Clowns are so skinny=/

[Tifftastic]

Depending on how fast the clowns eat them they could, but snails (IMO) in a loach tank aren't a problem but a source of food. Like putting cows on a pasture, if you dont over feed flake food or whatever other foods you feed they wont over populate. Ive been growing ramshorns in a 29 for 4 months and purposely feeding them to grow, every few days I throw about 20 or so in my loach tank to supplement the other foods and my population in my 29 is hardly noticeable. I have live plants in there and they dont eat them, and with regular water changes my nitrates stay low, even though snails are nasty and there are easily a few hundred rams plus a few hundred MTS.
Clowns are slow growers they have a long lifespan and a large adult size, they are going to conserve as much energy as possible on growth. More energy towards cell repair than growth/reproduction leads to a longer life. It takes time to become massive, lol. Stick it out though and keep feeding them.

In perspective, I have one angelicus that I have had for two years going on three and they top out at six to eight inches, he's been 2.5 for the last 1 and a half years and he eats carnivore pellets, snails, spirulina brine shrimp and mysis shrimp as well as black worms and tubifex when I can find them. His belly is always round and I do weekly 15% water changes. Loaches grow slow, especially the botian ones, at least in my experience with them.

 

[redinfinity]

I have my snails reproduce in another tank, because they just get wiped out in the loach tank, lol. I just harvest snails every few days like tiff, and for months now I've had a perpetual supply.

 

[MHcblues119]

ok what do u do with the left over snail shells when the clowns eat them?.

 

[redinfinity]

You can siphon them out, but I just leave mine in the tank. I think they all get buried in the sand. Eventually I'll probably have to sift them out, but I've been lazy about it.

 

[Delhezi 4 Sale]

r u guys talkin bout mts?

 

[SteveR]

Whilst alot of the time clown have the skinny disease, many are just like this when born and appear skinny for a long time as they grow. I've kept them 3 years now and for at least the first year half of them looked like little runts with skinny skinny bodies, now they are all fat. I've used no garlic or whatever and now they are much fatter. They just grow uber slow!

 

[mamapuff]

I agree about snails. My whole shoal loves them,and they even crunch on the shells too, not the whole shell, but there will be pieces missing from them. They snails won't over take the tank, as long as you have enough loaches to control them. Personally I have a half planted tank that I let the snails reproduce like crazy in, and then I throw a handful in every once and a while. They munch down. Higher protein should bulk them up, so keep offering any meaty protein rich food to them. Mine just loooove the seafood wafers (not algae). The large ones take a whole one and swim away from the small ones, while the small ones chase them. Then you will hear them clicking away. You could move them to a smaller holding tank to make sure that they are getting enough before the others come in a take the leftovers.