To many trumpet snails....

HI all! So I know that MTS snails are invasive. I put about 5 of them into my REP (red eye puffer) tank (15g) thinking that the puffer will keep the population in control and them moving through the substrate will give some air to the plant roots, which is a win. Plus the puffer can get some midnight treats, lol. I don’t go down much after I turn off the lights so I haven’t really seen much of how the snail population has grown. I see a couple snails surface every now and again during the day so I figured it was probably at a reasonable level, nope. I just went down and I genuinely thought someone had dumped rocks all over my tank then noticed they were all MTS. I want some opinions, should I try to get them under control? I mean I never see them during the day and I am sure the extra nitrate is good for the plants (BTW the tank is heavily planted with very nitrate absorbing plants like amazon sword, two species of Sagittaria, water spangles, ect.) plus 15% water changes every week the water parameters are stable so I am not worried about the REP. The only other fish in the tank is a farrowella catfish, 3 ottos, a bunch of ghost shrimp and some baby black diamond shrimp (the mother passed). If they won’t end up doing any harm to the tank then I will leave them alone but I would assume they might at least be annoying some of the shrimp or the puffer. If you do recommend I get them under control what would you recommend to get that won’t totally eliminate them? Thanks

 

Your puffer probably won’t eat them because they have such a hard shell, I love mts, once you get a couple hundred you have your own personal gravel vacuum that works 24/7. I would keep them

 

Agreeing with CoryFan MTS have a very hard shell, they will control the population over the next couple months. Usually it’s builds and builds then you run out of food and have a die off leaving you with a way smaller amount

 

Ok, I think I will just keep them, thank you!

Question: will they burrow in gravel? Some spots in my 130 are difficult to gravel vac so having a auto vacuum would be nice. I fact if they burrow in gravel could I just put them in all my tanks?

 

Question: will they burrow in gravel? Some spots in my 130 are difficult to gravel vac so having a auto vacuum would be nice. I fact if they burrow in gravel could I just put them in all my tanks?

Yes, they will burrow and aerate the substrate. I usually keep mine in sand but gravel will work too

 

Yes, they will burrow and aerate the substrate. I usually keep mine in sand but gravel will work too

Alright, would you recommend putting them in all my tanks?

 

Alright, would you recommend putting them in all my tanks?

I believe that is up to you, I personally have different snails in each of my tanks because I have a fancy for snails If you like them that much then heck yeah! They also save some substrates for growing denitrifying bacteria which is good for planted tanks!

 

Not sure if this is the thread you want deleted or that one was deleted allready. But here’s my 2 cents about mts. There great in a planted tank! I have them in mine and I think they are the difference between my 90 with eco and my plant struggling and my 125 with gravel and everything growing in there. Mts can’t get through the eco so there above it and the clown loaches eat them. The gravel they go through it and eat whatever is in it. Including dead plant life.
Now the reason you have so many now is there must have been plenty of stuff in your gravel. They reproduce to the amount of food than just die off to what’s needed. They won’t bother anything and have a tiny bioload. I’m surprised the puffer didn’t eat the first 5. Thing with mts is they have a hard shell so maybe the puffer can’t crack the shell. I have clown loaches and they will eat them. They suck them out of the shell.