Never create what you can't control
For what it's worth, Mark, I came to the same observations as you did for my kuhliis but I guess there are other factors as well.
What I can hypothesise is that:
1. These small loaches may take young snails, or at least those small enough to fit in their mouth.
2. They eat up leftover food, so they are competing with snails for food. Less leftover food for snails = less snail population.
3. They really do eat all snails, but possibly not their favoured diet, or it is something that we aren't able to observe with our own eyes, given they hide a lot. So it probably depends on the size of the snail population and the loaches likings.
I have about 8-10 Kuhli hiding in my 2FT tank with some cherry barbs and harlequin. Before the kuhli were introduced, there was a sizeable snail population in the tank. It's been 6 months and I only see 2 surviving adult snails. I use a thin layer of fine white sand, and I find that it is littered with tiny snail shells. I believe the Kuhli are preventing the snails from reproducing.
c328 sells the little botia correct?
Cheers,
Andrew
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