# Clown Loach for Snail Eating?



## WaveSurfer (Oct 3, 2007)

Hi all,

I'm having a 3ft (40 gallons) planted tank and there has been a small bloom of snails in the tank, removed manually daily (around 3 to 5 per day).

Am thinking of getting a young Clown Loach (as small as possible so it won't grow too big too fast) to eat up the snails, but wondering if it would be suitable for our community tank having the following fauna:

Guppies x 7
Cory x 6
SAE x 1
Rasbora x 5

Flora:
Foreground: Hemianthus Callitrichoides
Mid-ground: Glossostigma Elatinoides, Pearlweed (Hemianthus micranthemoides), Water Violet (Hottonia palustris), Riccia Fluitans
Background: Amazon Sword (Echinodorus amazonicus), Hygrophila balsamica, Eriocaulaceae sp., Rotala sp. 'Nanjenshan' 

Will the Clown Loach harrass the fishes and plants? And will it grow too big to become a menace in the tank? Will it also eat up the snails as shown below?

This is the type of snails we are encountering:


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## crazie.eddie (May 31, 2004)

The fish would be no problems, but a loach may feel too skiddish. They prefer to be in groups, so at least 4 loaches will make it feel more comfortable. They do grow slow, but you may have to move them after 2-3 years or so.


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## WaveSurfer (Oct 3, 2007)

Thanks for the advice, but getting anything more than 1 loach would be quite unlikely, since our main objective is only getting rid of the snails. Sounds cruel, but we couldn't think of a better way to clear the snails.


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## Lupin (Nov 21, 2006)

Dude, I hate to be a bearer of bad news.:wink: I don't like the idea of using clown loach just for this reason. If you want to keep loaches long term _instead_, try small species of botiine loaches other than clown loaches.

Your options are quite wide if money is not an issue here. You live in Singapore where I am sure distribution of loaches is quite wide.:wink:
_Botia dario
Botia histrionica
Botia rostrata
Botia almorhae
Botia striata
Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki
Yasuhikotakia nigrolineatus_

Be sure to get them at a minimum of 3 in number before you consider buying and keeping them for life.


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## WaveSurfer (Oct 3, 2007)

Hi Bluebell,

Indeed, getting loaches for the reason of wanting to have them is quite hard to accomplish on our side, since our bioload is already pretty heavy.

Thanks for the suggestions for the smaller loaches; seems like better choices. Sorry to say this, but although I will care for them for the rest of their lives (if I choose to get them), do they also do the job of clearing the snails?


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## tazcrash69 (Sep 27, 2005)

Bluebell said:


> Dude, I hate to be a bearer of bad news.:wink: I don't like the idea of using clown loach just for this reason. If you want to keep loaches long term _instead_, try small species of botiine loaches other than clown loaches.
> 
> Your options are quite wide if money is not an issue here. You live in Singapore where I am sure distribution of loaches is quite wide.:wink:
> _Botia dario
> ...


Totally agree. 
I'm not a fan of adding a fish just to solve a problem anymore (learned my lesson with SAEs, and flag fish), but... 

I have yo-yo loaches (Botia Almorhae (formerly Botia Lochata)) they do much better in a school, and they totally cleaned out my tank of snails.


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## crazie.eddie (May 31, 2004)

My originally reason for getting clown loaches before was for snails. I tried those snail killing chemicals and dosed the tank. I killed more fish than snails. Then I tried putting drops directly on the snails the went close to the surface level. I saw them drop, but after a few hours, they just got right back up. I think it just gave them a good high. LOL. I decided to get loaches and just totally fell in love with them. Fun to watch and goofy little guys.


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## nemosreef (Oct 19, 2007)

I personally have 3 Botia Striata. I love them they are out all the time and are a small form of loach. They grow slow so if you buy them small they can stay in your tank a long time. Common name of this fish is Zebra Loach.


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## crazy loaches (Sep 29, 2006)

Yes, most botiine loaches willmunch down the snails. I feed mine snails. But pretty much all these need to be in large groups. The loach folks will say 5-6 minimum per each species. Clowns are a bad choice though in a smaller tank, they need a good sized 6 footer like a 180g minimum for adults. Most other Botia stay under 6" though.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

have you tried baiting the snails? A blanched vegetable...At night, they come out to swarm the bait... All you do is remove... You'll get tons that way.


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## Mori (Jul 23, 2003)

The little loaches are great for snail control, and small enough to keep a group of three happy.


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## WaveSurfer (Oct 3, 2007)

Hi all,
Thanks for the advices. Looks like Botia Striata (Zebra Loach) could be a good choice.

However, just read that like all other loaches, they may disturb/eat up the plants, and are social fishes that require at least 5 (maybe 3 also alright) of them in the same tank. I have concerns that it will overcrowd our tank.

Did any of you have problems with housing these Zebra Loaches with other smaller fishes and plants?

mistergreen,
No, I haven't really tried the vegetables method, though I've read about it before. Will it end up having the vegetables eaten up by the other fishes (Otto, SAE, corydoras, guppies) instead?


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## crazy loaches (Sep 29, 2006)

Well, my thoughts would be if the fish eat veggies then no harm done atleast, its good for them, and chances are if its large enough piece youll still have some leftover and hopefully some snails on it. Depending on the fish, some might not eat after lights out so put it in the tank and night and get it out in the morning.

Zebra loaches (Botia striata) are a great choice for smaller tanks. But I've never seen mine personally take after snails, usually its clowns and yoyos, but I have heard others say they did eat snails also. They wont bother plants very much at all. Probably one of the better loaches to have with plants, I think even the Behemoth that Tom set up has quite a number striatas in it if I remember correctly.


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## WaveSurfer (Oct 3, 2007)

Thanks for the feedback. For the vegetables, do I need them cooked beforehand, or raw ones will do? Any suggested vegetables to use? (carrots, cabbage?)

Nice to hear the Zebra Loaches don't really go after plants. Will they die of loneliness if kept alone? (though got fishes of other species in the tank)


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## Lupin (Nov 21, 2006)

WaveSurfer said:


> Thanks for the feedback. For the vegetables, do I need them cooked beforehand, or raw ones will do? Any suggested vegetables to use? (carrots, cabbage?)


Raw. By boiling, you are removing the nutrients.


> Nice to hear the Zebra Loaches don't really go after plants. Will they die of loneliness if kept alone? (though got fishes of other species in the tank)


Loaches are quite sociable fish. Keeping only one results in them pining away instead.


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## crazy loaches (Sep 29, 2006)

Yeah a lone striata will more than likely hide all the time, and suffer permanent physcological damage... back before I was on any forums I got two of them. They didnt come out much. Then after 1 died I would rarely see the other. It would always hide, sometimes not being seen for several months at a time. More recently I've added 6 of them. They all are out and about a lot of the time, not necessarily schooling but very social with each other. The original one still hides. Sometimes I see him out with the others, but often when a fish swims by (even another striata) he freaks out and darts under his piece of driftwood. Not sure if he will ever recover. I would wager to say that most Botiine loaches would be like this. They should be in groups 5-6 or more. Striatas are pretty small though, and with your stocking list (if the Corys are smaller ones) I dont think 5 of them would be much a problem if your heavily planted with decent water turnover and a good wc schedule. The only downside of them is that they arent as common at the lfs's as clowns are (despite that clowns are not suited for 95% of the tanks out there).

Here are a couple pics of my zebras:
  Click for bigger.


For veggies, if you intentions are to feed your fish most par boil them. Basically that just softens them up a little so the fish can eat them. If you trying to bait snails not sure if that would make any difference, I;ve not had to bait snails before personally.


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## mnsnowdaboy (Mar 7, 2006)

Do you guys know if loaches can eat Malaysian snails? They have such a hard shell that even pea puffer have a hard time with it. Just wondering?


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## crazy loaches (Sep 29, 2006)

Yeah they cleared my massively infested tank of MTS completely. But at that time I only had clowns and yoyos. Most loaches can suck the snail out of the shell, they dont necessarily bite through the shell like a puffer.


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## WaveSurfer (Oct 3, 2007)

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I will probably hold on to my urge to get the loach(es) for now.

Manually crushing the snails daily now.


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## aznkonner (Oct 18, 2007)

i think loaches work fine but i've noticed that snails will most likely never go away. if u can spend a whole day getting rid of as many as you can right now. once they get stuck in ur filter they'll breed like crazy. i have a 65 gallon with lots of loaches and they do a great job keeping the snail population down. you don't see any snails except for the ones in the filter. but of course clowns do get big but they grow slow. smaller species with lots of crushing would work hopefully. and as far as them dying if there's just one it doens't happen. i had one for over a year and it was fine. added in 5 more and it does fine still. it's the leader of the pack.


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