snail eating fish

your loaches arent eating them? some clown loaches would, there are also puffers and cichlids but they wouldnt be compatble with your other fish.

I dont believe that any of those fish will eat snails

clown loaches.
I had a massive snail problem, if I turned on the light at night they would be everywhere, on the glass, plants, yuck
Picked me up ONE clownie. In about 1 week they were ALL gone. ANd I had one fat loach, haha

Wont clown loaches get too big for the tank?

Maybe eventually, My loach growth has been insignifigant since I got him near 8 months ago. Compared to my other fish, even my froggy's growth has been much more noticible.

in a 46 gallon tank ONE clown loach would not be a serious stocking problem, especially if it was only in there temporarily. Assuming you buy it at about 3 inches or so, it wont get to a big size for a year or more, depending on what you're feeding it and how much.

well, I think most fish are a product of their environment. My pleco, given the same time frame in terms of growth, has been WAY larger then my girlfriends pleco.
My tank is 55G, hers is 10.
Different fish I know, but still, I would think a loach in a small envionment wouldnt grow nearly as fast as one that had tons of room.
MY two canadian cents, heh

typically, IME, only botia-genus loaches eat snails, not dojo loaches.

bort-- you are sort of correct, but it is not a good practice to encourage. fish grow to the size of the conditions within their environment, and tanks that are too small do not have the right conditions (typically) to house fish beyond a certain size. a pleco shouldn't be kept in a 10g, really. fish growth then will be stunted and their lifespans shortened. and that's not good.

that said, clown loaches are probably not a viable option here. first of all, you need at least 3 of them, really, as they are a schooling fish. if you're buying a fish for a snail problem, and not buying a fish for its own sake, you are likely not prepared to house such a fish when it needs a 75 or 125g tank in a year or so!

in any event, there ARE other loaches, besides clowns, though it seems like people forget them all the time! yoyo loaches and skunk loaches are both commonly available and only grow to 3-5" in size. plus, they're really cool in their own right! a trio of these fish could probably be acommodated in your tank, and they'd take care of your snail problem quickly! i keep both (in addition to clowns) and highly recommend them...plus, they're half the price or less than clowns!

i know its not a good practice, lol. I went against my better judgement when she wanted a pleco, but its not my cash nor my tank, so I had little to no say. If I had my way, heheh. Ah well
I am soon moving my pleco to a larger tank, so he can be more comfy. I have a post about this, u can check this out in the catfish forum.
But anyways, forgive my ignorance, I didnt know the growth capicity of the clown loachy, hehe