planted and bringing snails into the ecosystem with the live

planted and bringing snails into the ecosystem with the live plants, even well rinsed posed a distinct possibility.  As a matter of fact, I found an empty snail shell floating under the top glass very soon after I added the fish!Although there are a wide selection of bottom fish available for the small community aquarium, I tend to use either Botia http://www.sexy007.com/Wholesale-sailors-sea_c29 striatus or Botia lohachata nowadays. They do just fine in my high pH water and are not that common looking. The Botia striatus I have kept for the longest, and they have always been extremely shy. It may be the tank they are in, which is the largest of my small community aquariums. Or, the fact that they found a great hiding place right from the start and rarely exit it to scavenge for their meals.  They have always preferred to leave it only when they are hungry.  I have added the Botia lohachata in two different tanks. One is in the Fluval Edge mentioned above where there is a single individual.  The other a classic ten gallon planted system with two individuals as well as a pair of South Amercian Appistogramma aggasiz Dwarf Cichlids. This is a heavily planted aquarium. In each instance, the Botia lohachata are much more active than the B. striatus. In the ten gallon tank, the two there  even feed from the top!Whenever the pH is high, I also tend to include a Plecostomus.  But be careful of the water conditions when adding these fish, they do not do well in acid water. When kept in high pH, one will help control algae formation in almost any tank, no matter what its inhabitants may be. Right http://www.sexy007.com/Wholesale-country-girl-cowgirl_c32 now one is doing quite well in my Tropiquarium 88 where it was placed after the biological filter matured. The tank has quite number of African Cichlids and it is doing quite well in spite of these aggressive tank mates.  Plecostomus can grow over time, but still seem quite content to clean their areas well.  Aggressivity is not a common trait with these fish, they are not particularly appetizing, so they are suitable for both passive and