwarf/pea puffers


I have to disagree with that. Red eyes are in general very aggressive, could only keep them in a species only tank. And the dwarf/pea puffers I have kept with discus and no problems.



> The best method of getting reducing the number of snails is to reduce the food source that they are thriving on. They will not explode unless the tank is being overfed, so a good first thing to do is cut back on feeding.


This is too true. If I have too many snails overfeeding is usually the reason, thats how I use to keep a snail population for my puffers.


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## chiahead

I personally like using Sidmunki loaches(mispelled-sorry) and some cory cats. Not sure if the cory cats eat them but the tank is snail free. I like using the Sidmunki loaches because they stay small, look great, and are not aggressive at all. They even school with some of the other fishes.

Also, I dont think you will have any issues if you dont feed for a while. In a planted tank the fish can usually find some food somewhere. I have gone slightly over a week with no issues. I didnt plan to do that as I normally like to feed every other day.


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## Cassie

I had 4 yoyo loaches in my 29g community tank and I loved their antics, plus they completely eliminated any ramshorn and pond snails that I had. They didn't make a dent in the MTS if they ate any at all, so I was able to keep the beneficial ones and get rid of the annoying ones. I recently lost them and decided to replace them with cories to increase my shoals, but they only get to be about 3-4 inches and are very entertaining.


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## standoyo

MTS-makes my skin crawl. :lol: Just is. Almost impossible to rid off. I know they're beneficial but they mess up the white sand.


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## Raul-7

standoyo said:


> MTS-makes my skin crawl. :lol: Just is. Almost impossible to rid off. I know they're beneficial but they mess up the white sand.


Exactly! They are invicible! I have yet to find a loach or puffer that eats them?

I agree with JanS about controlling how much you feed, but that's especially difficult for me when I'm trying to condition my plecos to breed.


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## Ibn

kwc1974 said:


> I have to disagree with that. Red eyes are in general very aggressive, could only keep them in a species only tank. And the dwarf/pea puffers I have kept with discus and no problems.


Opposite experience here. Instead of discus, I kept a pair of red eye, red tails with altums, yellow tail congos, rummynose tetras, and some apistos.

The other plus to them is the fact that they will eat MTS.


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## standoyo

Ibn said:


> Opposite experience here. Instead of discus, I kept a pair of red eye, red tails with altums, yellow tail congos, rummynose tetras, and some apistos.
> 
> The other plus to them is the fact that they will eat MTS.


They DO? Raul I think we have a winner!

Eric, they don't nip your altum's fins?


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## Ibn

I haven't noticed any MTS above the surface of the sand after their introduction or for that matter any snails on the glass. They left the huge ramshorns alone (they're about quarter size). 

Nope, I haven't seen them nip the altums or noticed any fin damage after their introduction; all the fin damage is from the altums sparring with each other instead. They kind of do the dodge and weave thing during feeding time though as they try to get at the bloodworms between the swarms of tetras and the altums. They do have to be quick though since even if the worms are in their mouths it doesn't mean it's theirs'; I've seen some of the altums pull worms right out of their mouths.


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## Wood

I used to be terrified of snails a long time ago after reading about all the horrors they can cause. Now I love them. I have a 10 gallon with one big blue mystery snail, a couple of medium sized rams horns, and a ton of baby trumpets. I bought the blue mystery, the rest hitched a ride with plants I bought. They aren't eating any of my plants, nor glosso. I think that they are the BEST algae cleaners. I have otto's and shrimp, and the snails are the ones that really clean the plants. The otto's take care of the glass and the shrimp eat the fish food  . 

My feeling is that the smaller they are the better.

If you feel you have a problem with snails there is a simple technique you can use: 

1. Get a film canister (for old camera, you know what you would store the film in). Cut about 2-3 holes on top of the lid about a quarter inch in diameter. Put an algae wafer inside of the canister and close the lid (or use a piece of cucumber, squash, etc. Put it on the bottom of the tank overnight and in the morning remove the canister and a bunch of snails will be inside. The fish wont be able to get inside of the canister because the holes will be too small. If you have bigger snails that you want to get rid of, simply make the holes on the lid bigger, but make sure you dont make it too big so that others can enter.....

If you have small shrimp they may get inside the canister as well, but when pouring out the contents of the canister, use a net to catch any shrimp and put them back in the tank. 

2. Or just get a Clown Loach.

DONT USE SNAIL KILLER CHEMICALS, IT IS THE WORST THING YOU CAN POSSIBLY DO TO YOUR TANK!


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## standoyo

I only use anti-snail to quarantine plants! No hitchhikers please! Paranoia has left me a bottle of sera-snailpur[knocks them out] from 3 years back which I use occasionally for new plants.


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## Raul-7

standoyo said:


> They DO? Raul I think we have a winner!
> 
> Eric, they don't nip your altum's fins?


I talked it over with people at the Puffer forum and it seems it's a hit and miss with the aggression; some are as timid as mice while others are as tenacious as lions.

And they don't recommend feeding MTS to Puffers, it turns out it can crack their "teeth" from the extremely dense shell they have. I guess we just have to come to terms with them being around.


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## JanS

I've been trying to plant the darn things back in my 55 gallon after the loaches wiped them all out. I removed all of the loaches except the kuhli's who never used to bother them, but apparently the bigger loaches taught the kuhli's to acquire a taste for them, since they are gone before I know it now.
I guess it would make sense that the kuhli's could get the MTS's since they can also burrow into the substrate.

I personally think MTS's are very beneficial in a tank, so I'd never try to wipe them out.


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## standoyo

Kuhli's are worth considering as Clown loaches get huge and are very clumsy to keep the MTS population down.

Right now I'm a bit wary of transfering plants between tanks at home because one tank has MTS.


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## shadow

I'd recommend pakistani loaches(yo-yos),(Botia almorhae) these guys live to destroy snails, i like them cos there really active, don't destroy plants and are really easy to get a hold of. Botia sidthimunku are good as well but don't handle bigger snails as well as the pakistani loaches do.


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## Cassie

I had yoyo's, but they never ate mts, at least that I could tell. They took care of everything else though. Have you actually seen them eat mts? that would be really interesting if they did...I guess mine just never aquired a taste for them. I have, however, seen my ghost shrimp pull an mts right from its shell at eat it!


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## JanS

I had both yo-yo's and kubotai's in my 55 and between them they wiped out every last snail I had.

Holy cow Shadow, you are able to nab your yo-yo's easily? I had my entire tank torn apart with every plant on the floor and I still couldn't nab the buggers.....


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## Raul-7

I'd loved to get Khuli's for various reasons, especially since they stay smaller and are less aggressive than most loaches. But since I overfeed my plecos, I guess they will never have a craving for MTS unless I stop feeding them at all. Or have you witnessed something different? 

Standoyo, don't worry about the MTS laying eggs on the plant leaves - they're actually livebearers!


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## standoyo

Raul-7 said:


> I'd loved to get Khuli's for various reasons, especially since they stay smaller and are less aggressive than most loaches. But since I overfeed my plecos, I guess they will never have a craving for MTS unless I stop feeding them at all. Or have you witnessed something different?
> 
> Standoyo, don't worry about the MTS laying eggs on the plant leaves - they're actually livebearers!


Really? That's great! I'd still don't want any microscopic snails to get into the main tank. Had to boil the substrate to rid of it. The whole substrate was moving like in a horror movie. Then if you look closely you can see a sea of cone tips moving independantly. yikes! It was bad because I feed my discus well and the fellas are messy eaters.
Can't do the same now because I'm using a soil setup.


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