duh duh duh Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 A buddy has a cichlid tank that has exploded with trumpet snails. They even got so bad they caused a plug in his cannister filter. Any suggestions on how to get rid of them? He has the most impressive cichlid collection I've ever seen so he is really hesitant to use chemicals and risk mucking up the chemistry. He was told that clown loaches won't work on trumpet snails and the possibility would be for a puffer fish, but the cichlids would probably scrap with it (or vice versa). Looking for your assistance..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baos Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 Clown loaches. On the other hand some people with planted tanks would love to have those snails. In fact I just ordered some from Vancouver. Can't keep the buggers around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oneiroid Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 Keep pulling them out and post them for free in the livestock classifieds. Lots of members here who would gladly take them off your buddy's hands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cale262 Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 (edited) Synodontis petricola.... http://www.scotcat.com/factsheets/s_petricola.htm Edited March 18, 2009 by cale262 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bottomdweller_fan Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 How about a bunch of assassin snails. Here are a couple of sites discussing them eating MTS (with pictures). http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=12094 http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152026 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crystal Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 I found the "botia" loaches to be best with snails. My one yoyo loach destroyed the 30-50 MTS I tried to use for a clean up crew... I think a dozen would wreck havoc on the MTS, if the cichlid didn't eat the loaches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingin' It Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 my yoyo loach gets along great with his Tang. cichlid mates...for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 (edited) I have zebra loaches and they don't eat my MTS, at least not in enough numbers to dent their population. They totally devoured the pond and ramshorn snails though. If he has a snail population problem he might want to check to see if he is over feeding. Snail populations spike when there is enough food(over feeding, decaying plant matter etc). Reduce their food and reduce their population. A small population of MTS is usually a good thing as they keep the substrate clean and mixed up. If they are plugging up his canister filter he might want to put a sponge on the intake tube. Edited March 18, 2009 by degrassi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bottomdweller_fan Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 The problem with using loaches to clean up snails in aquariums, particularly cichlid setups, is fourfold: first, most of them live in very different water parameters than most African cichlids second, if the tank is not really large, even the smaller, slower growing botias add quite a bioload to a tank third, I have Botia almorhae (yo yos), Botia kubotai, Botia striata, and Botia dario in the same tank and they very seldom touch the MTS snails fourth, all of these species are schooling fish and are more comfortable and will be seen more when kept in groups of 5 or more There are lots of other ways to control snails. As someone who is passionate about loaches for their own sake, I always suggest that the other methods be tried and only get loaches if you want to develop an environment where these incredibly fun fish can flourish. **gets down off her soap box** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oneiroid Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 If they are plugging up his canister filter he might want to put a sponge on the intake tube. I like having MTS in my tanks, and this is exactly how I keep them from causing filter-related problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stribbelldk Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 I have a cichlid tank and I have used 3 clown loaches to control Trumpet snails. Thet were small when I bought them and were up to 5 inches when I got rid of them. They did a good job but I still had to remove some when I did water changes. I recently got some Blue botia, and they have wiped my snails out. So much so that I have to transfer from my other tanks just so I have some in my big tank. Yes the water perameters are different and one likes hard and one like soft but plekos and cichlids have different water conditions too and everyboby seems to do it. That being said, no I would not mix loaches or botia with wild caught cichlids if I was buffering the ph up to 8.3. Just my two cents Derek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuz Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 a penny in your filter will eliminate them because of the copper, just whatch your water peram's because iff alot die off at once there will be a large amount of bacteria in your bio-load causing a spike!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cale262 Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 (edited) a penny in your filter will eliminate them because of the copper,... Just make sure the penny is older than 1996 (98% copper), anything newer than that doesn't have much real copper in it...only 4.5%:smokey: Edited March 19, 2009 by cale262 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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