Are Trumpet Snails Any Helpful?

[EliteFishy]

Are Trumpet Snails Any Helpful? If they are, how many should I get for a 29 gallon planted aquarium?

 

[Teelie]

They help keep aerate the substrate and will eat some leftover food though not fish waste. Won't eat your plants either. Doesn't matter how many you put in there, they'll multiply to fill the niche. You'll probably only see them at night or around dusk though they'll breed like rabbits where you can't see them.

 

[LoachLover]

Personally I've never been a fan of snails, and I personally think they are more trouble than they're worth. All I see when I see a snail is, loach food

 

[Teelie]

^^^ With a name like that, is it any surprise? Snail hater.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Lol, i think trumpet snails are a bit overated, they're great 'til they multiply, and multiply they will do .
They do pretty much the same job as corys except they are incredibly hardy/tough little snails and they will eat algae to a certain extent while corys don't, they will find it alot easier to breed though if you have gravel substrate than sand as gravel traps more food for them as they only breed when theres plenty of excess food for them to eat- when starving they'll even eat their own young to survive.
You only need one of them to breed as they are like the snail exquivelant of livebearers except worse and can have a batch of live young in them ready to go while growing another batch in the mean time.

 

[soritan]

They're good if you've got a "tight" tank, like mine. I'd love to put cories in my 10g, but I have no floor space for them, there'd be no dashing about, in that thing.

As far as snails go, Malasyain Trumpet Snails seem to be the best choice. I've seen ramshorn snails and apple snails, and I've read on all three varieties... but malaysian trumpet snails almost seem ideal for a tight tank that needs a little assistance with sand upkeep and waste disposal. I'm sure there's a catch somewhere. I hope when my MTSes come in, they do better than my pond snails do. I have the only pond snails in existance which can't breed.

No, I'm kidding. Anyone in my situation "couldn't" breed pond snails. I have lots of ghost shrimp in my tank, they eat all the pond snail eggs, so my pond snails haven't broken the big '3' yet. My two original pond snails, that were in the tank before the ghost shrimp, and the one errant pond snail that escaped mass.. uhn, snail-icide?

 

[lucky62]

you don't need many , as someone said one snail will do , as they can reproduce on their own [ a single snail ], or can also breed with another , and so on , and so on .

I've had them in my tanks for years , IMO they ear their keep , moving the substrate , esp around the plant roots , and yes botia loaches with cut the population down , seen it happen , empty shells everywhere


Overrated , unsung heroes of the echo system ..............

 

[freddyk]

I don't have a tank without them and I'm convinced people who find they get out of control must be overfeeding the tank. Try to feed just what the fish will eat so that there isn't much waste around the tank, then the snails will live off of just the algae and the numbers will keep down to sane levels.

 

[anvil63]

I agree with freddy. I find them to be helpful and the only tank I've ever had that got overpopulated was my tank with one 10inch Oscar in it. He was a very messy eater so there were always lots of extra food fragments falling to the substrate.

Carl

 

[kris-b-]

Ive got them in my tanks with sand substrate, when they move through the sand they help the plants roots to spread out more in the sand.

 

[fi$hys]

i think they are excellent gt as many as you think is right they will breed but not breed oftem.Get araound 20.
Mat

 

[BWBettas]

i can send some to anyone in the uk for the price of shipping? i have about 500specially bred for people like you lol

 

[EliteFishy]

i can send some to anyone in the uk for the price of shipping? i have about 500specially bred for people like you lol

Sorry, I live in the US and I already bought some. Thanks anyways.

 

[BWBettas]

thats ok lol anyone wantem pm me

 

[soritan]

I need to find someone in the US to make the same offer to me. I'm currently chasing after another lady on another forum, but she seems to want to send at least 50... and I'm not entirely sure I want that many to start with. My tank is only 10 gallons. I could shunt a few into my 5 gallon, but that still seems like a lot to me. Maybe I'm just nervy about suddenly introducing a bunch of new junk all at once. *shrug*