Best loach for MTS cleanup?

[decoy50]

I've had an explosion of Malaysian Trumpet Snails - which loach is the best snail eater/exterminator? Leaning towards yo-yo loaches right now.

 

[brich999]

Never had much luck with loaches eating snails. Assassin snails and puffers have worked better for me. The real way to control (because they tend to never really go away) their population would be to target the cause of them which is usually over feeding. MTS are also pretty beneficial clean up crew for your substrate and shouldnt be very noticeable until the lights go out. Good luck

 

[calichai]

Never had much luck with loaches eating snails. Assassin snails and puffers have worked better for me. The real way to control (because they tend to never really go away) their population would be to target the cause of them which is usually over feeding. MTS are also pretty beneficial clean up crew for your substrate and shouldnt be very noticeable until the lights go out. Good luck

+1 puffers and assassin snails will keep then in check.


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[Aquanero]

A few years back I had a tank that was overrun with MTS, they were every where. They don't do any harm and keep the substrate airated but when the pop explodes they are ugly in the tank. I bought a few Yoyo loaches (Botia almorhae) and in a couple of weeks they were under controll. The adults stayed burried and the young were all eaten. I decreased feeding the tank for two reasons: one was to keep the amount of uneaten food and waste lower and Two to keep the loaches hungry. The four I had did a good job but I think the real way they kept the numbers down was to eat the young and as the larger older ones died off the next generation was kept low. I would still see some out at night but only a few which didn't bother me, I actually wanted some in the tank just not hundreds of them. Yoyo loaches are pretty cool fish too only getting to about 5" of coures you can't use them in a tank where they will be eaten themselves.

 

[Inglorious]

My clown loaches love MTS snacks. A couple of times a year I actually go out of my way to try to get people to send me MTS when they have an outbreak to restock my supply because my shoal destroys them.

 

[Redearsunfish]

A few years back I had a tank that was overrun with MTS, they were every where. They don't do any harm and keep the substrate airated but when the pop explodes they are ugly in the tank. I bought a few Yoyo loaches (Botia almorhae) and in a couple of weeks they were under controll. The adults stayed burried and the young were all eaten. I decreased feeding the tank for two reasons: one was to keep the amount of uneaten food and waste lower and Two to keep the loaches hungry. The four I had did a good job but I think the real way they kept the numbers down was to eat the young and as the larger older ones died off the next generation was kept low. I would still see some out at night but only a few which didn't bother me, I actually wanted some in the tank just not hundreds of them. Yoyo loaches are pretty cool fish too only getting to about 5" of coures you can't use them in a tank where they will be eaten themselves.

This is great advice. Follow it!

 

[decoy50]

A few years back I had a tank that was overrun with MTS, they were every where. They don't do any harm and keep the substrate airated but when the pop explodes they are ugly in the tank. I bought a few Yoyo loaches (Botia almorhae) and in a couple of weeks they were under controll. The adults stayed burried and the young were all eaten. I decreased feeding the tank for two reasons: one was to keep the amount of uneaten food and waste lower and Two to keep the loaches hungry. The four I had did a good job but I think the real way they kept the numbers down was to eat the young and as the larger older ones died off the next generation was kept low. I would still see some out at night but only a few which didn't bother me, I actually wanted some in the tank just not hundreds of them. Yoyo loaches are pretty cool fish too only getting to about 5" of coures you can't use them in a tank where they will be eaten themselves.

I agree w/ your post Tom. I wanted some MTS, but not this many. The explosion happened when my trimac stopped eating his pellets as eagerly as he used too - led to uneaten food/over feeding. I'm moving him to another tank to make room in the MTS tank for some RTM growouts. It will be a while before the RTM are big enough to eat them. Thanks for the tips.

 

[mikec707]

I had a major explosion in my 125. So I added 3 blue red tailed loaches. They almost have it under control. Now I just have to scoop out the empty shell out when I do water changes. I bought a really cheap sand scooper on Amazon that works great for the larger one. Cause now my tank looks like a bone yard

 

[decoy50]

That's a good idea about the scoop. My sand substrate is starting to look like gravel!