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Try dwarf puffers... they are freshwater and awesome fishes. They will also eat snails.

In my one and only first hand experience with a dwarf puffer it was a very individual kind of fish. He didn't care in the slightest what the other fish were doing and never (not even once) bothered any of the other fish. Like I said before he never stopped looking for food when he'd hover around mid/bottom of the tank.

Yeah, the only fish I've ever heard of dwarf puffers getting along with is cories- I guess becasue there's no competition for food since cories are bottom feeders. I just with fig 8's were full freshwater- they would've gone great in my community tank. (The lady I know who had hers spawn keeps hers in full freshwater- with a bit of aquarium salt, to keep them from getting diseases- with zebra danios and a couple of cories she just got recently, but I always like to do things properly for my fish. Anyway, I won't be able to get any fish from her as she had to move suddenly for family medical reasons.)

Puffers are NOT community fish. They might be alright for a short time, but expect that to change very quickly.

Kim

How did the puffer deal with the other tank inhabitants though?

In my opinion dwarf puffers are the way to go. However I dont know if I should keep the 'S' on the end of puffers. I'm trying to say that 1 dwarf puffer will solve the snail problem. You may have already mentioned this but I didnt read all the posts so I'm not sure how many snails you have if you did already say... BUT when I added two dwarf puffers to a 20 gallon community tank there was a dominant one which stressed the weaker puffer out so much that he wouldn't eat and he eventually died . After that though there were roughly 100 snails in my tank and the single dwarf puffer ELIMINATED the problem. Not to mention that he loved hunting the snails and was a very kick butt dwarf puffer.

clowns get way too big for my 20 gallon tank. I went to my pet store and talked to the one guy there whose advice I will listen to (he's the only one who really knows what he's talking about and has always given me solid advice in the past, no matter what kind of critter I was getting at the time) and he suggested yoyo loaches. They've only been in the tank a couple of days, and I've already noticed a drop in the snail population and empty shells on the gravel. Should I remove the empty shells, or can I just leave them there?

clown loaches will eat snail as well as botia loaches depense on size of tank really!

Do all loaches eat snails or only certain kinds? I may have to start some new research...

Loaches eat snails like crazy! Here's an article written by a guy keeping puffers for over 40 years. In BW, his F8s have lived 18+ years. http://www.aaquaria.com/aquasource/8puffer.shtml

Yeah, dwarves are full freshwater, but are too agressive for my peaceful tank. I'm afraid they'll tear my zebras up. I'm fairly sure my cories would be okay- I was talking with some people at my LFS who were buying fish and they said they've kept dwarf puffers and cories together with no problems for years- but my other fish may get eaten and I don't want that. I'm all for the order of mature and the food chain and all, but I just don't any mass killings in my tank. I only have room/money for one tank, so getting another in case there are probelms is totally out of the question.

I'm thinking about getting a couple of dwarf puffers to add to my community tank (a lady I know had hers breed a while ago and is looking to get rid of a few and since they've been living peacefully in her community tank with similar fish, I think they'll do the same in mine) and I'm hoping they'll help combat my snail problem. I think the snails got in on the plants I bought before doing the proper research on plants- stupid, I know. I'd ask my friend, but the only snails in her tank are the ones she gets to feed her fish, so they don't have time to settle in and breed like crazy, so she doesn't know. I'd appreciate any help you guys can give me on this.

I think Brackish.
http://www.pufferfish.co.uk/aquaria/species/pufferfish/types/index.htm
This site says they can live in freshwater, brackish or marine, but do better in brackish o.0 and naturally are supposed to be freshwater:%)

http://www.aaquaria.com/aquasource/8puffer.shtml
This link says brackish

http://www.fishprofiles.com/interactive/forums/thread.asp?id=38961
That's just one of the threads debating whether or not f8's are freshwater or brackish

You are definetly right about all of the conflicting info. I really believe the people on the puffer forum and dwarfpuffers.com really know what they're doing. There are quite a few people there that have kept just about every freshwater and brackish there are. And been keeping them for many years. These two places are the only ones I go to where I know I'm getting the right info.

Kim

I think I'm just going to give up on puffers. There's just too much conflicting information. Books say one thing, webpages another, messageboards are split. I just give up. I wish everyone would just agree on one things. Geez. I can't even ask my friend because she got moved back home (several hours away) to take care of her mother.

www.thepufferforum.com Jread,RTR,Pufferpunk are frequent visitors there.

Kim

Fig 8's are brackish? Everything I've read on them has said they are full freshwater. Where did you read they're brackish? (Not that I'm calling you a liar or anything, I'd just like to have more research resources is all.) Even this site says they're full freshwater- I just checked.

Fig8's are brackish.Cories and zebras are not. Zebras would tolerate it better. It's only a matter of time, they will get eaten.

Kim

Sorry, I meant figure 8 puffers. I just re-read my post and I put down the wrong type of fish. I must've just been thinking of dwarves for some reason. Will fig 8's hunt down and eat the snails?

I've done the research and my friend's have always got along fine with her cories and zebras.