Anybody have experience with malaysian trumpet snails housed with silver arowana or bichirs? I'm wondering if my 4" ornate bichir will eat and/or choke on these little snails. Not too worried about my 8" aro, but I can't rule it out. I'm looking to buy some MTS to help clean and aerate my sand substrate. Any posts welcome.
Malaysian Trumpet Snail Safe in Aro/Poly Tank?
- Thread starter Towhead
- Start date
No takers eh? Well for those who may be slightly interested, I have since purchased and received the snails from Alpha-pro breeders online and introduced them into my tank. The snails were very lively when I received them. I acclimated them for about an hour, and dropped them to the bottom. They proceeded immediately to move all over the tank making little trails in the sand as they went. I think they're in heaven because I have plenty of algae in there for them to eat. As of today, (I think) no snails have been eaten. My poly swam right over the top of a couple of them and didn't seem to notice they were even alive. The aro as expected stayed at the top and hasn't bothered the snails either. My tetras have also stayed away. For now it seems they fit together perfectly. I'll try an upload some pics soon. 
Post a picture a year from now when they overrun your tank. Most people can't give Malaysian trumpet snails away. LOL!
haha. You're probably right. I can already see tiny snail babies on the glass! 
Oh well. I seem to enjoy learning the hard way. For now I still like them and think it was a good decision for the tank. We'll see how I feel in a year if you are correct.
Oh well. I seem to enjoy learning the hard way. For now I still like them and think it was a good decision for the tank. We'll see how I feel in a year if you are correct.When you had enough, introduce assassin snails..and yes, they do what their name suggests.
I actually want some snails in my big tank but am afraid my 30 clown loaches would make little snacks out of them.
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I actually want some snails in my big tank but am afraid my 30 clown loaches would make little snacks out of them.
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Thanks for the info! I've heard that about clown loaches.
So is it that people get tired of seeing an abundance of snails in the tank? Are they just an eyesore, or do they create some sort of real damage to the tank ecosystem? So far they have done a great job with algae on the sides of my tank, the rocks, and the sand. They have also left my plants alone. Why do MTS get such a bad rap?
MTS can and will get into your filtration and do damage to impeller shafts ect.... by i have them in pretty much all my tanks... they make a great snack for my clownloaches, and pretty sure my rays eat them as well since those are the only 2 tanks not over run by them. i use sponges on my intake tubes to help keep them out of my filters.
That is awesome advice! I had not thought of that at all, and I can see how that would easily happen...especially with a HOB filter like I currently have where the pump is in front of the filtration.
I'm planning a 350 gallon plywood build with overflow weirs that draw water from the bottom of the tank and empty in a sump filtration unit after passing through several layers of mechanical and biological filtration. I will have to incorporate a sponge filter into the mix to protect my impeller like you advised.
Thanks for sharing!
Used to have a lot in my planted tank but since I added clown loaches, they seemed to have disappeared.
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After about 7 months I can say without a doubt, this combo works. The arowana and the bichir both do not eat the snails. I recently added a clown knife, and he also does not eat the snails. In fact, the snails multiply so fast, I don't think it would have mattered. The only way I keep the snail population in check is with my weekly vacuuming. I typically suck up at least 10 to 20. These poor little guys then get thrown out into the grass or plants with the rest of the water-change waste.
I would say I have a current MTS population around 300 to 500 (tiny ones included), so if anybody lives in the houston area and would like to have some of these snails in their tank, I would be happy to provide free of charge. They definitely do a good job of tank maintenance, but beware of their rate of multiplication! I don't mind them, because they don't eat my plants, but some might. I think one of their biggest roles is not with algae, but with breaking down fish poop into smaller particles which are then more readily accessible to bacteria.
I would say I have a current MTS population around 300 to 500 (tiny ones included), so if anybody lives in the houston area and would like to have some of these snails in their tank, I would be happy to provide free of charge. They definitely do a good job of tank maintenance, but beware of their rate of multiplication! I don't mind them, because they don't eat my plants, but some might. I think one of their biggest roles is not with algae, but with breaking down fish poop into smaller particles which are then more readily accessible to bacteria.
