I bought a blue mystery snail a while back ago and with it came a little hitch hiker that didnt look like a mystery snail. I decided to leave it inside my tank (big mistake), It populated itself so badly that my tank is over run by them. I am not sure what type of snail this is for it seems to stay about the size of half a dime and it lays eggs on the glass in little gel like forms. What is this?
Not sure what it is. Got any pics? When I was a little kid we had a 55 gallon built into the wall in my basement at my old house. My parents took me to a community beach with a huge pond and I brought a couple home in a small pale. I secretly put them in there when I got home. My dad was pissed lol in about a week there was about a thousand snails in there. It took a while to get them all out because every time he took them out he would miss a couple and boom all over again.
There's ramhorn snails, Malaysian trumpet snails, other larger trumpet snails, and common pond snails. Most have similar egg clumps. Clown loaches are supposed to be good snail eaters, but they may grow quite large. Some people say you can place a peice of meat on the bottom of your tank and the snails will cover it in a number of hours making it easier to get at them. Some kinds of fish will eat them if you crush them too.
I'd give you a tilapia if you lived near me because they eat them till they're gone.
Yoyo loaches wiped out hundreds of snails in my tank in a matter of days back when I had an infestation several years ago. I'm not sure how big your tank is or anything, but it is an option.
All I know is it's best to keep clown loaches in groups of at least 3. They'll be inseparable.
The clown loaches I had stopped growing at about 2.5 inches and I had them for a couple years in a 100 gallon tank. I know they can get 6 inches or so though.
what about fresh water puffers...i hear their nasty lil critters......might have a problem with other fish down the road though .........justa thought, Boss
So it's just a tank full of snails right now plus your Mystery snail?
Clown loaches are native to fast moving streams in the Philippines or Indonesia or somewhere close to there. They should have plenty of oxygenation, clean well filtered water, and like a moderate current.
I don't know why mine stayd small. I gave mine plenty of food and room, lots of hiding places with rocks, wood, and plants. Other loaches such as Dojo loaches will do well with them and match size wise, and most other community fish would be OK too. I know they are very active and will swim together in a very playful colorful way. I would lean toward the smaller finned fish as opposed to say angels, diskus, female bettas, or large finned guppies, though they would probably do fine with anything.
They're not aggressive in my experience, but mine never got very large either. You could probably return them to the store if they got too large too.
Are you going to have live plants in this tank? Some of the easiest to find plants don't need a whole lot of light or special care and they help a lot with the cycle of waste/fertiliser. They cant be beat for their beauty and fish love them.
One thing about Clown Loaches is that they often lie on their sides, and this is normal healthy behavior for them. They'll eat pretty much anything though I fed mine Tetra tropical flakes.
Yoyo loaches also get to around 6" although mine never reached this size. I only kept mine for a while so they could get rid of the snails and then I returned them to the fish store. They are certainly playful things though - they really add a lot to a tank and I really enjoyed it when I had them. I just couldn't keep them for an extended period of time because my 58 gallon was already fully stocked. They, like the clown loaches, prefer to be kept in groups of at least three.
Some people have had problems with loach aggression in general, but this seems to be somewhat rare. For the most part, it seems like they get along with a wide variety of fish. I know mine never bothered anything else in the tank. That is just my experience though. I have never kept clown loaches so I can't comment on which is better. I just know yoyo loaches freaking knocked my snail population to zero in no time flat.
puffers PK .....at least in salt water tanks.....they have been known to take chunks out of tank mates and completely desimate , invertabrates in mere moments....snails as well ........they'll flip em over and suck em right out.....
I can't speak fro clown loches ..........wouldn't know one if i tripped over it...lol
you might have to dry the tank out if you have an extreme case of them. its the only way to kill off the eggs all at once, otherwise they will take your tank over every week
