Malaysian Trumpet Snails & Loaches

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: Malaysian Trumpet Snails & Loaches
From: olga at arts_ubc.ca
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 1996 10:12:00 -0700

I had the good fortune to recieve some MT snails in the mail from a friend
on the net and the little guys survived 11 days in the "snail mail". And
customs had opened the box and allowed them through -- very amazing!
However, when I put them in my tank (after careful acclimatization) it
wasn't long until my Clown Loach discovered them. I saw him at them and
shooed him away. I only found one shell but he had definately eaten the
snail and the shell was very crunched looking -- like he had chewed through
it. I hope all the others escaped into the substrate okay. I found no more
shells. But I'm wondering -- can I keep these snails with Clown Loaches? I
know they eat snails but I thought that MT snails would avoid them in the
substrate. And -- will the loaches crunch up the shells too so that I
wouldn't see them? Can they eat *through* the shells???

Thanks for any info.

Olga
in glorious sunny Vancouver