# Malaysian Trumpet Snails



## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

Does anyone here have any MTS in their tanks or have had them in the past? If so, what do you think of them? Would you recommend them to others?

I've considered getting some of these little guys to add to my NPT but after reading about how quickly they reproduce, I'm not sure I'd want my tank overrun with snails. Also, can anyone tell me more about them like do they eat meat like baby snails, etc., would they be okay to add to a NPT, do they eat algae and so on. I have pond snails in my tank and I wouldn't want the MTS eating their eggs. I also have critters like Cyclops, Hydra, Planaria as well as others that I don't have names for in my tank. Will MTS eat those? They are a good live food source for my Betta so I wouldn't want the snails eating all of them up on him.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.


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## Jeff.:P:. (Nov 20, 2007)

Supposedly they do a great job of moving around the substrate and eating mulm, organic build-up. They do reproduce very quickly and start swarming all over the place. I had so many that I got a Queen Botia (loach) to eat some. The Botia can't eat the larger ones due to the hard shell. Also the botia got accustomed to eating algae flakes ment for the shrimp, so now he doesn't eat many of the snails. IMO the Trumpet snail can become a pest very quickly. Manual removal, loaches, chemicals are some of the methods used to remove these guys. Mine came on plants, and even though the population is somewhat low, they can rebound very quickly and become a p.i.a.


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

They can reproduce quickly but the populations in my tanks seem to stabilize based on available food. They do a good job of cleaning the bottom of detritus and will climb the glass and plants in the evening/night and clean those of some algae. It's easy to scoop them off the glass at that time if you want to decrease the population a bit. Most of the time during the day I don't even see mine as they are buried in the substrate. I've never had a problem with them stirring up the soil underlayer. They haven't caused any problems with other snails in my tanks. All in all I like having them and do see benefits from keeping them.


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## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

for me I absolutely love them. In my opinion I believe that they are by far the best snail to have in your tank. They stir up the substrate and also eat the detritus that is buried underneath. I am a huge fan of them. They also look very cool too...

If you want to get rid of them please DO NOT use any chemicals, it will do more harm than good. There are many methods to safely remove snails including "traps", zucchini slice, and loaches.


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

I like them & recommend them. Don't over feed the fish and the snail population will be kept under control. They will not harm the "critters" in your tank either.


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## Aquaspot (Jan 19, 2006)

These are peaceful livebearer snails and will not disturb anything much besides your substrate. Think of them as earthworms in your garden. The benefits are similar.

You should not see a lot of them during lights on since they prefer to roam in the night. As mentioned by trenac, don't overfeed and their population can be kept under control.


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## gotcheaprice (Sep 4, 2007)

Alright, I was also wondering about this xD I'm gonna go to my LFS and ask them for snails, lol. I was considering ramshorns only since I have a hair algae problem, but MTS seems like a good idea (the otos won't eat D


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## Adragontattoo (Jun 3, 2007)

Copied from my local plant club site:

Ok the 20L I just set up(3 weeks ago) has gravel that has sat in a bucket undisturbed for the better part of a year.

The plants all came from my other tanks.

I just found multiple MTS all 1/2" long roaming around.

I have NO MTS in any other tanks.

Anyone even want to hazard a guess at how long they can live without water?

__________________________________________________________________

I googled a bit and found out that they can live an extended amount of time without water in certain conditions due to the trap door.


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## Squawkbert (Jan 3, 2007)

Since they can "close" their shells, at least a couple of days. If they can go into any sort of torpor, it could be more like weeks. Given the quoted experience, it could be years...


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## rohape (Feb 7, 2005)

I guess it depends what you consider as pest.  Here's a link for my MTS.
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...anted-aquariums/46905-got-mts.html#post349341


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## Round Head (Feb 28, 2006)

I just can't keep them alive.
All I see in my tank are the shells of dead snails; lately not a single live snail crawling around.
Are they sensitve to soft acidic water?


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## rohape (Feb 7, 2005)

I know snails need calcium. That's not to say that your snails are dieing because your water is soft and acidic. There could be other culprits like fish. 
What do the snails shell look like before they pass, and what do their shells look like in general?


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

Wow! That's a lot of snails, Rohape!

Thanks for the replies, everyone. You know, although it would be nice to have some of these guys in my tank, knowing my luck, I'd end up overrun with them and this is one snail my betta won't be able to keep under control so I think I'll try to get a hold of an Olive Nerite instead. A friend of mine is going to try to send me one from Toronto if I can't get there to get one myself.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Adragontattoo said:


> Anyone even want to hazard a guess at how long they can live without water?


I think months is a good guess for these guys. I tore down a few tanks in mid September preparing for a move and put the substrate (Soilmaster Select) in 5g buckets. The substrate was far from dry but not sopping wet either. A month ago I gave the substrate to a fellow SWOAPE member who left it in his garage. I got one of these buckets of substrate back last weekend and not only were there still MTS alive but also Pond and Ramshorn snails. I don't think they need much in the way of moisture to stay alive.


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

Round Head said:


> I just can't keep them alive.
> All I see in my tank are the shells of dead snails; lately not a single live snail crawling around.
> Are they sensitve to soft acidic water?


Everything that I've read up on snails said that they need to be in water with a pH balance of at least 7.0 or 7.4 and the harder the water is, the better. Soft, acidic water can erode their shells.


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## feiyang (Jan 27, 2007)

My tank ph is always around 6.6 and MTS repro a lot and grow up. I like them in my Aquasoil to clean up food leftover. When I think there are too many MTS, I pick up the biggest one by hand, so let the babies grow. They normally hide in the substrate, so not very disturbing to me. Feeding less food will have a good control to their population.


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