# Smallest Loaches that eat snails



## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

I need help, I am done with my MTS in my planted tank. I just want to know what is the smallest load I can get to get rid of all the mts


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

Why not try mechanical removal (traps, manual removal, etc)?


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## Loachutus (Aug 27, 2010)

Botia Striata, http://www.loaches.com/species-index/botia-striata

A group of 5 or more would take care of most of them. One won't be able to keep up with their breeding. Getting them just to take care of snails is the wrong reason to have them. The will also pop little crescent shaped hole in any broad thin leaves and if you have any shallow rooted plants they may loosen them digging for snails.

They can also live a long time, I've got 4 that are going on 9 years with me. A warning if you do get them, you may like them so much you become a loachaholic.


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## kwheeler91 (May 26, 2009)

Dwarf chain loaches will eat them. Yoyo loaches get a bit bigger but not unmanagable and they are machines. But these shouldnt be first options. Manual removal and making sure you dont overfeed is key to keeping a mts population under control.


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## AVN (Oct 3, 2012)

Loachutus said:


> Botia Striata, http://www.loaches.com/species-index/botia-striata
> 
> A group of 5 or more would take care of most of them. One won't be able to keep up with their breeding. Getting them just to take care of snails is the wrong reason to have them. The will also pop little crescent shaped hole in any broad thin leaves and if you have any shallow rooted plants they may loosen them digging for snails.
> 
> They can also live a long time, I've got 4 that are going on 9 years with me. A warning if you do get them, you may like them so much you become a loachaholic.


+1 Zebra loaches


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

manual removal not a option, to many and would take months. Started with 20 no have 1000. I only feed live food in the tank and these things have exploded


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## Rostasteve (Jan 19, 2012)

Ditto on zebra loaches. Great fish with a great personality. They're hardy, long life, stay small <3", compatibile with many fish, and eat snails. They're schooling fish so make sure to get at least 4.


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## auban (Jun 23, 2012)

i dramatically reduced a snail infestation with a couple bottles of club soda once... i just took the fish out, left the lights on, and poured a cup of club soda every 10 minutes until all the snails crawled out of the substrate and were trying to escape the tank. after a few hours of picking them off the sides of the tank, there were barely any left at all.

it didnt seem to bother the plants.


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## howard (Oct 8, 2012)

baby 1 clown loach worked perfect for my 10g and 29.


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## ChadRamsey (Nov 3, 2011)

i bought a pair (thats all the had atm) of yoyo's the other day. they are pretty small. 

the thing is, i havent seen them eat any of my MTS yet, nor have i seen any signs of them eating them.


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## Loachutus (Aug 27, 2010)

@Chad, Try feeding a hour before lights out. Have you tried blood worms? other frozen food? I usually start new arrivals with blood worms then switch over to flakes and pellets once I've seen them eat. Are they real skinny? Were did you get them?

Depending on how much food you feed will dictate the amount of snails they eat. If I want to put a serious dent in a snail population, I won't feed them for a couple of days.


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## SINcity (Nov 17, 2012)

Manual is the way to go, even if you don't think it's an option.

I placed a small fish net on the bottom and counted out 100 a day. It won't take long before reaching that number becomes difficult. Then let the loaches finish them off.


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## Jericho199 (Mar 18, 2011)

Assassin Snails.


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## AVN (Oct 3, 2012)

^ Read the original post please, he wants loaches



SINcity said:


> Manual is the way to go, even if you don't think it's an option.
> 
> I placed a small fish net on the bottom and counted out 100 a day. It won't take long before reaching that number becomes difficult. Then let the loaches finish them off.


IMO removing MTS is easiest when using a reverse bottle trap, since they live in the substrate it would take a while for loaches to find them all. Just sink it down with some bait and in the morning you've got hundreds of MTS in a bottle, repeat for a couple days and you won't have any left.

1. Cut the cone area off any plastic bottle
2. Invert it so the mouth hole is pointing into the bottle
3. Place bait inside
4. ??????
5. PROFIT!!!


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

I have a loach boati and they get rid of them. But they take time.

I recently added 2 dwarf puffers and they got rid of them within 3 days.


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