Loaches Online Forum

Are Kubotais good snail killers?
My experience would suggest that they are.

And I have a problem...

You guys all know I need to re-home these guys because my angels are simply too tasty for them -

BUT

I have trumpet snails. Hardly any- I assume because of the Kubotais. I never see them over 1cm in size (the snails) and they are very few and far between...

I'm guessing the Kubotais eat quite a few snails- and Im concerned that if I remove them my snail problem will skyrocket...

Its a catch 22.

I have no idea what that means but it is one

so loachyologists, loachsperts, loachficionados, do kubotais eat a lot of snails? Or are my snails simply apathetic and sterile and thus self controlling?

*Please note the flagrant sarcasm in this post - still need to know if they eat snails

thanks

Hello,

Yes, kubotais and widely, botias, are highly specialized in shellfishes and molluscs hunting.

But within some limitations.

Though they try untiringly, small sized botias cannot kill snails having operculum, like Melanoides tuberculatus.

Could your kubotais kill trumpet snails, they all would be eradicated within 2 days or even more quickly.

And no, your snails are certainly not steriles, it's not their style at all...

Small botias do not eat trumpet snails,ok, but they can eat eggs as fast as they are laid, even underground.

In my aquariums, i don't try to eliminate trumpet snails, they're much too usefull in creating galleries, bringing oxygen, burying wastes, thus feeding the substrate with good nitrate fertilizers.
They are efficient algaes eaters.
They're also a very good warning sign : should they massively reach surface of the tank would certainly be sign of NO2 presence.

I breed them in a small 54L tank (actualy accomodating at least 200 of them,+physa marmoratas,+planorbis corneus ) with caridinas japonicas, picking some regularely to renew the population in my botia tank.

In 3 words : good little soldiers !

Cordialement,
Dom.