Interestingly, yoyo loaches are so named because of their dark markings on a silver background that look very much like the letters y and o. In the fish tank, your yoyo loach will eat a variety of food including processed flake, pellets, frozen and freeze-dried food. Your fish will also eat small pest snails in the tank, meaning a group of yoyos can be a perfect control for snails infestations.
A yoyo loach is generally peaceful that prefers the bottom water level in the tank. To keep your fish comfortable and safe, add it in a tank with soft acidic water with a ph of 6. Tiger loach commonly called clown loach is another species of the botia family that is popular in the home aquarium, albeit bigger than zebra and yoyo loaches. Still, the species is a peaceful fish and co-exists with other fish in a community tank.
At 12 inches in size, the clown loach can eat those annoying snails that create a menace in aquariums. Also note that the clown loach is a big fish by display aquarium standards hence can not feed on snails alone for nutrition. Clowns will also accept a wide variety of dry and live food such as worms. The dwarf chain loach is a two 2 inches long fish that is an equally amiable and a good alternative to the zebra and yoyo loach in small aquariums in need of an effective snail-eater.
Your dwarf chain, like others of the botia family, will prey on tiny snails the size of pond snails, which is very useful in reducing snail populations. Having said that, although this botia loach is not likely to munch on large ornamental snails, it may harass them, especially when kept in a small tank.
Supplement you dwarf chain snail diet with live and frozen meaty foods like cyclops, tubifex, bloodworms, and daphnia, and high-quality dry foods. Mouse loach, cream loach or skunk loach is one of the smaller of the botias growing, reaching four 4 inches in length. This loach is quite pretty and easily distinguished from all others with a distinct pinkish body. In the wild, a skunk loach is primarily omnivorous eating mollusks and other live crustaceans, insects, and snails.
In the fish tank, a skunk botia will thus go crazy on snails and is an effective solution when battling an infestation. Even so, skunks are a feisty loach species, which is not suitable for community aquariums, and like most loaches, must be maintained in groups of at least six 6 individuals. They also require small amounts of food several times a day and readily accepting most brands of dry sinking catfish pellets. Moreover, offer your skunk a variety of frozen foods to supplement the diet.
Apart from botia loaches, the pea puffer fish also called dwarf pufferfish is another excellent snail eater. However, this puffer is quite aggressive and can only share a tank with a limited number of tropical fish if any. An advantage that a pea puffer has over botia loaches is its tank size requirement. Like zebra, yoyo, skunk, and dwarf chain loaches, the dwarf pufferfish has a tiny body by home aquariums standard, growing up to an inch in length.
But unlike the botias, this fish can be kept singly, a pea puffer does not need to be in a group, which means you can have it in a tank as small as 10 gallons.
The ideal set up for the pea puffer fish is a planted tank with soft slightly acidic water that anywhere from 7. For a balanced diet and to keep your pea puffer well-fed, offer him crustacean foods such as brine shrimp, krill, mollusks, and earthworms. Pond snails can be kept with peaceful community fish and make great scavengers in shrimp tanks.
To prevent populations from getting out of control, keep organic debris to a minimum by doing regular water changes, vacuuming debris and feeding sparingly. Snails are not very fussy when it comes to their water parameters, but it is important to maintain healthy conditions in their aquarium by feeding sparingly, doing regular water changes and maintaining good filtration.
Test water chemistry regularly to make sure you are providing the right conditions for all your aquatic pets. Snails naturally feed on algae, dead plant matter and bits of fish food that fall to the bottom, but they can also be fed Aqueon Algae Rounds and Bottom Feeder Tablets. Snails — and shrimp — need an ample supply of calcium for healthy shell growth, so if you use reverse osmosis or deionized water, add Aqueon Water Renewal to replenish essential minerals and trace elements.
You can also place a little crushed coral in your filter, add liquid calcium to the aquarium, or even feed your snails Zilla Aquatic Turtle Food to make sure they're getting enough calcium. If you are more of a "naturalist", feed your snails blanched kale, spinach, Chinese cabbage, green beans or broccoli, as these vegetables are all rich in calcium. Feed sparingly and remove uneaten food to avoid water quality problems. Nuisance snails have an uncanny knack for making their way into aquariums, and once they are there, it can be extremely difficult to eliminate them.
To avoid this happening, take the following precautions:. You cannot always eliminate nuisance snails completely, but you can drastically reduce their numbers by doing the following:. Some medications contain copper sulfate and other chemicals that are harmful to snails and other invertebrates. Most other water treatments are safe to use in the presence of aquarium snails.
Always read package instructions and ingredient lists before using any treatment in your aquarium. Snails are part of nature, and as such, they can be a valuable and interesting addition to an aquarium. Read More. Home Blog Types of Aquarium Snails. Good Vs. Bad Snails There is a tendency to categorize aquarium snails as "good" or "bad". Nerite Snails Nerites Neritina spp. Rabbit Snails A relatively recent addition to the hobby, Rabbit snails Tylomelania spp.
Assassin Snails Assassin snails Clea helena are native to southeast Asia. They have become popular in the aquarium because they eat other snails, making them a natural method for reducing nuisance snail populations. Ramshorn Snails Ramshorn snails have been in the aquarium hobby longer than almost any other type of snail. Pond Snails Several species fall under the term "pond snails". Water Quality Requirements Snails are not very fussy when it comes to their water parameters, but it is important to maintain healthy conditions in their aquarium by feeding sparingly, doing regular water changes and maintaining good filtration.
Avoid Introducing Nuisance Snails to Your Aquarium Nuisance snails have an uncanny knack for making their way into aquariums, and once they are there, it can be extremely difficult to eliminate them. Inspect used gravel thoroughly before placing it in your tank. If you are unsure of its origin or there are nuisance snails in the tank it came from, do not put it in your aquarium! Soak live plants in a solution of 2 to 3 tablespoons of Alum powder per gallon of water or quarantine them for at least 15 days in a separate aquarium before introducing them to your display tank.
Getting Rid Of Nusiance Snails You cannot always eliminate nuisance snails completely, but you can drastically reduce their numbers by doing the following: Vacuum gravel regularly and siphon out dead plant material and detritus to eliminate their food supply. Feed your fish less to control the amount of food and waste available to snails. Physically remove snails by picking them out by hand, using a snail trap or baiting them. Place Aqueon Algae Rounds, Bottom Feeder Tablets or lettuce leaves in the aquarium, leave them overnight and remove them with the attached snails in the morning!
Red Ramshorn snails can be netted from the surface when they come up to breathe. Crush a few snails at a time and let your fish eat them! Introduce Assassin snails to eat your nuisance snails. Certain species of fish, including loaches, catfish, cichlids and puffers eat snails, and they can be an effective way of lowering nuisance snail populations.
Always research fish before purchasing them to make sure they are suitable for your tank size and compatible with its residents. Use snail-killing products. While chemicals should always be your last resort and should be used with extreme caution, they can and do work.
The problem with chemical treatments is that some are harmful, if not lethal, to plants, shrimp, other invertebrates and certain sensitive fish, so they will have to be removed if you choose this method.
In addition, a mass die-off of snails can over-burden your filter and cause ammonia and nitrite levels to rise. Popular Blogs. Suggested Products. Nitrifying bacteria live on surfaces converting harmful ammonia and nitrite to less toxic nitrate. Keep in mind that these predators can be different sizes, different temperaments, and are sometimes incompatible with other fish.
The Dwarf Botia, more popular as Dwarf chain Loach, is one of the best small loaches that would eat snails and snail eggs in smaller fish tanks. Ensure that there are enough hiding places, such as rocks, and dense plants, because those species are very active and like exploring. Dwarf Botia fish spend lots of time not only on the bottom of the tank but in its middle part as well.
If you consider having shrimp, keep in mind that the Dwarf Chain Loach may attack them as it would the pest snails. Easily recognizable because of their distinctive yellow colors, they are a great addition to a peaceful fish tank.
A lot of hobbyists have reported their Spixi snails to eat other larger snails, snail eggs, and baby snails. Known for its somewhat aggressive temperament, the yoyo loach is a good example of a fish that would eat all kinds of aquarium snails, including the Trumpet Snail. The general rule here is that as long as the rest of the fish are peacefully inhabiting the middle part of the aquarium, and are as large as the yoyo loach, they are suitable to live with it.
Once they outgrow that, however, you will need to get them a bigger tank, such as a gallon one or another large fish tank with a length dimension of at least 48 inches. The YoYo Loaches are schooling fish, so a group of minimum 5 is required for them to feel comfortable. Be careful with keeping small fish with the Dwarf Crayfish, especially the ones that rest on the bottom.
If a Dwarf Crayfish gets its tiny claws on something it will likely try to eat the victim. This includes shrimp too. The Tiger Botia, also known as a Clown Loach, is a good choice when it comes to a tropical fish that will eat pest snails in a big aquarium.
Otherwise, you can check for local vendors trading such native species, or you can rely on your skills and catch one yourself. If you live in Texas, Florida, Indiana, or even Alabama, you might try your luck, as these are some of the natural habitats of Pygmy Sunfish. Anyway, these beautiful fish will get along with other calm species and will bring a pinch of colorfulness to your aquarium.
The Pygmy Sunfish is one of the smallest nano fish that would eat and hunt smaller snails and their babies. The Botia kubotai, also known as a Polka Dot Loach, is an excellent snail eater fish to add to a big community fish tank that has lots of live plants. Like most of the Loaches, they will spend their time around the bottom and will not cause any problems for the middle or top dwellers. They get along with other Angelicus Loaches another name for the Botia Kubotai , so keeping them in a group of 3 to 5 is a good idea.
Considering their semi-aggressive nature, these loaches should not be kept with really small fish unless the Polka Dots are in a sizable school of their own, keeping them busy.
The Polka dot Loaches are also suitable companions for other species, hanging out on the bottom, such as Corydoras and other Catfish. If your fish tank is infested with unwanted aquatic snails, the Botia Kubotai loaches will not hesitate to clean it without any complaints. A bright addition to a large fish tank, the Pumpkinseed Sunfish will be a suitable helper in significantly reducing the snail population in your aquarium.
These fish are also hard to find in a local pet store but there are some online vendors who sell them. The Assassin snail is, perhaps, one of the best additions to a non-aggressive fish tank community. Assassin Snails pay little to no attention to all aquarium inhabitants and focus on their main goal — hunting other snails down. They will hide and wait for the right moment to attack all other snails in the fish tank. However, keep in mind that Assassin Snails do not consume their own eggs or the eggs of the other Assassin Snails in the tank.
If you have any dwarf shrimp, be aware that some of them, such as the Cherry shrimp, may also become prey to these hitman snails. If you like big fish and you feel adventurous, visit your local pond, and you may stumble across the Longear Sunfish. They will do a fantastic job of assisting you in obliterating the snail population in your fish tank. However, the Sunfish species are generally known for their aggressive individuality, and it might be a hard task to find suitable companions for them.
The Ghost shrimp are small snail eaters that are a great addition to a tank inhabited by a peaceful community of freshwater fish. While some of them will not bother the tiny snails and their eggs at all, others, such as the North American Glass or Ghost shrimp, will actively hunt them down.
Reputable sellers will sell a type of Ghost shrimp that is not that aggressive — Palaemonetes Paludosus. In fact, fish stores do not always go the length of identifying the species of Ghost shrimp they are selling.
Macrobrachium Ghost Shrimp can be really aggressive and will reduce an aquatic snail infestation to a minimum if let loose. The Macrobrachium Ghost shrimp use these relatively enlarged claws to pick up at the snails and sometimes outright gut them alive. Generally peaceful, the Rainbow Darter fish will chase and eat all the snails that may be populating your aquarium. I know for a fact, from a friend of mine, his Rainbow Darters spend hours on the bottom, having fun with hunting snails.
Another great option from the native Darters is the Greenside Darter, as it also has an insatiable appetite for freshwater snails. Anyway, being daytime predators, you may often see Rainbow Darter fish hunting for the snails at the bottom of the tank. The Oranda Goldfish is not only one of the most popular goldfish species among hobbyists but also one of the best fish to join your fight against aquarium pest snails.
This rule includes other fish, snails, and shrimp that may live with a Goldfish. The menu of a Goldfish even includes vegetable matter and algae.
You should not be surprised that I listed them as one of the best algae eaters for a pond , actually.
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