armadillo

Hi. I've just read that some species of the genus Botia (same genus as clown loaches) are also snail-hunting. I would love to hear more about such species for my 29G. Any experiences on these?

So so far, am short-listing:

• Yoyo loach (Botia almorhae)- 6in. Diggers. Quite some group in-fighting but nothing severe.
• Queen/Bengal loach (Botia dario) - 6in. Supposed to be very shy
• Burmese/golden zebra/silver-striped loach (Botia histrionica) - 5in. Placid, gregarious and curious. Not as shy as most botias. Minimum 60G! Good eaters.
• Polka dot loach (B. kubotai) - 5in. Undemanding and robust. Best in groups of 3 or more. Good eaters. Active and not strictly bottom dwellers. Very susceptible to ich
• Zebra loach (B. striata) - peaceful, needs at least 4 other, prefer sand. Need very clean, well aerated water. Prefer slightly acidic.

Tom

There is the dwarf loach, the skunk loach, the yo-yo loach and a few others, but dwarves stay small. The skunk gets really aggressive over time.
Tom

armadillo

Thanks, Tom. Do they eat snails?

So my 'short' list gets longer:

• Skunk loach (Yasuhikotakia morleti) - 4in. Fine substrate. Clean and well aerated. Slightly acidic. Feisty. Not suitable for community aquariums. Group of 5 or more. Hide during the day. SNAIL eater, though.
• Dwarf loach (Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki) - 2.5in. Peaceful. Good for community aquarium. Soft sand substrate. Need some flow. Doesn't mind alkaline. Can eat snail? Excellent water quality. Daylight mid-depth shalling. Critically endangered species. Expensive. Must be kept in large numbers.

Tom

I know they have the ability to eat them, whether they do or not depends on how many snails and how you feed them other food.
Tom

Butterfly

Just about all the loaches that have the pointy snout(like clowns) will eat snails.
skunks are really aggressive in a group or out. Mine weren't named the "Brat Pack" for nothing. Finally they wound up in a species tank so they could squabble with just each other but boy could they eat snails
check out the nose shapes - http://www.loaches.com/ I guess it just makes it easier to suck the snail out of the shell.
carol

Tom

Or just to get the mouth in there to be able to kill the snail and then with the muscle(s) relaxed, just pretty much suck it on out.
Tom

Butterfly

When my original clowns were tiny there was one who would run around with a snail on it's nose all the time. I was afraid it was stuck and I went to get it off and he would drop it and go back and get it after I left him alone. It looked so funny LOL
Carol

armadillo

Thanks for your time and the info, Tom and Carol. Really useful stuff. I think I'll go for dwarf loaches.

Butterfly

Whoopie!!!!! You know we'll need pics
carol

armadillo

If I can find them, that is. Aren't they tricky to find? Plus I have NO IDEA what you call these in Dutch. I'll just google the latin name, then put that in the search on Google Netherlands I think.

Tom

The latin name(scientific) is botia sidthimunki. Hope it helps.
Tom

armadillo

Just got them. Thanks SO much for the suggestion, Tom. The guy sold me 5 for the price of 4. Dont' ask me how much that was. I was so excited I didn't pay attention, LOL.

I've just acclimated them. They're REALLY fast swimmers. I hope they calm down.

Also, do you think they'll attack my zebra snail? It's bigger than them right now, but if you think they will, then I'll need to move him. Shame, he's the only creature on earth (humans included, LOL) who can get rid of green spot algae.

Tom

I know I paid about $3 for each one so it was fun. But ya, they are really fast swimmers and should calm down(slow down a little) when they get used to the tank. They might try to attack it, but if the snail has a cover to completely hide in, the snail should be fine. It is up to you if you want to move it to another tank.
Tom

armadillo

Mmmm. I'll have to think about this one.

The snail's opperculum (that little lid thing) got damaged. So he's at risk I guess.

Actually, now they're doing patterns. It's really impressive. They shoot upward in a column, and back down. Really synchronized, as if they were one fish.

Leokiss

Im so jealous im bursting to get mine but need to resolve my fish with bottom jaw missing issues.I will look forward to some pics.Ive been to check my lfs still has some today and there numbers are getting smaller! Shop man said he'd been after gettin some for three years,if they all go hope it dont take that long again!

armadillo

Actually I asked my shop guy if they were getting them often, and he said yes. To think I thought I'd have to scout around every fish store in the area for months.

Tom

I guess you got lucky.
Tom

armadillo

Well he's saying they're really quite common over here.