Which Snails eat brown algae?
- Thread starter soulFish
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depending on what type of loach you have... yes your loach will eat them if he can get to them/figure out that they are food...
(theres a few hundred/thousand species of loach so you might want to be more specific.... i can assume its the one in yer avatar... but.... when you assume.. you make an ASS out of U and ME)
the best snail for brown algae is the gravelvacsnail... its often made of plastic and comes with a long tube.. a bucket is sometimes required but if yer mind is in the gutter they are good for breeding.. also the lessoverfeedingsnail is great for getting rid of algae..
i have a mix of pond snails, rams horn snails, trumpet snails and some other snail that i cant remember the name of that looks like a cross between the ramshorn and the pondsnail... (i was breeding them as puffer food but its gotten a lil out of hand.. i think im going to get some loach for my 75 once i finnish playing with it)
if you go to petsmart/petco 99% of the time they will GIVE you snails since their plant tanks are almost always infested with them... (offering to get them yourself or to pay a penny each helps.. and no one is going to have you pay a penny each cuz they have no way to ring that up... dont forget to Qtank yer snails.. they can have some funk just like feeders and such.. some will call that overkill.. but better safe than sorry)
fyi dr joe sent me here... im having fun with algae.. but mine is green... (see the 75 link)
(theres a few hundred/thousand species of loach so you might want to be more specific.... i can assume its the one in yer avatar... but.... when you assume.. you make an ASS out of U and ME)
the best snail for brown algae is the gravelvacsnail... its often made of plastic and comes with a long tube.. a bucket is sometimes required but if yer mind is in the gutter they are good for breeding.. also the lessoverfeedingsnail is great for getting rid of algae..
i have a mix of pond snails, rams horn snails, trumpet snails and some other snail that i cant remember the name of that looks like a cross between the ramshorn and the pondsnail... (i was breeding them as puffer food but its gotten a lil out of hand.. i think im going to get some loach for my 75 once i finnish playing with it)
if you go to petsmart/petco 99% of the time they will GIVE you snails since their plant tanks are almost always infested with them... (offering to get them yourself or to pay a penny each helps.. and no one is going to have you pay a penny each cuz they have no way to ring that up... dont forget to Qtank yer snails.. they can have some funk just like feeders and such.. some will call that overkill.. but better safe than sorry)
fyi dr joe sent me here... im having fun with algae.. but mine is green... (see the 75 link)
I find that snails aren't very effective algae removers. they mow trails through the algae, but don't clean thoroughly. if you get enough of them, they'll keep algae from getting totally out of control, but they won't do away with it.
my experience is with mystery (apple) snails.
my experience is with mystery (apple) snails.
chesterthehero;2082583; said:depending on what type of loach you have... yes your loach will eat them if he can get to them/figure out that they are food...
(theres a few hundred/thousand species of loach so you might want to be more specific.... i can assume its the one in yer avatar... but.... when you assume.. you make an ASS out of U and ME)
the best snail for brown algae is the gravelvacsnail... its often made of plastic and comes with a long tube.. a bucket is sometimes required but if yer mind is in the gutter they are good for breeding.. also the lessoverfeedingsnail is great for getting rid of algae..
i have a mix of pond snails, rams horn snails, trumpet snails and some other snail that i cant remember the name of that looks like a cross between the ramshorn and the pondsnail... (i was breeding them as puffer food but its gotten a lil out of hand.. i think im going to get some loach for my 75 once i finnish playing with it)
if you go to petsmart/petco 99% of the time they will GIVE you snails since their plant tanks are almost always infested with them... (offering to get them yourself or to pay a penny each helps.. and no one is going to have you pay a penny each cuz they have no way to ring that up... dont forget to Qtank yer snails.. they can have some funk just like feeders and such.. some will call that overkill.. but better safe than sorry)
fyi dr joe sent me here... im having fun with algae.. but mine is green... (see the 75 link)
That's no loach.
If you have enough of them, you will never have algae. My ramshorns are very effective algae eaters, as well as plant eaters.pcfriedrich;2083158;2083158 said:
Which one's would both eat algae and not reproduce at a great rate? I don't want to introduce a snail species that will become a problem from reproducing. But I also would like the snails to have some size to them, not tiny tiny things that I could not find to remove if necessary.
Really nice looking dat . . . . brown algae is diatomaceous algae, and is most often produced from the silica leaching from the glass of a new tank. However, please note that I said, "most often." I've had it show up in a tank that was a year old, covered the low-light plants. You can wait it out, do a 3-day blackout on the tank, or, I would recommend a couple or three good sized mystery snails. The loach will have more trouble eating them, getting it's mouth around them, although it can still snik into the edges--but mysteries are great about shutting that trapdoor really tight, just a bit slow. Given soem time, they'll get it cleaned.
Gravel-vaccing will NOT get rid of it, and I highly recommend NOT using chemicals. I used Malaysian Trumpet Snails since I have no loaches in in the tank; they might work for you since "they only come out at night" LOL. Good luck!!
**It's seldom you get a pair of Mystery snails that reproduce; after years, I ended up this spring with a pair that have been gettin' it on big time, all the time, I have like 70 snails now, no lie. If they make an egg pod above the water line, you can just scrape it off.
Malaysian trumpet snails reproduce at a decent rate, but your loach can eat extras, and they are great for aereating your substrate as they burrow through it during the day.
Ramshorns and pond snails--can be EXTREMELY prolific and really take over a tank. Had both do it. It's a b**** to get rid of them. Don't recommend.
Gravel-vaccing will NOT get rid of it, and I highly recommend NOT using chemicals. I used Malaysian Trumpet Snails since I have no loaches in in the tank; they might work for you since "they only come out at night" LOL. Good luck!!
**It's seldom you get a pair of Mystery snails that reproduce; after years, I ended up this spring with a pair that have been gettin' it on big time, all the time, I have like 70 snails now, no lie. If they make an egg pod above the water line, you can just scrape it off.
Malaysian trumpet snails reproduce at a decent rate, but your loach can eat extras, and they are great for aereating your substrate as they burrow through it during the day.
Ramshorns and pond snails--can be EXTREMELY prolific and really take over a tank. Had both do it. It's a b**** to get rid of them. Don't recommend.