# Anti-Malaysian Trumpet Snail fish?



## SinCrisis (Aug 7, 2008)

Hey all, i was wondering if anyone could give me suggestions on a fish that will naturally prey on Malaysian Trumpet Snails? I know trumpets are harder to prey on because of their trap door, but i want to keep something that will act as a natural population limiter.


----------



## aunt kymmie (Jun 2, 2008)

I keep loaches and I do not have one snail in any of my loach tanks. I can drop MTS in those tanks and find the empty shells a few days later. Dwarf Chains are especially voracious snail eaters, even with MTS. I have no idea how that little loach gets past that trap door but they do. Same with my clowns and yoyos, but those loaches grow too big for most people's tanks.


----------



## redchigh (Jan 20, 2010)

population limiter? Mail them to me! I want more!

Assassins come to mind- they're less likely to eradicate them... I think they're what you had in mind. They'll eat about a snail a day.


----------



## 1077 (Apr 16, 2008)

+one for assassin snails. I keep both clown loaches and Yo-yo loaches and they take care of the larger trumpet snails but cannot seem to get the flesh from inside the very small ones.I prolly got a couple gazillion Well,,,maybe a couple hundred in a 75 gallon, but when gravel vaccuming,,there isn't any crud to speak of that comes up into the syphon.;-)


----------



## SinCrisis (Aug 7, 2008)

aunt kymmie said:


> I keep loaches and I do not have one snail in any of my loach tanks. I can drop MTS in those tanks and find the empty shells a few days later. Dwarf Chains are especially voracious snail eaters, even with MTS. I have no idea how that little loach gets past that trap door but they do. Same with my clowns and yoyos, but those loaches grow too big for most people's tanks.


By dwarf loach do you mean the dwarf chain loaches? I heard that those are not snail eating? Also i believe the dwarf chain loaches are now considered endangered and very hard to find for sale. I was hoping for this answer though since i really like the dwarf chain loaches...



redchigh said:


> population limiter? Mail them to me! I want more!
> 
> Assassins come to mind- they're less likely to eradicate them... I think they're what you had in mind. They'll eat about a snail a day.


I have, literally hundreds. My fish stock, using AQadvisor calculations is 44 percent. with my snails its 98% and thats a low estimate for number of snails. However most of them are small, i do not know where the adults are. I have hundreds of small snails come out at night and take over my decor but they are all small. 

Is it safe to order them online at this time of the year? for both loaches and snails?

@1077 - I cannot keep clown loaches or yoyo loaches, the clowns get too big and yoyos require a shoal and my tnak is too small to support that.


----------



## aunt kymmie (Jun 2, 2008)

SinCrisis said:


> By dwarf loach do you mean the dwarf chain loaches? I heard that those are not snail eating? Also i believe the dwarf chain loaches are now considered endangered and very hard to find for sale. I was hoping for this answer though since i really like the dwarf chain loaches...


Yes, Dwarf Chain Loaches (_Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki) _are great at eating MTS, even the small MTS. I have a shoal of eight of them and I'm always finding teeny tiny empty MTS shells on the bottom of the tank. I propogate plants in a smaller 6gl (that has lots of MTS) and when a cutting finally has a good enough root system I transplant it over to the 75. My little loaches are more than happy to find the hitchhikers and do away with them, lol. 
I had no idea they were endangered?? How sad.


----------



## SinCrisis (Aug 7, 2008)

unfortunatly, according to this site: Dwarf Loach (Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki) — Loaches Online

They are considered endangered. This site also says 5 is the minimum, is that true? Im not so sure i have space for 5, i was hoping to get around 3...


----------

