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03-30-2011, 08:48 AM
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#1
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Aquarium Advice Activist
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Hawaii
Posts: 131
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Bottom feeder to help keep sand free of wasted food. Sand bottom.
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
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03-30-2011, 09:09 AM
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#2
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Aquarium Advice Activist
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 173
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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
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03-30-2011, 10:14 AM
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#3
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Aquarium Advice Addict
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Oak Forest, IL
Posts: 4,388
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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.
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03-30-2011, 10:48 AM
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#4
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Aquarium Advice Activist
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 173
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What's a Mts?
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03-30-2011, 11:12 AM
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#5
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Aquarium Advice Addict
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Oak Forest, IL
Posts: 4,388
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MTS = Malaysian Trumpet Snail
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03-30-2011, 11:37 AM
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#6
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Aquarium Advice Addict
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Morristown, TN
Posts: 1,762
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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.
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03-30-2011, 12:01 PM
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#7
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Aquarium Advice FINatic
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 781
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+1 Corydoras
Just make sure you get a school of at least 4+ in each tank. They're super entertaining too!
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03-30-2011, 12:30 PM
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#8
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Aquarium Advice Addict
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Northern California (Marin)
Posts: 4,505
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+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.
Sent from my Epic 4G using Aquarium Advice App
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03-30-2011, 01:08 PM
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#9
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Aquarium Advice Activist
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Hawaii
Posts: 131
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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
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03-30-2011, 03:02 PM
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#10
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Aquarium Advice Addict
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Morristown, TN
Posts: 1,762
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Just from glancing at a compatibility chart, they might work, but you would have to keep an eye out for any problems.
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03-30-2011, 03:53 PM
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#11
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Aquarium Advice Addict

Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Wollongong, Australia
Posts: 3,332
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Quote:
Will the kuhil loaches or corydoras be alright in my convict cichlid tank with one med Oscar and two ret tailed sharks?
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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
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03-30-2011, 05:14 PM
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#12
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Aquarium Advice Activist
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Hawaii
Posts: 131
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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
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03-31-2011, 08:36 AM
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#13
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Aquarium Advice Addict
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Oak Forest, IL
Posts: 4,388
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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.
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03-31-2011, 12:30 PM
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#14
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Aquarium Advice Addict
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Northern California (Marin)
Posts: 4,505
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 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.
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Will MTS work in a planted tank with sand over soil (peat moss)?
Sent from my Epic 4G using Aquarium Advice App
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03-31-2011, 12:30 PM
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#15
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Aquarium Advice Addict

Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,342
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 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
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Malaysian Trumpet Snails or Ghost Shrimp.
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03-31-2011, 12:33 PM
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#16
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Aquarium Advice Addict
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Oak Forest, IL
Posts: 4,388
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Limpet
Will MTS work in a planted tank with sand over soil (peat moss)?
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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.
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03-31-2011, 12:44 PM
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#17
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Aquarium Advice Addict
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Northern California (Marin)
Posts: 4,505
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BigJim
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.
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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
Sent from my Epic 4G using Aquarium Advice App
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04-01-2011, 05:29 AM
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#18
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Aquarium Advice Activist
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Hawaii
Posts: 131
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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...
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04-01-2011, 08:34 AM
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#19
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Aquarium Advice Addict
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Oak Forest, IL
Posts: 4,388
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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.
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04-01-2011, 11:44 AM
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#20
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Aquarium Advice Activist
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Hawaii
Posts: 131
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Laws
Quote:
Originally Posted by 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.
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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
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