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I wanted to get sand for my 55 gallon I'm getting soon. I have heard many people say that MTS are good for keeping the sand stirred up. I will be having dojos and zebra loaches (possibly some other kind too) in the tank. Will these loaches eat the snails? If so, what other suggestions are there for keeping the sand stirred?
Thanks in advance
Jen

Clown loaches LOVE snails. Best fish for snail problems...so don't count on having a healthy snail population with them.

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Actually all long nosed loaches (like yoyos and clowns) love snails. Loaches like kuhlis and dojos don't eat snails. Depending on what zebra loaches you're referring to (scientific name???? I assume them to be the long nosed), you have 2 options:

1) Add MTS to your tank on a regular basis to keep your loaches happy and healthy, and your sand stirred... I get MTS free from LFSs because they don't want them and would destroy them anyway.

2) Forget the snails and stir by hand.

Personally I'd ask your LFS about free snails and see what they say. After all, nothing beats free

Good luck

><>Dani<><

MTS are really prolific breeders! They are live bearing snails, and they breed just like livebearers. I have a lot in my Malawi tank, and I have noticed that they snack on the snails. However, I notice that there are ALWAYS some in there. I then took that sand out and put it in another tank, without anything to eat them, and they bred like crazy.

My point is, if you don't have a big snail eater, just some fish that will snack on the snails, you may not have to worry about them, as they will breed fast enough to keep up.

I have MTS in all my tanks, they really are prolific breeders. Because of that, I don't know if my queen and kuhli loaches eat them or not.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is water at the bottom of the ocean

i had a huge snail problem in my previous tanks and all i did was introduce 3 clown loaches and within a few weeks all the snails disapeared. and never came back

ok MTS are prolific breeders but can be controlled. If you overfeed these guys they can become a problem. also MTS spend most of the day burried under the sand comming out at night so i think you will always have a couple of them in there.

being small snails, only smaller clown loaches (who can fit their mouths in the shell) seem to eat these guys.

also if you have mouthbrooding fish MTS can become a problem.

The snails will be safe from the dojo....gods know all mine are....put a 6" dojo in a tank to see if he would manage the pest snails in there, and all he did was eat livebearer fry.

I think its mostly the botia loaches that eat snails so keep an eye on the zebras haha... but like other people said if the snails can keep up in the reproduction department they'll be ok. I would just make sure theres a good population of them right before you add the loaches.

Thanks for all the replies guys! I guess I will try them out and see how it goes, if nothing else, I'm sure the zebras will really enjoy the snack

I bought an Apple Snail a couple of months ago. I popped it into my 90g tank and a couple of days later I noticed its foot looked all ragged. As I watched, My Queen Botia swam up to it, all fin wiggles and fish giggles and started munching on the snails foot as it moved up the glass!!!
I wouldnt trust most loaches with snails you want to keep alive. Weather loaches and kuhli loaches are different though, they are not really true "loaches". They will be unlikely to eat snails, except maybe the smallest baby ones.


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