Bottom feeder to help keep sand free of wasted food. Sand bottom.

[Fresh808]

Does anyone have any idea before I go consult the local LFS peeps for advice what would be a good bottom feeder that would eat most of the wasted food that ends up on the sandy bottom. Small catfish, or??? I need them for my 75 & my 30.
Thanks,
Scott

 

[shadyfish]

I use cory catfish, red tailed sharks and mystery snails as my clean up crew but there's lots of different fish you can use as bottom feeders depending on the fish you have you could even use ghost shrimp

 

[BigJim]

Cories love sand. MTS are great for sand tanks. They stir the sand to keep it from going anaerobic and they eat any extra food.

 

[shadyfish]

What's a Mts?

 

[BigJim]

MTS = Malaysian Trumpet Snail

 

[adadkins1]

IMO 5+ kuhli loaches would be a great addition. They really enjoy a sand substrate which allows them to burrow, and they should eat any leftover food. Personally, I find them fun to watch.

 

[Morgie]

+1 Corydoras
Just make sure you get a school of at least 4+ in each tank. They're super entertaining too!

 

[Mr. Limpet]

+1

MTS are the best at getting deep into the sand bed and releasing anaerobic gas pockets which can be fatal to fish from what I've read, as I'm preping to switch over to PFS. A gravel vac during PWC will take care of surface detritis.

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[Fresh808]

Will the kuhil loaches or corydoras be alright in my convict cichlid tank with one med Oscar and two ret tailed sharks?
Leaning towards the corydoras since my wife isn't a fan of anything eel like.
Thanks for your help!
Scott

 

[adadkins1]

Just from glancing at a compatibility chart, they might work, but you would have to keep an eye out for any problems.

 

[Jason7894561230]

Will the kuhil loaches or corydoras be alright in my convict cichlid tank with one med Oscar and two ret tailed sharks?

No because the oscar will eat the corys and the red tails will probably pick on them, if this is the sand tank then put MTS.
As for the other tank a nice school of bronze, panda, Julli, Steribii, Orange Laser, Emerald corydoras. But make sure you add a school of atleast 4

 

[Fresh808]

corydoras vs ?

Both tanks are sand. Not sure if I can get these MTS here in Hawaii. I'll check with my friends at the petco here. Maybe theyll order for mp

 

[BigJim]

A lot of the time Petsmart and Petco have MTS in their tanks and they consider them nuisances. I've gotten an entire bowl of MTS for free from a local Petsmart because they were thinning their populations.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

A lot of the time Petsmart and Petco have MTS in their tanks and they consider them nuisances. I've gotten an entire bowl of MTS for free from a local Petsmart because they were thinning their populations.

Will MTS work in a planted tank with sand over soil (peat moss)?

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[Tim Wheatley]

Does anyone have any idea before I go consult the local LFS peeps for advice what would be a good bottom feeder that would eat most of the wasted food that ends up on the sandy bottom. Small catfish, or??? I need them for my 75 & my 30.
Thanks,
Scott

Malaysian Trumpet Snails or Ghost Shrimp.

 

[BigJim]

Will MTS work in a planted tank with sand over soil (peat moss)?

All my tanks have sand, live plants, and MTS. I don't think they'll stir up the sand enough to let the peat out.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

All my tanks have sand, live plants, and MTS. I don't think they'll stir up the sand enough to let the peat out.

Great! Not much concerned about stirring up peat, just MTS doing their job in sand/peat.

Now if I could just find some MTS locally lol.

Thanks Jim

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[Fresh808]

MTS search

Been asking around the island and short of going to the local streams and finding wild snails, none of the local LFS's have any snails of any kind.
Oh well...
Keep searching...

 

[BigJim]

Fresh,

You'd better check into whether MTS are even legal to possess in Hawaii. I'm willing to be Hawaii has the most stringent invasive species laws in the US.

 

[Fresh808]

Laws

Fresh,

You'd better check into whether MTS are even legal to possess in Hawaii. I'm willing to be Hawaii has the most stringent invasive species laws in the US.

You are right about Hawaii being sticklers on what enters the islands, but I have seen folks on craigs list selling aquariums stocked that have malaysian trumpet snails...
Scott