snails

[LB]

HI all - my first post in this site, but I figured what better place to start with my enquiry.

I have a 6' tank with 6 clowns ranging from 2" to 6"
and I have a 3' planted tank with some guppies (daughters fun tank). The small tank is inundated with little baby snails, I dont know where they come from or how they got there - I suspect when I bought plants. The thing is, I keep getting rid of them (I put the smaller 2 clowns in the tank and they demolish the snails in no time) and they keep reappearing, even though there is no adult snail in the tank.

I know that the small tank is too small for Clowns, so I thought of getting some smaller loaches in the tank to keep the snails at bay.
Does anyone have any suggestions to what other loaches would be suitable in a 3' tank?

cheers
LB

[chefkeith]

Sounds like a perfect situation to me.

Having a breeder snail tank and a Clown loach tank goes hand in hand. The clowns would appreciate a steady supply of snails. Just trap the snails about once a week and move them to the loach tank.

My clowns can't get enough snails. I have several breeder snail tanks and can't breed them fast enough.

[bookpage]

chefkeith, I'm sure this a dumb question. But, how much trouble is it to remove the shells of the snails and how do you do this?

I have a 29 bow-front that is filled with MTS and several sand loaches. The shells of the MTS are all over the bottom of the tank; big, small and in-between. If I try to net them out, I get a lot of sand with them and there are just too many to try and pick out by hand.

I'm hoping you have some wonder method.

Thank you,

[chefkeith]

I usually pick out the empty snail shells individually with plant tongs. But for bigger jobs I'll use a cat litter scoop and a kitchen strainer. In my planted tank where I need more precision, I'll try to rake the shells into a small pile with the plant tongs, then use my shopvac (with a pvc pipe attachment) to vacuum them out.

[bookpage]

Good ideas. Will have to get some plant tongs.