Malaysian Trumpet Snails

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Malaysian trumpet snails seem to be all the rage with sand based tanks because they apparently do a good job of stirring up the sand- people actually seem to be deliberatly putting them in them tanks which sounds crazy to me .

I have had MTS(malaysian trumpet snails) for about half a year now, they always breed out of control for me. I did a large tank cleanout today and i found 40 of the little buggers hiding in my plants- which is alot considering i exterminated all but 3 a month ago, i do keep 3 adult mts as pets and the biggest of the 3 are 1 and a half inchs long which is aparently big for them.

My only question is, is that why introduce such fast reproducing snails into your tank?? Won't you just end up with a snail over population in your tank??
Or am i just a random case where they breed very well?
They do stir up the sand to a certain extent but not a fantastic job by any means, people seem to be recommending these snails for sand based tanks, i just feel they don't know what they are letting themselves in for.

Main question 2: I like my mts to a certain extent, they are pretty snails even if they breed out of control, as some of you may know i am investing in a very big tank in a month or so time and i was wondering if i brought in some clown loachs to eat snails in my tank, would they have any problem eating mts?

 

[Teelie]

I added them to stir the sand and because they look nice. Mine are definitely unrestrained in reproduction but it's not too bad. Like any species of snails, one of their main requirements is enough food to spur on reproduction.

Limiting the amount of food in the tank for them to eat limits their growth. Of course if you have a large tank and/or large number of fish, feeding precisely the right amount for the fish but not too much for the snails is hard.

As far as I know, and from what I've seen of a LFS display tank, Clowns have absolutely no trouble eating them. The LFS has them in the substrate but it's a deep, deep substrate and you rarely ever see the MTS on the surface or they get munched.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Oh thank god clown loachs eat mts ! You see when i get my new tanks is going to be 345 US gals and its going to be a big enough job just doing the basic tank maintanence, i had big fears that it was just going to be too big to keep control over my mts populations. I think i will move the adult pair out of the big tank when i get it along with my apple and types of snails and just keep them in a small 10gal quarentine tank to keep it cycled and just dispose of any babys they produce by chucking them in the big tank with some clown loachs "yay"! .

Do people actually buy these things though? I mean, when i got my first mts i actually just walked into my lfs and they had just dowsed all the tanks in snail killer meds and had a couple of mts dying in one of the tanks, i asked if i could have them and they gave them to me for free. The snails quickly recovered from the poison after been in some clean water for a couple of weeks and i still have them today as my largest 3 snails .

 

[Teelie]

I don't know if people buy them. I went into an LFS one day, asked if they would let me have some (they were crawling all over their tank glass) and the lady said sure, people come in for them to feed their dwarf puffers all the time. I guess it never occured to the shop to sell them as "feeder snails" for puffers and loaches.

 

[SirMinion]

We have them in our community tank, but the loaches keep the population down.

The remaning surviving snails do a sterling job in ploughing the sand.

Snail infestations are sometimes an indication of over-feeding, especially with a carnivorous snail like the MTS which doesn't eat anything except uneaten food (doesn't eat plants or algae)

Small puffers should not be given MT snails as they have super-hard shells that can break the puffer's teeth.

 

[Teelie]

Not necessarily true. Like I said, people with dwarf puffers come in there all the time getting the trumpets and their shells really are not that hard. I'm not sure where that rumor started but it's not true in most cases.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

The way the snails survive in my tanks is that i feed my fish very few fish flakes but just lots frozen foods like bloodworms, daphinia, tubifex and krill on top of prawns and prawn eggs- despite my fish being realy peaceful they get realy competetive over food and what i usually do is put in more food than what they can eat and then remove it 15mins later- during this the snails get a good feeding as well as the fish.
I also feed my corys alot of catfish pelets becuase my plecs eat alot of them before they can get to them but i suppose that could also be contributing to the populations.

 

[SirMinion]

Not necessarily true. Like I said, people with dwarf puffers come in there all the time getting the trumpets and their shells really are not that hard. I'm not sure where that rumor started but it's not true in most cases.

[snapback]843028[/snapback]​

Perhaps, but 'most cases' isn't good enough for me. I'd rather not risk it.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Not necessarily true. Like I said, people with dwarf puffers come in there all the time getting the trumpets and their shells really are not that hard. I'm not sure where that rumor started but it's not true in most cases.

[snapback]843028[/snapback]​

Perhaps, but 'most cases' isn't good enough for me. I'd rather not risk it.

[snapback]843041[/snapback]​

If you starved the snails of calcium while they were growing, their shells would be very week and not hard enough to damage the puffers- heh, i could start up a modified feeder mts buisness

 

[SirMinion]

Not necessarily true. Like I said, people with dwarf puffers come in there all the time getting the trumpets and their shells really are not that hard. I'm not sure where that rumor started but it's not true in most cases.

[snapback]843028[/snapback]​

Perhaps, but 'most cases' isn't good enough for me. I'd rather not risk it.

[snapback]843041[/snapback]​

If you starved the snails of calcium while they were growing, their shells would be very week and not hard enough to damage the puffers- heh, i could start up a modified feeder mts buisness

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Heh, nice try but MT snails apparently use mica to renforce their shells, and part of the shells' hardness is to do with the design. the combination of the two results in a very hard shell indeed.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

"Doh!"

 

[lucky62]

The snails will also eat each other when food for them becomes scarce or non existent , also I had skunk loaches eat them in my tanks , they eat the snail right out of the shell .
You may or may not want remove empty shells , many empty shells .

I've had MTS in my tanks for many years , they are an integral part of my ecosystems .

Sorry you're having such problems , good look , loaches should make a dent .

 

[Synirr]

Trumpet snails got introduced into my first tank by accident via live plants, but I love them! I've since transfered them to every tank I have. They do a great job of cleaning up uneaten food (such as wafers my bottom-feeders can't quite polish off, and whatever the fry don't eat in my betta fry tanks) Sure, they reproduce like mad, but they're rather pretty and stay off the glass most of the time, so I don't mind them one bit. Just looks like gravel mixed in with the sand to me

 

[Snailguy101]

Buy a clown loach...or 5 lol

 

[Aylana]

I love my MTS's! I got them on purpose in the hopes that they would turn over my sand and eat some of the pond snails that were taking over my tank. They are cute and practical! I've been overfeeding at night recently in the hopes that my new plec will come out of hiding and eat so I have lots and lots of baby MTS now! But now the plec is a bit less shy I will cut down on the food and the population should steady out a bit. They are great little guys, if you don't want them go and sell them on ebay!