Weather loaches vs. snails?

[Scarlett]

Hello all!

I'm new here, so I'll give a bit of an introduction. I started keeping loaches about a year and a half ago, when I got three itsy-bitsy baby clown loaches to get rid of a pretty serious snail problem. As much as I hate to play favorites, they are definitely my favorite fish. They're currently pushing 4 inches and, so far as I can tell, are as happy and healthy as can be. They're living in a heavily planted 80-gallon tank with 8 black phantom tetras, 9 emerald-eye rasboras, 2 dianemas, 4 siamese algae eaters, a clown pleco, and a baby gold severum.

The 40-gallon tank is also planted and houses one large angelfish, one 10" common pleco (my boyfriend bought him some 9 years ago and is pretty attached), one gold honey gourami (which, if you can believe it, was terrorizing the severum), and one siamese algae eater. This tank has developed a pretty sizeable trumpet snail infestation. My boyfriend has been toying with the idea of getting a few weather loaches for this tank in hopes that they'll eat the snails, but I was under the impression that clown loaches are the only ones that really devour snails, and even they have trouble with trumpet snails. Is this the case? The 40 is just too small for clowns, so that's out of the question. I'd be tempted to get weather loaches regardless, even though we've got nice fine sand in the tank that I bet they'd burrow in, thus ensuring that I'd never see them. What do you think?

[botiaboy]

weather loaches are actually not tropical.They prefer cooler water(goldfish temp) .You might be able to,but a yoyo loach(grows to 8")would work just as well.They're alot like clowns,and the really cool part is that their pattern looks like someone stamped "yoyo" on their sides!!!!

[Emma Turner]

Weather loaches prefer much lower temperatures to that of your current tropical set-up, grow to quite a large size, and would therefore not be suitable for the 40 gallon tank. I've also never witnessed them feeding on snails myself.

All members of the 'Botia' family will eat snails, even trumpets. The key is this: the larger the loaches, the larger the size of the snails they will be able to manage. The size of your aquarium will dictate what type of loaches you can happily keep in there. I'd suggest Botia striata as they are a beautiful peaceful little loach that will be fine with all your other fish. They can grow to 4-5" and should be able to take care of the smaller snails. The larger ones you may have to try and remove yourself. Eventually this will have an effect on the breeding population and the numbers should be kept in check.

Emma

[Jayhawk]

I had weather/dojo loaches for a while, and they definitely ate trumpet snails. Since I passed them on to somone with a larger tank, I no longer have a weekly batch of empty MTS shells to clean up.

Eric

[Emma Turner]

That's interesting to know, Jayhawk!
Unfortunately Weather Loaches really aren't suitable for Scarlett's 40 gallon tropical tank though.

Emma

[Jayhawk]

No, they're definitely not suitable for tropical (mine were in with a paradise fish), and my tank was too small also...so I just grew them to a good size for someone else .

How long is a 40 gallon tank? Just curious.

Eric

[Scarlett]

Ah, thank you, Emma. I'd forgotten about their very different temperature requirements (though I know I've seen them in with goldfish before, they all too often show up in tropical setups too). I suppose I've become accustomed to the clowns' predilection for 80 degree water. Nevertheless, I won't get weather loaches, and thank you all for your input. Botia striata really is very beautiful; I will look into it!

For the record, my 40 gallon is 36" long and 18" wide (it's actually a 40 breeder).

[sophie]

dojos may eat trumpet snails.
or it might be goldfish.
there is something in my gf/gojo/wcm tank that eats the babies WHOLE and I'm pretty sure it isn;t the minnows