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January 14th, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| Fish or Snail to Stir Up Sand?
I was wondering what type of fish or snail would be good to stir up the sand in my twenty gallon tank would be. The sand is pool filter sand, and the fish (when it's done cycling) will be:
1 Dwarf Gourami
6 Neon or Black Neon tetras (small variety)
3 Otos
3 Cories (panda or other similarly-sized)
I keep hearing about ' MTS' snails, but I'm not sure what that stands for. What are they, and would they work in this tank? Thanks for reading! | 
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January 14th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| They're Malaysian Trumpet Snails. They're great for stirring up the sand. They look like this:  | |
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January 14th, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| Wow, that's a pretty neat looking snail! Do most fish stores carry those? | |
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January 14th, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| Yup, even if they don't want to (they come on plants)! Most pet shops treat them as pests and will give them to you for free  | |
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January 14th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| The Corys will stir the sand up. They're like little vacumn cleaners! | |
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January 14th, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| Thanks for the info and advice, everyone!
So nick, I may not need the snails at all? I'd rather not have them if they're not necessary, as I hear they can quickly get out of hand in terms of population. Stupid asexual reproducing freaks of nature! :P | |
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January 14th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Didgeridoo  Wow, that's a pretty neat looking snail! Do most fish stores carry those? |
They can reproduce pretty rapidly | |
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January 14th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| I wouldn't have them if you want live plants, they'll destroy them. I'd just go with the Corys. If you do want a snail, get one that isn't asexual. Like an Apple or Mystery Snail. | |
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January 14th, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| All right, thank you very much! I like corys and don't especially enjoy snails, so that's good news for me. I also already have a few live plants in there, so that's a very helpful bit of info- didn't know they uprooted plants. | |
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January 14th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| I keep mine with live plants and they leave them alone, spend most of their time in the dirt. I just make sure to feed them a few times a week.
And I got mine at Petsmart where they were infesting the tanks  | |
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January 14th, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick Goody I wouldn't have them if you want live plants, they'll destroy them. I'd just go with the Corys. If you do want a snail, get one that isn't asexual. Like an Apple or Mystery Snail. | They only eat rotting plants so only eat the plants you dont want in your tank anymore. They don't eat a lot of this either.
They will grow in population to the amount of algae you have so if you dont have much algae you wont have a ton of them. Also most spend the day under the sand. They will also stir the sand a lot deeper then fish will since they burrow instead of just brushing the top. | |
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January 14th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| MTS will not touch plants, neither will Mystery snails. APPLE snails WILL eat plants & reproduce by themselves. My friend had an apple snail and by the by the next week, she had 18 snails. | |
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January 14th, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| Hmmm. Okay, so no apple snails. For reference, can somebody post a picture of an apple snail so I don't get one by accident?
Do mystery snails turn the sand? | |
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January 14th, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| Holy crud, is that person holding a snail half the size of her hand?! 
Thanks for the pic and info, Amanda! | |
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January 14th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| No problem, that's a pretty good site for pics.
I like to browse it every once in a while. | |
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January 25th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| As a last resort.............
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick Goody I wouldn't have them if you want live plants, they'll destroy them. I'd just go with the Corys. If you do want a snail, get one that isn't asexual. Like an Apple or Mystery Snail. | MTS eat plants as a last resort. You would have to have a super clean tank for this to happen much. | |
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January 25th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| lol, yeah the apple snail really is that big. they get HUGE, i've seen them the size of a grapefruit. i'd definitely stay away from them unless that's what you're looking for. corys will stir up the sand to a certain extent, but they'll really only sift around at the very top, at least that's what mine do, i'm not 100% about everyone elses and whether or not they go further, but mine mostly sift. if you really want something to aerate the sand, the MTS is your best bet.
oh, and if you do get the snails and also have a population problem, just get some kind of weight and tie a piece of cucumber or lettuce to it, put it in the tank overnight, and in the AM take it out and throw it away or whatever you want, really. lots of snails will have gotten to it throughout the night.
Last edited by agabr123; January 25th, 2009 at 03:49 AM.
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February 1st, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| why has no one mentioned khuli loaches? these fish are great for mixing up sand and are absolutly a blast to watch go full speed head first into the sand. although u may not see them much when the lights are on | |
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February 6th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick Goody I wouldn't have them if you want live plants, they'll destroy them. I'd just go with the Corys. If you do want a snail, get one that isn't asexual. Like an Apple or Mystery Snail. | I have a mts snail farm(for my soon-to-be 75g w/ sand
I put plants in it and no, they did not destroy them
mts dont eat plants unless starved | |
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