snails on the move

[gazelle]

Hey guys

I have a partially planted tank with neons and angels. I think it is a 30 tall tank. I came into work yesterday to find that all the snails in my tank were on the glass. Typically I think they bury themselves in the substrate. Any idea why they all decided to come out an party? When I got in this morning they were for the most part all gone. Any ideas?

I am not sure what type of snail they are, they came free with some plants I bought. Their shell looks like and ice cream cone. I did not realize I had so many, there were easily 200 of them.

Thanks

 

[LandGhoti]

Those are malaysian trumpet snails (MTS), and I'm SURE they came in on some plants. They do mostly come out at night, and will all make their way up the glass to the top. I have so many now that they also float around in the swirl the filter creates at the top of the tank before dropping back down to the substrate. In the morning and throughout the day, they do stay buried mostly or hang out on plants. Unfortunately, unless you have fish that eat snails, you will get more and more of these guys because they reproduce like crazy.

 

[Kupcake]

They help your substrate, and they do reproduce, but to keep their numbers down all you have to do is vaccume your substrate once a week to suck up any loose hangers and babies.

I dont know why they were hanging out on the glass unless they were looking forward to a snack

 

[LandGhoti]

Here's a link with a short description about their glass-climbing behavior.

How to Succeed with Malaysian trumpet snails, Melanoides tuberculata, with pictures

 

[gazelle]

Thanks great link! I did have my filter turned down as low as it goes because I needed quiet for some recording I was doing at work so that explains their movement up the sides. The link also suggest that I am feeding too much based on the numbers I have. I really do not care how many I have though, my tank is clean and the water is clear so they probably have having a part in that.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Purrbox]

LandGhoti - That's a great article. Thanks for linking it.

 

[gazelle]

interestingly enough my snails all have shorter shells, think it could be an issue of inbreeding? None of the shells come to a point, but I guess we would all have development issues if there were 300+ of us all stemming from one set of parents that hitchhiked in on some plants

 

[Purrbox]

There are actually several different species of snail that get lumped under the name Malaysian Trumpet Snail. The shell pattern and shape varies between species. Most likely you just have a different species than the one pictured.