Can my tank support loaches?

C

CatG

AC Members
Apr 25, 2012
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I have a 10g tank, which is too small for schooling fish. The only inhabitants are a pleco and a snail. I've had my Pleco for less than a year and he has already gone from an inch and a half to six inches long. So I know that very soon it will need a much larger tank as they grow to be quite large. My snail was fine, until it began to breed profusely this week. I try to keep up with removal of the eggs, but have found a few baby snails and was debating about getting two to three small yoyo loaches and just leaving the snail to it's own devices. My problem being that I don't know if my aquarium's bio load can handle it, since Plecos are hard on the bioload as it is. I have a fluval nano filter and I check the water chemistry weekly. I have been wanting to get an under gravel filter but since I'm planning on eventually buying a larger aquarium I've been holding off on the extra expense. Could the bioload handle the extra fish if I do more frequent water changes? Feeding them will not be an issue.
 
Yoyo loaches get pretty big. And in my opinion, fairly aggressive too. I had 2 in a 55 gal with African cichlids (rift lake species). The cichlids wouldn't bother them a bit. Now I only have 1 yoyo loach (and 2 clown loaches) in a 125 gal. I think the minimum size for a yoyo loach would probably be 55 gal. With plenty of hiding spots, because they will fight over hiding spots.

The yoyo loach would love the snails though...

wren
 
There aren't really ANY loaches thet would work in a 10g. I have very small rosy loaches, ~1 inch, in a 20g long and that's pretty much as small as loaches go.
 
The only Loaches suitable for a 10 that will eat snails would be the little Y. sidthimunki and related species. They're cool but tend to be pricey, and really should be in larger groups themselves. Agreed that an Assassin is a better choice.
 
Kuhli loaches stay small and could probably do fine in a 10gal. But ive never had any experience with them. Maybe some research on small loaches would open up a few possibilities for you :)

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A 10g is too small for either active sidthiumunki or kuhli loaches & neither are particularly good at snail eating. Have you tried baiting the snails on a piece of lettuce or zucchini? Veg can be put in at night held down with a fork or rock & removed along with snails in the am. This works for control not total eradication. I've never tried assassin snails.
 
I was advised that 3-4 banded kuhli loaches would do fine in a 10g with a betta and a mystery as long water changes were kept up with and it was solidly planted.
 
Um, what kind of snail do you have? How long have you had it, and how did it suddenly start breeding? Do you have live plants? Could the snail infestation be from hitchhikers on the plants? Kuhli loaches do not eat snails. If you like your original snail, anything that eats snails will not be good, because they could eat your original snail.

Emily
 
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