Tankmates and snails

Question
I'm starting a new aquarium and I bought a couple of live plants for it. I set
my 10 gallon tank up and got the filter flowing a couple of days ago, and
today I noticed some small snails on the walls of the tank just below the
waterline. I'm planning on getting a small school of about six or seven Neon
Tetras and an algae eater or two to keep the plants and such clean. My first
question is, what kind of algae eater will live well with the Tetras? Secondly,
I'm not a fan of the snails at all, so I'm wondering, what kind of fish can I get
that will eat the snails AND get along with the Tetras and algae eaters?

Answer
Hi Fran,
My favorite algae eater for small tanks like yours is the cute little Otocinclus catfish. They only grow to 1 1/2 inches or so and enjoy being in groups. They are perfect for small community tanks. They do a good job at cleaning algae and can get at the small leaves of live plants without damaging the leaves. But make sure you have algae wafers available for them if they run out of algae. Make sure your tank is cycled fully before adding these guys. They are sensitive to ammonia but once established in a healthy tank they will live for many years. Acclimate them slowly to your water too.

Most of the loaches that eat snails are really too big for a 10 gallon.

Snails aren't much of a problem actually. The only reason their numbers will explode is if there is too much food available to fuel their population. You can get rid of snails using the traditional trapping method by placing a lettuce leaf or cucumber in the tank and removing it with the snails swarm all over it.

Best of luck and I hope this helps!
Karen~