• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Should I add MTS?? - Yeay or Nay?

Mr Bee

Member
Joined
14 Aug 2008
Messages
62
Location
Wakefield, West Yorkshire
I'm thinking of adding some MTS to my tank, and have read lots of mixed reviews about wether they are a pest or a benefit.

So I'm just posting this to try and get a broader and more specific sense of wether they are good or bad.

I have a 60L well mature tank, with 5 Neons, 6 Glowlights and ~6 RCS. A bit of live planting (spiky moss and Java fern, but only added yesterday, and only young plants) and a gravel substrate.

Basically, I've read good things, that they aerate substrate, stop gas pockets, eat any dead plant matter or uneaten food that the fish or shrimp don't find. I assume as they burrow in gravel they will eat any food bits that sink depper into it before it has a chance to rot?

I just don't want to be overrun by them to the point that the tank is full of them and I can't get rid of them. What is everyones opinion on these little dudes?

Are they 8) or are they :twisted:
 
The only problem my MTS cause is with hairgrass - the buggers are forever uprooting it when they bury themselves, and when the entire foreground is covered, its hard to replant individual blades of grass.
 
Personally I don't like them. I think Nerites are nice looking snails, but MTS are a bit ugly. Here is my two penneth...

Yeay...
All th good things you have heard are true.
if you get too many of them, it is a good sign that you are overfeeding. So you squish a few and feed less!
They are nice to look at (in some peoples opinion!)

Nay....
They are ugly to look at! (in some peoples opinion!)
Once you have them in your tank it won't be easy to get rid of them (assuming you would want to at some stage).
 
I would agree with a1matt, they do all the good things people say they do but once you've got them, they're there for good.

As for them looking ugly, I really think that's personal opinion, and also down to water type. I've had 2 or 3 starter colonies over the years and they've all arrived with gnarled shells, once in my tank the new shells they grow start to look really impressive, but then I have a high Ph and hard water, ideal snail stuff really.

There are also different types, see the snail shop for some examples.

I just end up replanting the uprooted hair grass along with my regular prune, once it's rooted better they soon have more difficulty freeing it :)

Basically my opinion is that they're hard workers who can be kept in check by reducing how much you feed. As with any animal they look better if they are kept in conditions which suit them, but unfortunately you can't undo the harm done, if they have a gnarled shell when you get them it will always be like that, only the new growth can be affected (like our hair and fingernails). Not to worry though because the new generations will all have new shells :) I wouldn't have my tank without them.
 
I was watching one of mine this morning, he was shuffling through the sand and he really reminded me of a wild boar snuffling for truffles! I find them really interesting to watch... but of course I could just be strange :oops:
 
I started with 6, ended with hundreds after 6 or 8 months. It was a realy problem as I had a parasite problem and couldn't treat my fish without killing the snails... 100 snails all dieing at the same time is not a good thing...
 
I have to say that Mahogany brown and glossy black sounds quite nice. The only MTS I have ever had were in a tank that had been passed to me in really bad condition so they were pretty grotty.

If you do treat a tank to get rid of MTS I would imagine you would probably have to use a copper based solution, which would wave goodbye to any shrimp as well.
 
a1Matt said:
If you do treat a tank to get rid of MTS I would imagine you would probably have to use a copper based solution, which would wave goodbye to any shrimp as well.
Steve said it was a parasite problem so I'm guessing it was flubenzanol (sp?) which is shrimp safe but snail lethal.
 
Egmel said:
a1Matt said:
If you do treat a tank to get rid of MTS I would imagine you would probably have to use a copper based solution, which would wave goodbye to any shrimp as well.
Steve said it was a parasite problem so I'm guessing it was flubenzanol (sp?) which is shrimp safe but snail lethal.

Oops. Sorry All, my bad. I misread it that he wanted to kill the snails!
 
So the general feeling is yeay!

I'm seriously thinking of adding some then - but do they escape from the tank, or do they like to stay under water?


Just been looking at snailshop.co.uk and they have standard MTS, Mahogany, and Dominican MTS..... Are they basically all the same thing (regards to benefits/requirements/breeding etc.) just with different colours and textures on their shells?
 
Mr Bee said:
So the general feeling is yeay!

I'm seriously thinking of adding some then - but do they escape from the tank, or do they like to stay under water?


Just been looking at snailshop.co.uk and they have standard MTS, Mahogany, and Dominican MTS..... Are they basically all the same thing (regards to benefits/requirements/breeding etc.) just with different colours and textures on their shells?

Pretty much yes, although they are different species so wont hybridise (most of them are self fertile anyway, so wouldn't matter much).

I have had mahogany trumpet snails in a sand based tank for a couple of months now, feeding is fairly reduced in this tank and as such I have not had the population explosion that some folks get, each snail having about 1 baby each in this entire time.

As to treating parasites etc, touch wood I just don't get these. The worst I have had was a platy that I observed to have an anchor worm upon getting it home a few years ago, I just mechanicaly removed it and the platy recovered quickly.

Ade
 
Mr Bee said:
do they escape from the tank, or do they like to stay under water?
They stay in the water :)
Just been looking at snailshop.co.uk and they have standard MTS, Mahogany, and Dominican MTS..... Are they basically all the same thing (regards to benefits/requirements/breeding etc.) just with different colours and textures on their shells?
Yup, though I'd say I see less of my mahogany ones than I do my standard MTS. I think they're even more nocturnal!
 
I have a tank just for MTS :D

Nothing wrong with them, you can get a pretty fancy snail but the MTS is the solid trusted backbone of aquarium snails ;)

Free if you want some? :D
 
spaldingaquatics said:
Free if you want some? :D

Yes please, if you're offering! :D
 
Hard to believe that years ago when I started in the hobby aquarists tried everything to eliminate MTS (were referred to as Malaysian sand snails back then.) from their tanks as they were considered an absolute pest. :lol: In fact back when I started most snails were considered a bad idea, mainly because it was felt that they too often acted as an intermediate host for too many types of parasite.

Ade
 
spaldingaquatics said:
You're fired from my snail sales team :lol: ;)

Shouldn't that be "Snales team"? ;)
 
Back
Top