Used to say No to plants......

[fibreheart]

I never went the live plant route with any of my tanks. It was always plastic.

With my new Mbuna 90 I went and bit the bullet. I got a Cryp Spiralis(??SP) and and Amazon Sword. I also have a japanese moss ball, but I don't really consider that a plant per say.

Anyways, I have read these are really easy plants to start with and my Mbuna and Haps seem to like them for hiding. My haps hover in the spikey grass, it's so cool. Well, I got them from 2 different LFS. Now, I noticed my Mbuna fighting in the front next to the Sword. Not really a big deal, but I thought I should check it out and sure enough they were fighting over a pond snail. It must have come in on the Sword because I got the Spiralis last week. So my questions are. Will pond snails turn over my sand? I was looking into getting MTS to do that because I have 1/4 of my tank in front full of common areas. No cave entrances etc. So if there is any digging, theroetically, this sand will never get turned by the diggers in my tank. So if the pond snails can turn over that area that would be a bonus.

My second question concerns numbers. If their numbers start to grow, I have a common pleco, 2 bristlenose, a CAE, a weather loach and of course my Albino Haps and EB Haps. Will these be able to keep the populations down or do the snails breed to fast for that

Thank you all. If you say this is a bad idea I can scour my plants to see if there are more. I only saw the one and I put the sword in last night.

 

[fibreheart]

I think it's funny the first in my life to buy plants and I get snails

 

[fort384]

They will help turn over the sand. The loach will most likely keep the population well within check. Proper feeding also helps substantially. If you over feed, snail population can explode.

 

[mfdrookie516]

I like pond snails. MTS are pretty cool too. I have tons of them. The bonus of MTS is that even if you do get overpopulated, you'll rarely see them. They stay burried in the sand.

Don't get upset though if your plants disappear overnight. African cichlids in general love to eat plants.

 

[fibreheart]

Mine are still about 1-2.5 inches and have tasted them but spit it out and swam away. I don't think they like the leaves, but the roots are different story. My demasoni likes to do an "eat and run" as he swims by on occasion but it's always just a nip. I will keep an eye out. So far it's just a place to play hid and seek. Even my moss ball gets the odd nip from my EY Labs but never devastating. I feed them veggie pellets, seaweed sheets, and cucumber slices. And as the tank ages they have algae too. So I do keep them pretty well fed. Now mind you, someone here did say that Mbuna will eat themselves into a comma. I'm sure I will have a problem or two when the fish get larger. Hopefully by then I will have some shoots to work with before that.