# Are MTS (Malaysian Trumpet Snails) beneficial for planted tanks?



## lybrian1 (Aug 10, 2010)

Are MTS Friend or Foe?
MTS are suppose to move the gravel and help clean up the tank, but the downside seems to be that they multiply like crazy.
I need to know for my 10g planted shrimp tank. should i add an MTS?
will they multiply with just one snail? im not sure how they reproduce


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## qwerty (Dec 15, 2009)

Yes they are good for a planted tank. I'm pretty sure most people will tell you that... The real question is do you want them or not...

Personally I like them. Yes they multiply like crazy, but that doesn't bother me... Most of the food for them is on the substrate, so that's where they stay, so I rarely see more than a dozen on the glass during the day.

You can remove them manually if the population gets to be a little much. Making sure not to overfeed is a good way to control the population as well, as they will multiply more when there's more food.

Just be aware that once you've introduced them you probably wont be able to get rid of them if you ever want to keep inverts in that tank again.


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## bae (May 11, 2007)

I have a tank with sand substrate and giant vallisneria. I got some assassin snails to experiment with. I had a lot of MTS in this tank and the vals were flourishing. Once the assassins ate most of the MTS, the vals started to decline. I intend to get the assassins out of there if I can find them.

Since I put assassin snails in some of my tanks I've had problems with all kinds of algae I'd never seen before. I usually have a good population of ramshorn snails in tanks where the fish don't eat them, and they've apparently been controlling all sorts of algae without me being aware of it.

MTS are livebearers, and aren't hermaphrodites like some other snails. The adult females are significantly larger than the males, but I don't know how to tell a young female from a male.

Excessive multiplication of snails usually means overfeeding. It's better that uneaten food be converted into live snails than rot and foul the water, but it's better not to overfeed.

IMHO, snails of types that don't eat plants are helpful. The only exception is in breeding tanks where they will eat fish eggs if the parents don't protect them. They are great in fry tanks because you want to feed fry heavily and it's hard not to overfeed. The snails will clean up the excess and keep the water cleaner.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

The reason some people like MTS is that they dig and overturn sand substrates, which is needed to prevent build ups of toxic gas pockets.

However, that is unnecessary if your tank contains rooted plants. The root system of the plants will absorb any organic waste and prevent toxic gas build ups.

Personally, I don't like MTS because they're almost impossible to get rid of, and they're rather unsightly.


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