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In my big tank I'm considering getting malaysian trumpet snails, since they appear not to be detrimental to plants, and help to keep the substrate maintained by disturbing it (they spend most of their time underneath it, emerging at night). They're particularly attractive to me as I just don't have the mobility to get to the bottom of the tank as much as I'd like for maintenance in the large tank - it's going to involve a LOT of swearing, wobbling on a stepladder and screaming for help as it is just for the setup!

Does anyone have any thoughts or comments on this species, and any potential downsides to introducing this species to a tank? The only downside would appear to be potential overpopulation, but I'm quite happy to sell on to the LFS in this event.

In my experience, they reproduce very quickly and soon offset the available bioload for fish in the tank. I would test the viability of selling these things, I don't know who would want them.

Again, from experience, they are very hard to remove from the substrate. Once you've got them, so far I've only found sun drying substrate as the only non-chemical method to completely remove them and that is labor intensive.

I am not sure a disturbed substrate is really that important; I leave mine undisturbed for the large part.

What I would recommend are Assassin snails, much less prolific, but prettier and you feel like you're keeping snails rather than witnessing a plague.

Jools

I put a few in every tank I have that has a sand substrate. I prefer a few extra snails (I agree with Jools, they do mulitply quickly) to pockets of noxious gas. There are a few catfish that will eat them: most Synodontis spp. and are ones that I've owned that eat them.

In soft water and with moderate feeding levels, mine do not multiply out of control and I feel they are a very positive thing. Their bioload is near-zero as they are just converting any left-over food into snail poo. It's no worse than the left-over food decaying on its own.


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I consider them a pain in the back side. Have plenty if you really want some and are passing you can pick em up.


Removed that lot just over a week ago and it made a dent but now looks like normal heavy feeding on that tank due to fry getting food past platy is not an easy task.

I use them in most of my tanks. I like how they keep the gravel and sand turned and eat excess food. Population explosions are a pain, but with the sand substrate I use a coarse net and sift the bottom to quickly remove them. in the gravel tanks I add a large pile of food to a corner and net them out as well. If you have any fish friends with loaches or puffers they usually line up to take the excess, otherwise they go into the garden.

Beware that they may get stuck at the impeller compartment of your pump and stop your filtration system.

JamesFish wrote:I consider them a pain in the back side. Have plenty if you really want some and are passing you can pick em up.

Removed that lot just over a week ago and it made a dent but now looks like normal heavy feeding on that tank due to fry getting food past platy is not an easy task.

Not sure of your tank size, but for aquarium, try google search this product "No-Planaria"



I use it to deal with MTS in my tanks with Tanganyika fishes and they ALL gone in a week leaving behind piles of corn shell.

My biggest problem occurred when some young ones ended up inside my magnum 350 canister filter and their shells ground into the impeller. Ended up needing a new one.


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MTS I have thousands between all my tanks I think there cracking wee things get in all nooks and crannies and clean everything up, good for eggs to you ifyou ever get any kicked out and you decide to put in a fry saver thing ,yes they breed quick but mine die quick as its very soft water my Hypans and Ancistus love to gnaw/suck away at the entrance of them also (Maybe trying to get at the snail itself for another food source of protein ???) never had any probs wih externals blocking with them but they do get into sponges etc and they keep those areas cleaner then when I didn't have mts its all down personal preference at end of day tried assassin snails never last more than a week in my tanks before they die .

I am another who has experienced problems with MTS getting stuck in power filter impellers of many makes and models.
Even if you don't deliberately introduce them it is very likely that sooner or later they will find their way into a tank on the roots of new plants. At first, they seem a welcome addition but a year or so later what was once some attractive substrate becomes littered with empty shells of dead snails and they only accumulate into an increasingly unsightly mess.
They can be almost unavoidable. I've even had them overrun almost bare bottom tanks with a sprinkling of sand; barely enough to conceal the bottom glass.
I never did get around to trying Assassin Snails but they sure sounded like an attractive option to me.
It is true that extremely soft acidic water impairs their shell growth it doesn't prevent it enough to truly control their numbers.
Maybe they are just something most of us just come to accept as part of aquarium ecology?

I find them a nuisance, at best!. But they are unavoidable, as Larry (apistomaster) says.

My tanks with botias or assassin snails are controlled, but I don't keep them in all my tanks.

I've wondered how many waterways they are in now.

Here's a mock-up I did

That's a good one Dave . I personally have never had any issues with MTS. However, I've always had loaches or Synodontis in all of my tanks. I wish I had more, the Synodontis eat them up like popcorn. Before I put Koi in my pond I would have loads of pond snails and I'd feed those to my Synos and they would eat them like nothing else I've ever fed them.

Jools wrote:What I would recommend are Assassin snails, much less prolific, but prettier and you feel like you're keeping snails rather than witnessing a plague.

Jools

My thoughts exactly.

Blaise

Dave,
Great job!
I found it hilarious.

I have them (MTS) in some tanks, but I wish I didn't. Assassin snails are much prettier and reproduce more slowly. (Although they reproduce fairly quickly and some tanks and other tanks not at all. I can't figure out the cause of the difference.)

After introducing assassin snails in my tank to keep the mts under control, I found they eventually became the only species, who then slowly died off. I now don't have a single snail of either variety in my tank!

I'm going to give them a try in the small tank, and consider them carefully for my large tank.

Would urge you to be careful the eggs will move with ornaments water / nets and once in one tank its only a matter of time till they spread to the rest. 1 small mistake when tired or not thinking and they will be in.

JamesFish wrote:Would urge you to be careful the eggs will move with ornaments water / nets and once in one tank its only a matter of time till they spread to the rest. 1 small mistake when tired or not thinking and they will be in.

Are you referring to MTS or Assassin snails?
MTS are livebearers and Assassin snails are self-limiting once they run out of other snails to eat.

I thought the MTS lay eggs my mistake they must just be tiny but they are a huge pain to get rid of once they are in.

apistomaster wrote: MTS are livebearers and Assassin snails are self-limiting once they run out of other snails to eat.

That's only partially true for the Assassins. I brought some in my 20 gallon breeding tank to take care of pond snails and they ate all the snails and are now happily eating fish food. They do seem to require other snails to breed rapidly though, as I have not seen my population grow much since all the other snails are gone. I do see new snails here and then, but nowhere near the population I had when I had pond snails in there. I've since spread the assassins around to take care of snails in my other tanks. Great little guys.

I've had MTS in the 125 tank for a week now. So far I can't report any drawbacks, unfortunately neither can I report massive advantages to them - apart from having something else in the tank to look at (every now and then one climbs the glass).

I'm currently slowly migrating the inhabitants of this tank to a larger tank (since Mr and Mrs Plec, our bristlenoses are breeding like mad), prior to remodelling to home L333's, I shall see how the snails do.

The main reason that migration is being taken so slowly is that there's another recently hatched batch of fry still in residence. Since one of the main causes of young plec death is malnutrition, I tend to overfeed a little to ensure plentiful food for all, I'm wondering if the MTS will come into their own at this point.

I have a Zue Island cichid tank (4 Males: 7 Females) along with my L-106 and L-014

The MTS do not cause any trouble. When i place cucumber in the tank for the plecos, which i grow in my backyard, the MTS eat the seeds afterwars. At night i can tell that the population is large but in the daytime or anytime my lights are on, honestly, you have a hard time knowing they are even there unless you know you are looking for them. I don't have any issues with them, but i can see how someone would consider them a nuissance if not in the right conditions. My tank is heavily planted and i do over-filtration. I have a 55 gallon - long, and i run two 2213 EHEIM canisters.