The fish would be no problems, but a loach may feel too skiddish. They prefer to be in groups, so at least 4 loaches will make it feel more comfortable. They do grow slow, but you may have to move them after 2-3 years or so.
Clown Loach for Snail Eating?
Hi all,
I'm having a 3ft (40 gallons) planted tank and there has been a small bloom of snails in the tank, removed manually daily (around 3 to 5 per day).
Am thinking of getting a young Clown Loach (as small as possible so it won't grow too big too fast) to eat up the snails, but wondering if it would be suitable for our community tank having the following fauna:
Guppies x 7
Cory x 6
SAE x 1
Rasbora x 5
Flora:
Foreground: Hemianthus Callitrichoides
Mid-ground: Glossostigma Elatinoides, Pearlweed (Hemianthus micranthemoides), Water Violet (Hottonia palustris), Riccia Fluitans
Background: Amazon Sword (Echinodorus amazonicus), Hygrophila balsamica, Eriocaulaceae sp., Rotala sp. 'Nanjenshan'
Will the Clown Loach harrass the fishes and plants? And will it grow too big to become a menace in the tank? Will it also eat up the snails as shown below?
This is the type of snails we are encountering:
![]()
I'm having a 3ft (40 gallons) planted tank and there has been a small bloom of snails in the tank, removed manually daily (around 3 to 5 per day).
Am thinking of getting a young Clown Loach (as small as possible so it won't grow too big too fast) to eat up the snails, but wondering if it would be suitable for our community tank having the following fauna:
Guppies x 7
Cory x 6
SAE x 1
Rasbora x 5
Flora:
Foreground: Hemianthus Callitrichoides
Mid-ground: Glossostigma Elatinoides, Pearlweed (Hemianthus micranthemoides), Water Violet (Hottonia palustris), Riccia Fluitans
Background: Amazon Sword (Echinodorus amazonicus), Hygrophila balsamica, Eriocaulaceae sp., Rotala sp. 'Nanjenshan'
Will the Clown Loach harrass the fishes and plants? And will it grow too big to become a menace in the tank? Will it also eat up the snails as shown below?
This is the type of snails we are encountering:
1 - 20 of 21 Posts
2
Yeah a lone striata will more than likely hide all the time, and suffer permanent physcological damage... back before I was on any forums I got two of them. They didnt come out much. Then after 1 died I would rarely see the other. It would always hide, sometimes not being seen for several months at a time. More recently I've added 6 of them. They all are out and about a lot of the time, not necessarily schooling but very social with each other. The original one still hides. Sometimes I see him out with the others, but often when a fish swims by (even another striata) he freaks out and darts under his piece of driftwood. Not sure if he will ever recover. I would wager to say that most Botiine loaches would be like this. They should be in groups 5-6 or more. Striatas are pretty small though, and with your stocking list (if the Corys are smaller ones) I dont think 5 of them would be much a problem if your heavily planted with decent water turnover and a good wc schedule. The only downside of them is that they arent as common at the lfs's as clowns are (despite that clowns are not suited for 95% of the tanks out there).
Here are a couple pics of my zebras:
Click for bigger.
For veggies, if you intentions are to feed your fish most par boil them. Basically that just softens them up a little so the fish can eat them. If you trying to bait snails not sure if that would make any difference, I;ve not had to bait snails before personally.
Here are a couple pics of my zebras:
Click for bigger.For veggies, if you intentions are to feed your fish most par boil them. Basically that just softens them up a little so the fish can eat them. If you trying to bait snails not sure if that would make any difference, I;ve not had to bait snails before personally.
1 - 20 of 21 Posts
