Eathworms of the tank?

[Braddah]

Someone on here was talking about little snails that burrow in the sand....are these helpful for your tank and if so what benifits do they give and what kind of snail are they? Im going to sand in my 20gal. on mon day and have a (getting to be) heavily planted tank.......thanx in advance

 

[Lateral Line]

Melanoides tuberculata, (Malaysian Trumpet Snails), is what you want. A livebearing snail which burrows around in your substrate keeping it loose and helping to prevent anaerobic areas forming.

They are pretty harmless in a tank, but they breed rapidly, if you ever turn the lights on at night you may get quite a shock at the number of these things swarming over your tank.

 

[Braddah]

Thank-you Lateral Line!

 

[akhtar]

im confused, you can just put 1 in and then it cant breed eh or do snails split in half or sumthin!!!!!

 

[gbonett]

Does anyone know where to get a hold of some trumpet snails (Melanoides tuberculata)? my local fish store is having trouble getting them.

 

[nurglespuss]

They practice parthenogenesis. (i.e. splitting off little replicas of themselves). However they will also breed (otherwise stagnent gene pool).

They can be bought very cheaply off ebay.

I'm gonna start selling em I think, as I have bajillions.

Beware though, they have almost indestrutible shells and if they get into the workings of your filter will knacker it...

I'm in UK btw.

 

[severum boy]

snailshop.co.uk have some good snails in, that are often much more colorful than the "normal" MTS.
Buy some Spike Tails, they are far nicer than M. tuberculata.

 

[gbonett]

Hey thanks for the info. I actually just found some at http/www.thesnailstore.com/
They're in the US