Having Malaysian Trumpet Snail in a planted tank. Can or Cannot?

[Filet-O-Fish]

Hi
I want to know what are the pros and cons of having Malaysian Trumpet Snail in a planted tank with monte carlo carpet plants. I have read that they good at eating algae and most important of all, they burrow into the substrate to eat detritus and aerate the substrate. My tank had ADA aquasoil ( normal ADA aquasoil topped up with 2 inches of powder type aquasoil).

There are 2 things which concern me.
1. Will they uproot carpet plants when they come out of the soil during night time?
2. Will they breed beyond control like normal snails.

Would appreciate member's' experience on this.
Cheers. :-)

[fireblade]

Better don't! it will be a nightmare if you want to remove them.. they breed like rabbits and hide in soil when light is on.
I have to soak my gravels in hot boiling water for a few rounds before I total wipe them out in my 1 footer...

[Filet-O-Fish]

Better don't! it will be a nightmare if you want to remove them.. they breed like rabbits and hide in soil when light is on.
I have to soak my gravels in hot boiling water for a few rounds before I total wipe them out in my 1 footer...

Yeah true. They don't lay eggs but give out live young ones. How many snails did you start off with in your tank?
Quite a drastic measure to clean your gravel.

[fireblade]

I am not sure, when I took over the 1 feet tank, there were some lapis sand inside so I reused and then it haunt me for few years before I take the drastic move...
adding puffer is of no use because with puffer around, they disappeared in the sand I think , then when puffer die, all appear again...
best thing is 30mins after lights off and you turn on the light, they are everywhere!

[PKB]

There are a nightmare to me. Their shell are too hard for mini puffer to crack and I have 15 Assassin snail in my 4 Footer just to hunt them down. One year on and they are still there.

[Urban Aquaria]

Your carpet plants will already be aerating the soil with their roots and consuming nutrients from the waste that break-down in the soil... therefore no need to add these type of snails in to do those jobs, their burrowing action can also eventually uproot plants too.

If introduced, malaysian trumpet snails will eventually become pests and start to appear everywhere, they are super hardy and can withstand even harsh chemical treatments. Its a big headache to remove them once they establish.

For algae management, use nerite snails instead, excellent algae eater and no chance of overpopulation.

[Filet-O-Fish]

There are a nightmare to me. Their shell are too hard for mini puffer to crack and I have 15 Assassin snail in my 4 Footer just to hunt them down. One year on and they are still there.

Eeeeeeek! Forget about Malaysian Trumpet snails. Too many horror stories.
Btw these don't lay eggs but produce young snails.
But I notice American & UK websites sing praises of this snails. Here's one below:
http://www.aquariumdomain.com/viewFr...eshwater_id=23

[Filet-O-Fish]

Your carpet plants will already be aerating the soil with their roots and consuming nutrients from the waste that break-down in the soil... therefore no need to add these type of snails in to do those jobs, their burrowing action can also eventually uproot plants too.

If introduced, malaysian trumpet snails will eventually become pests and start to appear everywhere, they are super hardy and can withstand even harsh chemical treatments. Its a big headache to remove them once they establish.

For algae management, use nerite snails instead, excellent algae eater and no chance of overpopulation.

i saw some healthy snails at Aquatic Avenue-Redhill the other day, so I thought of getting one or two but now I'm not.

[fireblade]

wise choice

[Emperios]

Quick jump.
Advantage & Disadvantage of nerite snails?
I heard that they will escape out of tank.
Won't it be troublesome?

[PKB]

Those praises probably written before those MTS took over the tank , 4 or 5 pcs are fine but not 400-500 pcs.
My Assassin snail have so much to eat that they themselves start reproducing in my tank. Faints...

Eeeeeeek! Forget about Malaysian Trumpet snails. Too many horror stories.
Btw these don't lay eggs but produce young snails.
But I notice American & UK websites sing praises of this snails. Here's one below:
http://www.aquariumdomain.com/viewFr...eshwater_id=23

[Filet-O-Fish]

Those praises probably written before those MTS took over the tank , 4 or 5 pcs are fine but not 400-500 pcs.
My Assassin snail have so much to eat that they themselves start reproducing in my tank. Faints...

LOL. I like your sense of humor.

[Filet-O-Fish]

Quick jump.
Advantage & Disadvantage of nerite snails?
I heard that they will escape out of tank.
Won't it be troublesome?

No they don't or at least from my tank. When I have my Co2 high, they will go up to the water surface. Once Co2 is off, they go back into the tank. So far in the 4 months they've been in the tank, they didn't try to escape.

[Urban Aquaria]

Quick jump.
Advantage & Disadvantage of nerite snails?
I heard that they will escape out of tank.
Won't it be troublesome?

Advantage of nerite snails is they are excellent algae eaters (can even clear green spot algae to a certain extent) and they don't multiply in freshwater aquariums. In addition, they come in many nice colors and patterns too.

Disadvantage of nerite snails is the females may lay tough white eggs around the tank, although the eggs will not hatch (they need brackish to saltwater conditions to hatch and develop), the sight of the white eggs on plants and hardscape can be abit annoying.

Of course, if you happen to only have male nerite snails, they you have the best of both worlds, great algae crew + no eggs.

Nerite snails do crawl above the water line and sometimes out onto the rim of the tank, they are tidal snails so its part of their natural instinct to migrate from pool to pool, though most of the time they will just sit above the water surface for a while, then crawl back into the tank. Over the past few years keeping nerite snails, i've only encountered once when a nerite snail actually drop on the floor (probably it lost its way), luckily i found it and put it back into the tank.

[skytan]

any way to identify a male nerite snail from a female one.

:P

Pretty obvious what my intentions are. hehehe

[Emperios]

any way to identify a male nerite snail from a female one.

:P

Pretty obvious what my intentions are. hehehe

For Nerite Snail Species, It look like to differentiate the gender would be to look at their Right Eyes.
Female would have antennae & right eye unfolded while Male would have them folded.

You should try to view this.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=150755

[Urban Aquaria]

any way to identify a male nerite snail from a female one.

:P

Pretty obvious what my intentions are. hehehe

Okay, here is how i find out if a nerite snail is male:

1) It is adult sized and yet still does not lay any eggs in an algae-filled tank for many months.
2) It crawls on top of other nerite snails very often.
3) When it crawls on another nerite snail, it secrets a white stringy substance (no prizes for guessing what that is)... <--- this is confirmation.

Any nerite snails which i notice exhibit all 3 characteristic (especially factor number 3), i'll shift them to my display tanks as algae management crew (they'll be worth their weight in gold!).

The females i just leave them in my grow-out tanks to continue living there, they can lay their eggs and its still okay since the tanks are not on display anyways.

For Nerite Snail Species, It look like to differentiate the gender would be to look at their Right Eyes.
Female would have antennae & right eye unfolded while Male would have them folded.

You should try to view this.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=150755

I guess that could work for certain larger species of nerite snails, though i also tried looking with magnifying glass but still can't spot the difference (maybe my eyes not sharp enough)... but for horned nerite snails, its almost impossible to see those details due to their smaller size, so have to use other methods of detection.

[Filet-O-Fish]

For Nerite Snail Species, It look like to differentiate the gender would be to look at their Right Eyes.
Female would have antennae & right eye unfolded while Male would have them folded.
You should try to view this.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=150755

Fantastic info. Thanks. :-)

[Filet-O-Fish]

The females i just leave them in my grow-out tanks to continue living there, they can lay their eggs and its still okay since the tanks are not on display anyways.

I don't have the luxury of having multiple tanks like you....well not yet but if I do find that my snail is a female and I want to take it out of my tank, can I let it go in a nearby pond. Will it survive in pond water?

I don't have to heart to let something die due to my neglect or with my intent........do I sound mushy and all that?

Cheers


P.S. UA, your recent YouTube video of your tank is fantastic. But I wish you'll make the videos a bit longer with more details ( different angles shots of your tanks , your hardware setup, sneak peek into your filtrations and flow setup etc.....). Thanks in advance.

For members who want to see it:

[Urban Aquaria]

I don't have the luxury of having multiple tanks like you....well not yet but if I do find that my snail is a female and I want to take it out of my tank, can I let it go in a nearby pond. Will it survive in pond water?

I don't have to heart to let something die due to my neglect or with my intent........do I sound mushy and all that?

Not sure about snail predators in local ponds, but probably not a good idea to release snails there. Maybe just give them away instead.

I guess you could also put a smaller tank in the spare space under your current tank too, can use it as a quarantine/holding tank or perhaps a shrimp grow-out tank... there should be large enough space for it since you are running a 4ft tank.

Just an example, mine is a 2ft tank cabinet and i still managed to put a 10 liter cube tank inside it: http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...t-Layout-Ideas

Its a great opportunity to add another tank, yet without taking up more room space.

P.S. UA, your recent YouTube video of your tank is fantastic. But I wish you'll make the videos a bit longer with more details ( different angles shots of your tanks , your hardware setup, sneak peek into your filtrations and flow setup etc.....). Thanks in advance.

Good idea, i'll try taking photos and video from different viewable angles in future tank updates.

Btw, my hardware and filtration is still the same as previous setups, no change from my original cabinet layout in the link above.