All of my tanks have a sand substrate and I have found MTS (Malaysian Trumpet snails) to be an important ingredient to maintaining a healthy ecosystem. They are invisible when the tank lights are on because they live in the substrate and typically only come out after dark. Their burrowing keeps the substrate aerated and they are scavengers, so will deal effectively with left over fish food, dead plant matter and fish waste. They turn this into much smaller waste which the bacteria and plants deal with. They will even dispose of dead fish for you. An added advantage is that they have a negligible bio load. But they are prolific breeders, and the higher the temperature the faster they breed. We always say that the best way to limit snail populations is to reduce the available food. But the truth is they need very little and will thrive on biofilm, so once the temperature gets above 25-26 they will multiply. Fortunately this is easy to control.
My community tank has 30 ravenous cories, 8 otos and a bristlenose so its rare that I have to intervene in this tank, typically once or twice a year. I have never had to intervene in the loach tank. The sids are not very good at dealing with adults but they love snacking on the babies so the numbers stay low. That brings me to the nano which has CPD, cherry shrimps and a nerite. The CPD are fairly slow feeders who prefer to graze over an hour or so. They also find their food by sight rather than smell. So if I feed something like bug bites, which they love, a lot of food ends up on the substrate. And the CPD won't find the dark food on the dark substrate. The shrimps will take care of this in due course but that means lots of lovely food for the snails. I have actually started feeding powdered fry food to help combat this. I still have to supplement with sinking pellets or I end up with a lot of skinny CPD, Omega One veggie rounds are a favourite and they are large enough for the CPD to find - but this means they are available as snail food for several hours.
So I have started feeding the sinking food in a little saucer. I use a light coloured one so the CPD can find it easier. I do feed a little extra and do this 1-2 hours before lights out. Use a high quality food that won't foul the water. This gives the CPD and shrimps plenty of time to graze to their heart's content. All the while the snails start heading toward and into the saucer as they find their food by smell. Wait until 10-15 minutes after lights out and remove the saucer. If you have a lot of snails this is a good time to pick them off the glass and drop them into the saucer. If the saucer is full of snails I dispose of them. If there are only a few and I don't see any on the glass I just tip them back into the tank. I don't want to eradicate them, just keep them under control.
If you actually sit and watch them there are some really interesting, and amusing, interactions
My community tank has 30 ravenous cories, 8 otos and a bristlenose so its rare that I have to intervene in this tank, typically once or twice a year. I have never had to intervene in the loach tank. The sids are not very good at dealing with adults but they love snacking on the babies so the numbers stay low. That brings me to the nano which has CPD, cherry shrimps and a nerite. The CPD are fairly slow feeders who prefer to graze over an hour or so. They also find their food by sight rather than smell. So if I feed something like bug bites, which they love, a lot of food ends up on the substrate. And the CPD won't find the dark food on the dark substrate. The shrimps will take care of this in due course but that means lots of lovely food for the snails. I have actually started feeding powdered fry food to help combat this. I still have to supplement with sinking pellets or I end up with a lot of skinny CPD, Omega One veggie rounds are a favourite and they are large enough for the CPD to find - but this means they are available as snail food for several hours.
So I have started feeding the sinking food in a little saucer. I use a light coloured one so the CPD can find it easier. I do feed a little extra and do this 1-2 hours before lights out. Use a high quality food that won't foul the water. This gives the CPD and shrimps plenty of time to graze to their heart's content. All the while the snails start heading toward and into the saucer as they find their food by smell. Wait until 10-15 minutes after lights out and remove the saucer. If you have a lot of snails this is a good time to pick them off the glass and drop them into the saucer. If the saucer is full of snails I dispose of them. If there are only a few and I don't see any on the glass I just tip them back into the tank. I don't want to eradicate them, just keep them under control.
If you actually sit and watch them there are some really interesting, and amusing, interactions
- CPD and shrimp squabbling over food, both between themselves and each other (OK this is normal)
- Shrimp stealing the food and carrying it off where the CPD can't get to. I have stopped breaking it up because the shrimp can easily carry off half an algae wafer
- Snail bridges. They struggle to get up the underside of the saucer, but as more and more arrive they simply climb over the ones who got there first
- Shrimp defending their food against snails. This is really amusing. They line up at the rim of the saucer and head butt the snails trying to get over. Occasionally they will pick one up and drop it off on the other side of the tank.
