Re: do snails ruin cichlid eggs?

[Happy'Cam'per]

MTS will eat fish eggs but only if they can get near them! I'm sure the
Tanganyikans will be able to handle it.

**So long, and thanks for all the fish!**

"Zimm44" > wrote in message
...
> Two of my three tanks are infested with a very small almost brownish
looking
> snail. What's the deal? They are in a 75 gallon tank that is home for a
> tanganyikan population which includes frontosas, compressiceps, calvus
white,
> leleupis, and juies. I am worried that these snails may somehow eat the
fish's
> eggs. I love to watch these fish breed so any help would be appreciated.
>
>

[Zimm44]

Are you saying that the cichlids will pick the snails off of the walls of the
shells that they lay their eggs in? What does MTS stand for? Are they
beneficial to the tank otherwise?

[Paulo]

Malaysian trumpet snails. I hear they keep the sustrate loose (airy?)

--
Paulo
"Zimm44" > wrote in message
...
> Are you saying that the cichlids will pick the snails off of the walls of
the
> shells that they lay their eggs in? What does MTS stand for? Are they
> beneficial to the tank otherwise?

[Zimm44]

So other than that, you have experience with cichlids breeding in their
presence?

[Happy'Cam'per]

I have an N. Brichardi and N. Pulcher that spawn non-stop in my Tang setup,
many MTS too! Don't worry about it.
--
**So long, and thanks for all the fish!**

"Zimm44" > wrote in message
...
> So other than that, you have experience with cichlids breeding in their
> presence?

[Zimm44]

Thanks a ton for your help. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Where to the MTS come
from?

[Happy'Cam'per]

MTS = Malaysian Trumpet Snail, so I guess they originate from Malaysia ;o
They were probably hitchhikers on one of the pants you introduced to your
tank...
--
**So long, and thanks for all the fish!**

"Zimm44" > wrote in message
...
> Thanks a ton for your help. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Where to the MTS
come
> from?

[NetMax]

"Zimm44" > wrote in message
...
> Thanks a ton for your help. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Where to the
MTS come
> from?

Malaysia ;~), or more locally, they would probably have been brought in
with a live plant purchase. They are livebearers, so the young MTS
skimming the water's surface would make a nice snack for many types of
cichlids. Because of their hard shells, adults can survive the unwanted
attention of some fish.

Note that while most of the fish you have are mouth-brooders, some are
not. For cichlids which are substrate spawners, snails can be nocturnal
predators to the unhatched eggs, so ymmv. Generally though, I'd agree
with Happy Cam'per as many cichlids are quite effective defenders.
Perhaps leave them a night light for the first few weeks.
--
www.NetMax.tk

[Zimm44]

no reccomendations in terms of a rid-a-snail type of product? I have heard they
eat detritus.

[NetMax]

"Zimm44" > wrote in message
...
> no reccomendations in terms of a rid-a-snail type of product? I have
heard they
> eat detritus.

I strongly recommend against chemical products to kill snails. Their
active ingredient is usually some form of copper which is toxic to fish
at only slightly higher dosages, and then there is the bio-load of all
the dead snails to consider. Mechanical removal and/or snail eating fish
tend to be the most common methods used.

I've never heard of a detritus eating snail, and while I wouldn't be too
surprised if it was true, consider that the snail has it's own exhaust
pipe, so the detritus is only changing 'flavour' ;~).
--
www.NetMax.tk

[Zimm44]

any luck using clown loaches? I just bought 6 small ones.

[NetMax]

"Zimm44" > wrote in message
...
> any luck using clown loaches? I just bought 6 small ones.

Most of the 'botia' loaches are very good snailers either at pulling them
out of the shells, or devouring the snail eggs. CLs are best known for
eating them out of the shell, though they sometimes need to be taught
(crush a snail in front of them, they will get the idea ;~). The
downside to the CL is their eventual size. Typically they don't grow
very quickly, but if given a steady supply of snails, they will not grow
typically, they will grow fast. CLs are great characters, very
personable, but you will need a good sized tank eventually.
--
www.NetMax.tk

[Tom]

"NetMax" > wrote in message
. ..
> "Zimm44" > wrote in message
> ...
>> any luck using clown loaches? I just bought 6 small ones.
>
> Most of the 'botia' loaches are very good snailers either at pulling them
> out of the shells, or devouring the snail eggs. CLs are best known for
> eating them out of the shell, though they sometimes need to be taught
> (crush a snail in front of them, they will get the idea ;~). The
> downside to the CL is their eventual size. Typically they don't grow
> very quickly, but if given a steady supply of snails, they will not grow
> typically, they will grow fast. CLs are great characters, very
> personable, but you will need a good sized tank eventually.
> --
> www.NetMax.tk
>
>


Yo-Yo loaches will remain a reasonable size, unlike clown loaches. Yo-Yo's
will also terrorize the snail population quite as readily as clown loaches.

Keep a small group of three as they are much more active that way.

Tom

[Phil]

Has anyone had experiences with Chilotilapia rhodesii (spelling?) and MTS?

[Zimm44]

Well I got 6 small clowns two days ago. They are still extraordinarily shy.
Maybe it is the aggressive postures of the tanganyikans. who knows. I just
can't wait for them to start feasting on these ugly brown moving lumps. LOL My
tank is 75 gallons so i think I have enough room for them.

[Flatspin]

Did you read up on Clown Loaches? My gut reaction was, "Wow, that's a
lot of inches of fish!" While small now, they will grow.

I looked at The Krib and couldn't locate them immediately so did a
Google search and found:

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/loaches1/p/clownloach.htm

This site says they grow to 6" in an aquarium and 12" in the wild. My
LFS advertises the longer length. I didn't realize how long they'd live
either.

After not researching critters more than once and purchasing items I was
assured would be fine that subsequently died or caused problems, I try
hard not to buy now without research. The LFS personnel rarely know a
thing about what they sell and often give conflicting or contradictory
information.

Zimm44 wrote:

> Well I got 6 small clowns two days ago. They are still extraordinarily shy.
> Maybe it is the aggressive postures of the tanganyikans. who knows. I just
> can't wait for them to start feasting on these ugly brown moving lumps. LOL My
> tank is 75 gallons so i think I have enough room for them.

[NetMax]

http://www.loaches.com/index.html is a nice site for info. IMO, a 75g
would be a good starting home for 6 Clowns, possibly for 4 or 5 years
(depending on how quickly they grow). It's not just their size, but
they get into under and around everything all the time, so even when they
are only 6" long, you will start wishing you had a longer tank
(especially depending on the qty & type of your other fish).

I have enough tanks so that as the fish grow I simply upgrade them to
larger tanks, and this makes the best use of all my tanks. If in 4-5
years you still have 6 CLs, they are growing fast and your other
inhabitants are feeling crowded, you can decide then what works best for
you. Note that you can be a bit more leisurely in your upgrade plans
with same-species botia as they are community shoalers. This wait & see
strategy would not work as well for territorial fish (like cichlids,
which *is* the newsgroup you are in).

ps: What you might not realize is that if you still have six 6" CLs in 4
or 5 years, that they will be house pets, and you might not think twice
about getting them a bigger tank on one of your regular trips to the LFS
to pick up treats for them ;~) These fish are very personable
characters.
--
www.NetMax.tk

"Flatspin" > wrote in message
news:2FS9d.17908$R43.6269@fed1read01...
> Did you read up on Clown Loaches? My gut reaction was, "Wow, that's a
> lot of inches of fish!" While small now, they will grow.
>
> I looked at The Krib and couldn't locate them immediately so did a
> Google search and found:
>
> http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/loaches1/p/clownloach.htm
>
> This site says they grow to 6" in an aquarium and 12" in the wild. My
> LFS advertises the longer length. I didn't realize how long they'd
live
> either.
>
> After not researching critters more than once and purchasing items I
was
> assured would be fine that subsequently died or caused problems, I try
> hard not to buy now without research. The LFS personnel rarely know a
> thing about what they sell and often give conflicting or contradictory
> information.
>
> Zimm44 wrote:
>
> > Well I got 6 small clowns two days ago. They are still
extraordinarily shy.
> > Maybe it is the aggressive postures of the tanganyikans. who knows. I
just
> > can't wait for them to start feasting on these ugly brown moving
lumps. LOL My
> > tank is 75 gallons so i think I have enough room for them.

[Fishman]

"Zimm44" > wrote in message
...
> Two of my three tanks are infested with a very small almost brownish
> looking
> snail. What's the deal? They are in a 75 gallon tank that is home for a
> tanganyikan population which includes frontosas, compressiceps, calvus
> white,
> leleupis, and juies. I am worried that these snails may somehow eat the
> fish's
> eggs. I love to watch these fish breed so any help would be appreciated.
>
>

I'm surprised no one has suggested any of the Syno. cats.
Syno. multipunctatus (cuckoo catfish) demolishes snails well quick.
As will any of the others S. petricola etc.

[Cindy]

NetMax wrote:
> http://www.loaches.com/index.html is a nice site for info. IMO, a 75g
> would be a good starting home for 6 Clowns, possibly for 4 or 5 years
> (depending on how quickly they grow). It's not just their size, but
> they get into under and around everything all the time, so even when
> they are only 6" long, you will start wishing you had a longer tank
> (especially depending on the qty & type of your other fish).

When I started getting interested in fish years ago, the clown loaches were
a lot brighter orange than I'm seeing in stores now. Is it just in my head,
or have others noticed this?

Cindy

[Cindy]

>> When I started getting interested in fish years ago, the clown
>> loaches were a lot brighter orange than I'm seeing in stores now.
>> Is it just in my head, or have others noticed this?
>>
>> Cindy
>
> Clowns are mostly wild caught, so unless something about their
> harvesting is causing the colour shift, I don't think so. Their
> colours are faded when stressed (new arrivals, when fighting, when
> sick etc) and also when they age. IMO, the best colour really comes
> out in smaller specimens (under 4") which have been well acclimated
> to a tank (6-12 months) and are being fed a wide variety of quality
> foods. Perhaps this is what you were comparing with the stores.
>
> At work, I tried to keep enough display tanks of fish (not for sale)
> so that customers could see what more mature and settled specimens
> looked like. Some examples of fish which looked unimpressive young
> or after transport were Electric Blues, Mooris, Cacatoides,
> Appistogramas, Chocolate & Licorice gouramis, Brochis, Kuhli & Clown
> loaches and various tetras (Congo, Penquin, Glowlight, Red Phantoms
> etc).

That was probably it. I worked at a fish-only store that had quite a few
display tanks and many many selling tanks, and the new stock was always put
in a different tank than the old. The little clowns were beautiful.
The stores I frequent now don't keep that many tanks or many fish in the
tanks, so you don't get to see what they look like once established.

Cindy

[Mbuna]

> Zimm44wrote:
Two of my three tanks are infested with a very small almost brownish
looking
> snail. What's the deal? They are in a 75 gallon tank that is home
for a
> tanganyikan population which includes frontosas, compressiceps,
calvus white,
> leleupis, and juies. I am worried that these snails may somehow eat
the fish's
> eggs. I love to watch these fish breed so any help would be
appreciated.

The snails will not cause any problems with the cichlids spawning. If
you are worried about that you can pick up a few clown loaches and
they will eat the snails for you.

__________________________________________________
Posted via FishGeeks - http://Aquaria.info

[Wes Forster]

Mbuna wrote:

>> Zimm44wrote:
> Two of my three tanks are infested with a very small almost brownish
> looking
>> snail. What's the deal? They are in a 75 gallon tank that is home
> for a
>> tanganyikan population which includes frontosas, compressiceps,
> calvus white,
>> leleupis, and juies. I am worried that these snails may somehow eat
> the fish's
>> eggs. I love to watch these fish breed so any help would be
> appreciated.
>
> The snails will not cause any problems with the cichlids spawning. If
> you are worried about that you can pick up a few clown loaches and
> they will eat the snails for you.
>
> __________________________________________________
> Posted via FishGeeks - http://Aquaria.info

The loach idea is tried and true, I like to move my clown loaches between
tanks. I have a half dozen 1-4" clown loaches and they do well moving from
tank to tank periodically. By the way you get the snails from plants, in my
experience.