sand bed stirrer.

[skiweeangel]

Can anyone recommend an animal, fish, snail, whatever that is good at mixing up a sand bed in a 55gal tank? Tank mates would be gold long finned danios, tiger barbs, BN pleco, and poss. blue gouramis. Not sure what else so far. But I would like something to help turn over the sand.

 

[tmfish]

freshwater golden clams. They burrow in the sand and feed. They only grow to be 2". If you are interested I have some for sale.

 

[skiweeangel]

how prolific are they? i don't know anything about them.

 

[eco23]

Malaysian Trumpet Snails...but they do breed prolifically. I have Assassin Snails which burrow...but I'm not sure how efficient they are at turning over the entire tank.

Personally I just use my hands, or I take the end of the gravel vac (not while it's suctioning) and churn it up. With a water changing system like a Python you can turn the suction on or off with a valve on the hose...so I'll stir it up, then switch on the syphon and suck up any debris it kicks up. Other people also just use a wooden dowel or attach a fork to the end of the gravel vac.

 

[ashleynicole]

Malaysian trumpet snails. They stay in the sand and usually only come out when the lights are off.

 

[tmfish]

how prolific are they? i don't know anything about them.

they take two to four years to reach maturity and became fertile. At that point they can release up to 1500 juvenile clams per day. I have them in my tanks and they do a great job.

 

[ashleynicole]

I have had malaysian trumpet snails in all of my tanks with sand substrates and they are awesome. And I think they are pretty to. Yes they do reproduce but again they stay in the sand and come up the glass only at night. And it all depends on how much you feed. They keep my sand nice and churned and squeeky clean.

View attachment 57325

 

[GodFan]

I thought about clams myself but I am afraid they would die and I wouldnt know it and have a massive ammonia spike!

 

[Morgie]

Another +1 to MTS. I have them in my brackish nano tank and they are great sand sifters.
I have a shallow sand bed in my 20g (about 1") and my cories actually do a really good job digging through it.

 

[skiweeangel]

I have had malaysian trumpet snails in all of my tanks with sand substrates and they are awesome. And I think they are pretty to. Yes they do reproduce but again they stay in the sand and come up the glass only at night. And it all depends on how much you feed. They keep my sand nice and churned and squeeky clean.

View attachment 57325

your sand is awesome! i think this one might be the winner. how big is the tank and how many do you have in one tank? Like I said before it's a 55gal, would one be able to keep it clean? I would hate to have to take care of a ton of off spring. Maybe my LFS would take them in. but I like the look of them as well. I'm going to do some research when I have a free moment (read semester break) before I make my decision.

Thanks all!

 

[ashleynicole]

your sand is awesome! i think this one might be the winner. how big is the tank and how many do you have in one tank? Like I said before it's a 55gal, would one be able to keep it clean? I would hate to have to take care of a ton of off spring. Maybe my LFS would take them in. but I like the look of them as well. I'm going to do some research when I have a free moment (read semester break) before I make my decision.

Thanks all!

They reproduce asexually so just one would still reproduce. Which you want because you need a lot for a 55 gallon. This is a 29 gallon and I threw in a handful and they are already reproducing. At night I've seen about 10 new little baby snails. You want a lot to keep the sand churned. One wouldn't cut it.

 

[skiweeangel]

Thanks for the info. Although they reproduce asexually I thought the first reproduction would be a longer time in coming because there is a sexual aspect to their reproduction that I thought they preferred. Maybe I am wrong. But either way that would be out the window with the first new batch of snails anyway. I like the look of them and I'm considering adding them in a few months time. I want the tank to recover from this nasty ich outbreak first ( which seems to be getting better now) and then I need to restock my tigers first. I feel so bad for them because I thought I fixed the filter problem and turns out I didn't which led to the inhabitants the have a lowered immune system and susceptible to ich when I stupidly added one new fish withought QT. I am in the process of setting up a qt tank now to get it up and running for restocking my tiger barbs. My poor tigers.

 

[ashleynicole]

You can add the MTS at any time. They have a relatively low bioload, and their reproduction really depends on how much you feed.

 

[skiweeangel]

You can add the MTS at any time. They have a relatively low bioload, and their reproduction really depends on how much you feed.

thank you!