Snail eating fish to keep with Discus

[Wrencher_Scott]

Anyone know of a good fish to eat snails that won't drive my discus crazy? My Trumpet snail population seems out of control sometimes. (when they come up out of the sand)

I had a Yoyo loach once and it was just an out of control bully at feeding time, I had to get rid of it. 

Many people recommend Clown Loaches but I wonder if they are like the Yoyo?

Anything else? Something mellow that doesn't get too big would be perfect. 

 

[Colu]

Assassin snail would work and can take a temperature up to 80 or dwarf chain loach could work 

[Tazalanche]

Any dwarf chain loach I had was too greedy with food around discus. Yoyo loaches were hit or miss. We had the best luck with zebra loaches or kubotai loaches around our discus.

The kubotai were the most peaceful, but are harder to get. Of note, after they're about 4 years old, the kubotai stopped eating snails enough to see a population change, where the zebras would eat snails for their entire lifespan.

[Wrencher_Scott]

On 9/11/2022 at 1:05 PM, Tazalanche said:

Any dwarf chain loach I had was too greedy with food around discus. Yoyo loaches were hit or miss. We had the best luck with zebra loaches or kubotai loaches around our discus.

The kubotai were the most peaceful, but are harder to get. Of note, after they're about 4 years old, the kubotai stopped eating snails enough to see a population change, where the zebras would eat snails for their entire lifespan.

Thanks, yes, that Yoyo I had would go crazy when I fed. It would flip upside down and go nuts at the top. It was just too much for the Discus. 

I'll look into the Zebra and Kubotai. 

Question: Do they eat the shell and all? 

Edited September 11, 2022 by Wrencher_Scott

[OutBout]

On 9/11/2022 at 11:53 AM, Colu said:

Assassin snail would work and can take a temperature up to 80 or dwarf chain loach could work 

Assassin snails is the route I would go as well. If you're set for it to be a fish, I would go for a group of dwarf chain loaches. Has to be around 8 or more though, as this will keep most of their boisterous activities to themselves. Do you have dither fish with the discus? The dithers will help distract the loaches.

Edited September 11, 2022 by OutBout

[Lots Of Loaches]

Unfortunately, they don’t eat the shell along with the snail. IMO the zebra loach (Striata Botia) is going to be the least likely to bother your discus.  They don’t get very big but will always eat snails. It has been my experience that dwarf chain loaches can be a bit nippy to other fish but maybe I just had the bad luck of picking the bullies.🤷‍♂️ I hope you find something that works well and your discus are happy!
 

[tolstoy21]

I had an aquarium that had ZERO snails, even when I intentionally introduce ramshorn snails into it. All my other tanks, overrun with snails.

The two fish I had that I think were eating all the snails (well one of them was), kuhli loaches or a clown pleco.  I think it was the loaches, but I never verified this.  The rest of the fish were tetras and barbs, etc. 

[Tazalanche]

On 9/11/2022 at 3:16 PM, Wrencher_Scott said:

Question: Do they eat the shell and all? 

They leave the shell. It might float to the top to be easily removed, or may need to be picked up during the next water change.

[Wrencher_Scott]

On 9/11/2022 at 1:30 PM, OutBout said:

Assassin snails is the route I would go as well. If you're set for it to be a fish, I would go for a group of dwarf chain loaches. Has to be around 8 or more though, as this will keep most of their boisterous activities to themselves. Do you have dither fish with the discus? The dithers will help distract the loaches.

Rams is all. The Discus are the only real dithers

On 9/11/2022 at 1:48 PM, tolstoy21 said:

I had an aquarium that had ZERO snails, even when I intentionally introduce ramshorn snails into it. All my other tanks, overrun with snails.

The two fish I had that I think were eating all the snails (well one of them was), kuhli loaches or a clown pleco.  I think it was the loaches, but I never verified this.  The rest of the fish were tetras and barbs, etc. 

Well my Kuhlis are not helping. 😞

[Wrencher_Scott]

On 9/11/2022 at 1:30 PM, OutBout said:

Assassin snails is the route I would go as well. If you're set for it to be a fish, I would go for a group of dwarf chain loaches. Has to be around 8 or more though, as this will keep most of their boisterous activities to themselves. Do you have dither fish with the discus? The dithers will help distract the loaches.

Is there a chance the Assassins will get out of hand too? I'm guessing not because they seam to be exspensive. 

[OutBout]

On 9/11/2022 at 9:38 PM, Wrencher_Scott said:

Is there a chance the Assassins will get out of hand too? I'm guessing not because they seam to be exspensive. 

It shouldn't get out of hand. Assassin snails breed slower than pond, ramshorn, or Malaysian trumpet snails, and also require a male and female. But as with many snails, populations will heavily depend on food source availability. Once the "pest" snail population is decreased you might notice the assassin snails will eat any protein-rich fish food.

[Wrencher_Scott]

I'm starting to think the Assassin snail is the safest bet.

[TheSwissAquarist]

I agree with @OutBout, assasin snails would be the easiest way to deal with the problem.