Will Kuhli Loaches eat small snails?

iamgroovy

Nature Lover
Jul 7, 2005
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PA USA
I purchased some live plants and got some hitchhikers along with them. Now I have little tiny almost microscopic baby snails everywhere. They've eaten the heck out of my live plants. I have room in my 20gal tank for a few more fish and I wondered if a kuhli loach or two would take care of them. I've been using pieces of lettuce to lure them so I have removed quite a few already but I'd like to clean them up for good.
 
Cool! Now I just have to find out if my lfs has any...
Thanks!

By the way, wow was that a fast reply! Is that a record?
 
yeah they do, i think they will notice the snails once they get a lil bigger...like this big "O". Just makesure your there to watch them eat the snails...its funny and makes me wonder if they have toungs...
 
Beats buying foot long clown loaches.:eek:

And yes, it is quite rediculous to watch them devour their escargo. :laugh:
 
I've never had any problems with snails eating my plants. They tend to consume algae and dying/dead plant tissue. They don't have the enzymes to take care of healthy plant tissue or so I'm told. Are you sure that the snails are eating your plants and not some hungry fish?
 
rrkss said:
I've never had any problems with snails eating my plants. They tend to consume algae and dying/dead plant tissue. They don't have the enzymes to take care of healthy plant tissue or so I'm told. Are you sure that the snails are eating your plants and not some hungry fish?

Definitely not the fish. I already had some live plants and they were beautiful until the snails showed up. Then they resembled swiss cheese overnight. So, yeah, I think it's the snails. The snails you decscribe sound like mystery snails. I'm pretty sure these are common pond snails.
 
rebecca2 said:
Kuhlis are usually much more fun to watch and less shy if you have more than one or two.

Are they heavy on the bio load? I already have a dwarf gourami, 6 cories, 2 otos and 5 zebra danios so I'm not sure I have room for more than one. One is probably pushing it already...Should I forget the loach? I'd like to return the danios but my husband likes them...
 
There's a good article on snails in the article section, you should check that out first!

Also, I'm not so sure all kuhli loaches eat snails. There was a thread very recently on kuhli loaches and snails, and the majority said kuhli's didn't eat snails... judging by the info, I think only a few eat snails!

Hope this helps, and good luck in eliminating the cause!
 
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