Exterminator

[brian]

Hi, my name is Brian. My pond in Hong Kong has a snail problem they are those little round kind. I keep koi-sworfish mollies zebras and a few others year round in it. The snails have even started to eat small holes in the water lily pads before they emerge so I need action on this issue.

I heard Loaches love snails so I sped to this forum as quickly as I could! My questions are these, I discovered to my delight (given my snail problem) that there are in fact a number of Loach species living in my extended garden in the many streams here in the forests on the hill. I want to introduce a few of these to my pond, however i dont have a clue as to which are the best snail eaters and also which will eat my fish or disturb the whole system. I also keep bright blue mini shrimp (from the same streams) in my pond.
Has anyone any idea what species i could be dealing with here, and if they are bad boys or helpful boy scouts. I was worried because some of them look a bit jumpy. They seem to rush around in groups from rock to rock looking for trouble. If they eat my snails and leave everyone else alone I would be delighted. Koi-swords are large and although fast swimming are not exactly stand and fight types. The fish fry which i have zillions off are dispensable as there are so many and the shrimps I assume are capable of looking after themselves as they come from the same water. But I didn't want all my fish madly dashing all over the place because the Loaches are constantly harassing them, my worst nightmare. This plus getting rid of them would be very difficult as my pond is a brick construction and deep.
Any help would be very well received. I am affraid taking pictures is possible but it wont help as they dont sit very well for a picture in the stream.

Brian. Ps( There are a number of wild species to choose from. I could also go to the pet fish market at Mong-Kok and get other less irritating exotic species as long as they were sub-tropical and not tropical. Our temps range from about 8%C to 30+%C)

[TammyLiz]

How fun! Dojo loaches are native there. I'm not sure how good they are at eating snails, though. I don't have them but others on this forum do. Here is a list from fishbase of native fishes of Hong Kong. Maybe there will be something helpful there:

http://fish.mongabay.com/data/Hong_Kong.htm

[mamaschild]

Ok, you are making me jealous

OH, to live in a place with wild Loaches in your back yard

I'm not going to be able to help except to say that I'm prety sure Dojos won't help any with your snail problem.

I know you said taking pics of the loaches wasn't possible, but would it be possible for you to post some pics of your pond and the local stream/river?? I'd truely LOVE to see it.

OH, and Welcome to the Forum :)