Snail control for 6 foot tank.

[Luciferkrist]

Hey folks, I seem to be having a losing battle in my 210 gallon tank with ramshorn and bladder snails. I am looking to also put a bit more into the tank top liven it up a bit, so I am wondering what the best candidate is to help with both my issues.

In the tank there is a silver arowana, 2 blue gourami, 1 juvenile senegalese bichir, 2 BN plecos, a ropefish, and a handful of endlers/guppys (No idea where they came from, but hey free fish!). It is pretty heavily planted, so the snails are pretty hard to control manually.

My first thought would be a collection of clown loaches, but I am wondering if anybody has had any success/recommendations for anything else that might be a bit more active in the middle of the water column? Or should I perhaps considering chemical warfare, since I don't have any other invertebrates in there?

[MrWestCoast]

When I had a snail issue I purchased zebra loaches and the snails were gone in less than a week. However, loaches are bottom dwellers so they wouldn't fix your second issue. I don't know if there are other fish that swim at the top level that are as effective at controlling snails as loaches.

[JettsPapa]

Pea puffers are death on bladder and rams horn snails, but I don't know how well they'd do with your other fish.  I have two of them in a 40 gallon breeder tank with pearl gouramis, tetras, and corys with no issues.

[Theplatymaster]

You could try zebra or dwarf chain loaches

[rockfisher]

I have had the best luck with loaches like the ones mentioned above or clown loaches which like bigger tanks like yours. I posted about Malaysian trumpet snails in a angelfish breeding tank a few weeks ago to see if anyone had any other ideas. The three that came up mostly often where loaches, assassin snails, and manual removal. Out of those I think loaches are the best route for me at least until the problem is solved. A good size school of clown/zebra would be pretty nice. I personally like the clown loaches due to the colors and playful attitude they display in a school of 5 or more. I would say that clown loach can get big but they grow relatively slowly after about year 4. 

[Biotope Biologist]

I would forego trying to fill out the top. Your silver arowana will not let anyone up there when it’s older. I would however bolster your blue gourami school. Ideally 1 male per 3-5 females. 
 

I would also avoid a clown loach unless you are going to be upgrading the tank in the future. A yoyo or dojo loach would be best. yoyos need to be kept in a group to keep aggression with tankmates down, dojos are docile.