clown loaches and snails?

[Billy Bob]

I have heard clown loaches are good for killing snails, however i want to add a snail or two to my tank what size snail will be to big for them to eat?  The clown loaches are all about 4 inches at the moment!

Also can i keep different species of Gourami together?

Hope u can help

thanks!!

 

[NickM]

I would say any snail bigger than their head.  I had 3 Apple shails in my tank with my clowns, and they never tried to eat them, they just tried to play with them.  lol  

I do have a "snail safe" comunity tank that I am hoping to get some baby snails from and feed the clowns with them.  

Nick

 

[luvfishies]

I would not trust clowns with any snail, no matter how big.

And I have pearl gouramis with dwarves, the regular, the blue dwarves and females. No issues at all.

I would hesitate to add blue(3 spots) and golds together. And pink kissers are too large for most of us.

 

[Avalon]

Clowns generally prefer smaller snails. The can literally crush the shell and eat the whole thing! Some loaches will pull the snail out of the shell if they can't break the shell. I haven't noticed loaches eating really large snails. Maybe the snails aren't as tasty when they get old and tough?   This is not to say they won't eat them though...

And yes, you can keep different gouramis together. Careful though, it's my experience that gouramis have different temperments from one to another. Keep an eye on them! You may have a bully in the midst.

 

[NickM]

I have a 5 1/2 inch kisser gourami, and a 1 1/2 inch kissergourami.....no hostility (from what I have witness, and I sit by my tank all day) at all.  


Nick

 

[Billy Bob]

cheers for the info every1! *celebratesmiley*

 

[luvfishies]

Nick, those kissers get over a foot long, with the right care.

I've seen clown loaches eat a golfball sized applesnail, and literally suck the small snails outta the shells. Awesome to see, but not always what you want, hmm?

 

[NickM]

How big were the loaches?  

I hope it doesn't reach a foot within the next year, I won't have a big enough tank for it.  

BTW, how long do they live with the right care, and describe the right care.....I want to know if I am doing everything I need to.  


Nick

 

[luvfishies]

The loaches were 3" each, 3 of them. Scary, huh?

as for the kissers....125g tank, 2x weekly 20% waterchanges and lots of different foods....and the kisser(s) took about 2 years to get to 10".

 

[NickM]

Well, them mine is right on track.  He's about a year old and 5 1/2 inches.  A freidn of mine gave me the tank and him about 3 or 4 weeks ago, and it's only a 20 gal......but he is a whole lot better off with me in his old tank than her.  She hadn't cleaned the thing in about a year, and had just a regular filter on it.  I do weekly water changes (25%), and I bought a Emperor 280 biowheel for the tank since I know just him alone is a big waste producer.  He also was alone, so I got some snails and another small pink kisser for company.  


I've got 4 clowns....the biggest is about 2 1/2", and the smallest is about 1/2" to 3/4" long.  I never saw them get hostile with my snails I had in there.......all 4 of them would swim up next to one on the glass, and do circles around it and go back to their hidey hole.  The never tried to get it off the glass or anything like that.