Snail killing fish safe for baby fish

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TankDempsey

TankDempsey

Gambusia
MFK Member
Mar 28, 2012
824
5
18
Third rock from the sun
I have a 55 gal stocked with my young EBJD, two young angels and a school of black widows and a helluva lot of snails from live plants that I've boughten...
So I'm wondering what fish I could add temporarily to kill snails and not harm my young fish. Note there is also a young polypterus growout in there too.
This fish would be temporary and sold or given away as soon as the snails were gone.

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Clown loach, botia loach, etc. The loach would need to be bigger and have a place to hide. Clowns grow very slow once they reach about 5", maxing out around 12". Other loaches max out around 5".
Certain Geophagus but they would need to be on the bigger side.
 
i got assassin snails they're effective against the dreaded malaysian trumpets but i'm still losing the war to micro ramshorns. what are helena snails?
 
Clown loaches are very effective and very easy to rehome once larger(you probably will even make a small profit off them. Have had my CLs for years in planted tanks and never experienced them biting holes in the leaves. Plant were mainly amazon swords and now anubius. Sorry you can't see the loaches in the pics though

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Forgot to mention that I removed all decor and plants because I'm moving the tank across the room sometime this week. Sounds like I'm gonna go with a clown loach, any chance he can stay in there long term if its just him, the ebjd, and the angelfish and tetras? Or would it still have to be sold?

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Clowns can live 20yrs.
I would suggest a small group of five or more though. A single can be an annoying tank mate. They can take care of themselves as they are tough but when kept single, they are considered semi-aggresive. Even if you kept it single, it would most likely just stay to itself, eating snails and doing general scavenging.
Fully grown clown loaches fetch a very high price and will not be a poor investment. They grow fast until they reach about 5-6" then slow considerably, reaching 12"+.
 
Best to do a group of 7, five could work though. After a couple years you would have to sell and get a new group. Very entertaining fish, you won't regret getting them.
 
TankDempsey said:
No problems with overstocking as long as I keep up on water changes?

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6 clown loachs get too big for a 55 gallon i would do assassin snails
 
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