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Post by coco on Sept 12, 2015 21:15:07 GMT -5
Hi guys. Been a couple months since I have posted. Have a question about Clown Loaches. Have never had them before. What I am looking for, is something to keep the snail population under control. I have read they are snail eaters. I am talking about those little pesky ones that that come in on plants. I had a previous infestation of them aprx a year ago. I had 5 Rosy Barbs that pretty much eradicated them. Never knew Rosy Barbs were snail eaters. Probably why they became so large. They got HUGE! Thing is, they started to become more aggressive to my cory cats competing for food. They actually started chasing them away from the food.. I love my cories, so I caught the Rosy's and brought them back to my LFS. I really thought the snails were gone, hadn't seen any in quite some time. Apparently there was a couple left, because now they are everywhere again. I didn't want to buy more Rosy Barbs again, so I was wondering about the Clown Loach. Have read up on them some, but don't know much more about them. I have read they are extremely susceptible to ICK. Now, I have not had ICK in probably about 20 years. My question is can ICK lie dormant in your tank for 20 years waiting for a susceptible fish to come along? Or is it safe as long as they are quarantined first? I usually quarantine new fish for a month and treat prophylacticly for parasites. Also wondering if they are suitable for my tank mates. 55 gallon, heavily planted, 2 tiger striped angels, 5 pearl gouramis, 6 true Siamese algae eaters, 1 false SEA, 6 cory cats, 1 BN pleco, and multiple otto cats. 2 HOB filters, fusion air pump 500, Vecton 8 sterilizer. I have read they can be semi-aggressive, would they chase my cory's away from their food? Also, do they like to run solo? Or do the like buddies to hang out with? And, if they like companions, how many should I get for the 55 gallon? Sorry for so many questions, just trying to learn more about them and make the right decision for my tank.
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Post by Snapper on Sept 14, 2015 11:15:36 GMT -5
Ick can't lie dormant and must have a host. You can only get ick if it's introduced to the tank, for example, by plants and fish.
Clown loaches are schooling fish; however, they grow to be massive (over 12 inches each)! If you had the room, I'd recommend other Botia loaches such as Angelicus Botia, but I think you're tank is already fully stocked (when you had the rosy barbs, it would've been overstocked, in my opinion).
Rather than a fish, why don't you try an assassin snail or two?
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Post by Carl on Sept 14, 2015 11:45:23 GMT -5
I have seen this too when a snail eater is removed even though no snails are seen, the snails bounce back Yes Clown Loaches are very susceptible to Ich, but Ich MUST be present in the aquarium. From My Ich Article: "Does Ich lay Dormant, or is Ich always Present?
Ich is NOT always present in an aquarium, despite many claims to the contrary which is sometimes used to cover up for poor quality stock. I have conducted tests (and read others) where I killed off any Ich (if there was any depending on the control group) and then subjected the fish to many stressors that commonly bring on Ich such as sudden temperature drops with NO resulting Ich outbreaks. It is important to note that the Ich protozoan cannot live outside water and if dried, its cell wall would collapse permanently destroying this single cell parasite so this point also makes migration of Ich from anything other than transport via infected fish or similar water transfer impossible. This also goes for marine Ich (Cryptocaryon) which I almost never had problems with in tanks where all fish were carefully added and there were no previous outbreaks. "Reference: www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Ich.html#dormantI do strongly recommend quarantine, which you do. The use of a Medicated Wonder Shell in this main aquarium when the Loaches are introduced is strongly advised Product Resource: www.americanaquariumproducts.com/MedicatedWonderShell.htmlI have seen Clown Loaches get aggressive with Cories, but not always. Sometimes larger numbers of each seems to limit this. A Skunk Loach or Zebra Loach might be good slightly less aggressive alternatives too. Reference: www.americanaquariumproducts.com/LoachesBotias.htmlCarl
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Sept 14, 2015 17:33:54 GMT -5
Snails :/ Honestly, in my opinion, they will always be there. I suppose if someone had fantastic prevention and sterilization practices, it night keep them 100% out, but most the time, it will never happen. Especially when plants are involved, because if you sterilize the plants, then really, your kinda killing the plant...
I use lettuces everyone once in a while. Leave it at the bottom of the tank at night. In the morning, remove it.....It's actually kinda gross how many snails are attracted to the lettuces. I will have so many, I dont even know what to do with them, so I just throw them out in the garden.
Hope that helps. I wouldnt think you would have to get new fish just to manage snails. You could also consider assassin snails.
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Post by coco on Sept 14, 2015 20:20:35 GMT -5
Thank-you everyone for your replies. I had been questioning about the size of the clown loach, but many articles had stated they don't reach their full size in a aquarium. I researched Assassin snails and Zebra loaches, they seem the most appropriate for my 55 gallon and my tank mates. Hopefully I can find one or the other at my LFS.
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Post by parker002 on Sept 15, 2015 13:19:02 GMT -5
We tried loaches, traps, lettuce, and a half dozen other methods to remove snails. The only thing that ever worked was assassin snails.
Assassin snails will completely eradicate all other snails, to their own detriment. We were removing literally thousands of snails from our 14G tank. 6 assassin snails cleaned it out in about a month and then they started to die off. After about 6 months, I moved the remaining snails (2) to my 55G tank.
It's now almost a year later. I broke down the 14G yesterday and moved it to storage since all of the Endlers in it have now passed away and there were no snails present at all.
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Post by coco on Sept 15, 2015 21:15:06 GMT -5
Seems everyone thinks the assassin snails are the best way to go. What a name though, huh? Killer snails! I do have a question about them though. This may seem like a strange question, but I have never "intentionally" bought snails before. So, do I quarantine them like I would new fish? I hear that snails can carry disease/parasites. And, if they do get quarantined, do I treat them prophylactically for parasites as I do for fish? Or can they not handle/ and or need medication?
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Post by Carl on Sept 16, 2015 10:56:51 GMT -5
Quarantine is a good idea, even without meds, this can still help. It is not 100% sure as there are some parasites that use snails as an intermediate host.
Carl
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Sept 16, 2015 11:48:21 GMT -5
Seems everyone thinks the assassin snails are the best way to go. What a name though, huh? Killer snails! I do have a question about them though. This may seem like a strange question, but I have never "intentionally" bought snails before. So, do I quarantine them like I would new fish? I hear that snails can carry disease/parasites. And, if they do get quarantined, do I treat them prophylactically for parasites as I do for fish? Or can they not handle/ and or need medication? I think the quarantine process is the same, just consider which medications can be used with inverts and which cannot. www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Disease.html#quarantine
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Post by mmfed01 on Sept 26, 2015 8:15:30 GMT -5
and.....if you ever wish to get rid of assassin snails, Ryukins will do the job. They will peck and torment them to death. This was not my intention when I introduced Ryukins to my established assassin snail tank...but a regrettable consequence. I liked those little guys...
Mike
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Post by Suzie Q (Lori) on Oct 19, 2015 14:27:58 GMT -5
My 55g is totally over run with MTS (Malaysian Trumpet Snails). I have about 15 assassin snails, but they are not even making a dent in the MTS population. I am thinking of getting some loaches. I've heard that Weather(dojo) loaches are snail eaters. Kuhli Loaches do NOT eat snails .
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Post by parker002 on Oct 19, 2015 14:46:10 GMT -5
I've never had any luck with snail-eating fish, for the same reason I've never had much luck with algae-eating fish - the first time they taste fish food, they give up foraging for anything else.
I'm surprised your assassin's aren't working. We were literally trapping thousands of pond and MTS snails a week prior to getting 6 assassins. They cleared the tank in about a month.
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Post by Suzie Q (Lori) on Oct 19, 2015 14:52:11 GMT -5
In my 10g tank, the assassins are doing great, but the 55g not so much I do have a lot of "eaten" snails, but there are still 1000s and the mts seem to multiply faster than the assassins can eat them. I hear ya about the fish! I had a figure 8 puffer that starved to death with a tank full of snails to eat. He wanted fish food and I refused to feed him. I had just my Endler's in the tank at the time and they did fine nibbling off the plant matter
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