# Are clown loaches and dwarf puffers compatible?



## eeng168 (Apr 22, 2005)

Hi, thanks in advance for any help. 

I plan on getting a couple of small clown loaches (less then 2-3 inches) for my 40 gallon to rectify the snail problem. I was wondering if they would munch on my baby cherry shrimps or will they only go for snails? 

Same question for the dwarf puffer. 

Thanks again.


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## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

They will munch on the snails, and probably the shrimp as well. Same goes for the dwarf puffers.

These fish, like most fish, will go for whatever looks wets their appetites at the time!

Mike


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## jhoetzl (Feb 7, 2005)

Unless you want to remove every living fish in the tank, or maybe just some oto's or a very few select other fish, don't go for the dwarf puffers for snail control.

www.dwarfpuffers.com has a whole section on tankmates and such...


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## eeng168 (Apr 22, 2005)

*Thanks...*

Thanks for the replies.


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## kimrin (Feb 21, 2005)

try some yoyo's or striata's for snail control. your shrimp will probably be safe with them.


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## bpm2000 (Feb 16, 2005)

I will say the Dwarf puffers are hit and miss - as reading from the dwarfpuffers website as well as my own experience. I have ONE dp in my 10g with a oto and about 6 cherry shrimp of varying size. The smallest are definitely eatin' size for the DP, but he (it is a male) has never bothered any of its tankmates the whole time I've had them (4~5 months now). I do hesitate and probably won't add any more to keep this synergy I have going on but not all of them will eat their tankmates .


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## Biznatch (Mar 26, 2005)

I had 5 dwarf puffers in a 10 gallon with some ghost shrimp and they were fine. Untill i missed feeding them for 2 days and they decided to get back by killing all 6 shrimp in the tank. Most of which were 2-3 times the size of the puffer, yet 1 was still able to take it down. They chomp off the eyes and it's all down hill from there.


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## eeng168 (Apr 22, 2005)

Thanks...

I think I'll stick with a very small clown loach instead of a dwarf puffer.


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## joan (Apr 25, 2005)

Clown loaches won't stay small. They get very big. This is compounded when you consider that loaches are happiest in a group of 3 or more. There are several smaller sized loaches that will be much better suited to your tank size and will help with your snail problem. I have a group of 5 yo-yo loaches (Botia almorhae) in my 54G that I absolutely love. Probably the most entertaining fish in my tank and they are always the fish to get a comment from visitors. There are also zebra loaches (Botia striata). I would urge you to look into these or other smaller loaches. They will suit your tank size much better, you can keep a small group which makes them much happier and more active, and can be members of your community for life rather than need to be moved when they quickly outgrow their space.

http://www.loaches.com/index.html is a good resource to check out. :fish:


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## eeng168 (Apr 22, 2005)

*Thanks Joan...*

Thanks Joan, 

Hopefully I can find some yo-yo loaches here in NYC. I have to say though, I've never seen these type of loaches before. Wish me luck!


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## endparenthesis (Jul 13, 2004)

Could I get a few more opinions on the yoyo and zebra loaches as far as how safe they are for baby cherry shrimp? I had the exact same question... I have a snail population to get rid of in a cherry breeding tank and I want to make sure this is a good idea.


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## Samosette (Feb 15, 2005)

BPM is right about the puffers... But if you get a nice dwarf puffer.. You can really do well with it. You can get a tiny baby puffer at petsmart for 2.50 or so and they are really tiny. What I use to do was keep a small 5 gallon for the dwarf puff, and when i had a snail explosion in my other tanks i would put him in the snail infested tanks for 1-2 days, no longer than a week. I've never lost a puffer this way as long as you intoduce him into the tank slowly. Mine use to take out all the snails and limplets in 2-3 days and I would take him out when he was done. Never lost a shrimp that I could tell or see. But if you get a mean puffer I sugest gettting rid of him quickly... never seen my dwarf puff attack a shrimp... I even tried to get 2 pairs of puffers to attack some ghost shrimps, but they never did... Only thing with loaches, are they like to be in schools... and a school of clowns will run a muck in your tank... they get really really big as mentioned before....


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## figgy (Feb 27, 2005)

Thanks for the link to the loach site. 

I got 3 skunk loaches in order to control my snail population in a 29 gal. and they got that job done within hours. Now they're chasing each other around the tank. After reading the info on the link, I think I'm gonna pull 'em from the tank before they go after their tankmates. My lfs is cool about taking fish back...

Fig


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## inthedeep2 (Apr 6, 2005)

honestly i have 2 dwarf puffers in my community tank and all is good have had them in there now a month with no problems. they are awsome to watch as they chase eachother. they like to hover over my corries and follow them around the tank for hours. no bad behavior out of these little guys.. i guess i have gotten lucky


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