Snail ID

[evansbradley]

I got a plant from my lfs and found these snails crawling all over it. What kind are they and are they okay to have in my aquarium?

 

[Fresh2o]

MTS (Malaysian Trumpet Snails). They do breed rapidly. Some folks don't like them. They are safe with plants. They do like to burrow in the substrate in their search for food (not a bad thing).


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[evansbradley]

Awesome, good to know. I couldn't find pictures on here of them earlier. Thank you!

 

[Fishfur]

Just fyi, they don't lay eggs in your tank. They brood their young inside their shells and release live young at the water surface at night. Usually several at a time. They are so tiny they can float on the water tension, until they find something to cling to. They are voracious algae eaters, thus useful where algae is a problem, and do keep detritus levels down. Personally I would not have a tank without them, though if I ever had space for a real show tank, I'd not want too many of them in it.

 

[evansbradley]

Just fyi, they don't lay eggs in your tank. They brood their young inside their shells and release live young at the water surface at night. Usually several at a time. They are so tiny they can float on the water tension, until they find something to cling to. They are voracious algae eaters, thus useful where algae is a problem, and do keep detritus levels down. Personally I would not have a tank without them, though if I ever had space for a real show tank, I'd not want too many of them in it.

Thats really interesting! I haven't introduced them to my tank just yet because I already have some pond snails. I guess I could add them anyways to have a variety

 

[Fishfur]

Given a choice between any of the common pond snail species and MTS, I'd take MTS every time. Though I like the coloured ramshorns too, and keep some red and chocolate coloured ones, MTS seem to me to be most useful and least annoying. Though if you get a LOT Of them on a dark substrate they will show up against it. Easy enough to harvest some, usually not hard to sell or give away.