Why I love Malaysian trumpet snails...

I gave my dad some pea gravel to use in his tank recently and yesterday we noticed a few Malaysian trumpets crawling around. The gravel I gave him him was from two separate batches; one had been used ages ago and was out over the winter, the other had been used in a tank containing 60+ convict cichlid juvies until recently. My experience with convicts has been that snails just don't survive with them, no matter how hardy they are, or how tough their shells. The convicts usually, out of curiosity or just sheer malevolence, bully the snails into their shells to such an extent that the snails eventually die of stress and starvation. If I'd had sand, I'd have expected some to survive by burrowing, but pea gravel isn't the best for a speedy subterranean escape. And over the last year I hadn't seen any in the tank at all. On top of this, when I removed the substrate I left it in a bag outside for several weeks. Not only did they survive the Wrath Of The Convicts, they survived in a bag with no water and less than balmy Irish temperatures.

They're a good size too

Malaysian trumpet snails have my continuing admiration. They truly are the hard men of the invertebrate word. No backbone? I disagree

I always wondered about these and we're the beneficial for a tank and would they last. I guess you just answered my question. I've only had assassin snails and quite like them but they don't seem.to do much unless you have a pest snail problem.

Do you reckon they are the best snails to get? I plan on setting up a large planted soon so would they suit?

Indeed they're tough, about one month ago I put some in a planted jar without heat, filtration or airpump and there they are.
Got a lot on my community and they don't touch the plants at all.
Swai if you plant to get them I can give you some youngs.

As much as I love them, I'd recommend to anyone thinking of putting them in their to be sure that you want them because once they're in they're IN! Short of removing the substrate and boiling or replacing it, it's very hard to get them out. There are chemicals you can put in the tank to kill snails, but the problem with MTSs is that they spend so much time digging that the poison won't get them all... and if you don't kill all of them, in a few months you're back to square one. Also, neither puffers nor clown loaches will be a solution; they can't break the shells.

Needless to say, they are prolific breeders and in the right conditions you can easily get a huge population explosion. For them the right conditions are usually food related i.e. too much uneaten food or too much decaying organic material on or in the substrate. In my experience though, as long as you don't overfeed your fish and make sure to keep your gravel/sand clean, a population spike like that shouldn't happen.

On the plus side, however, they are excellent cleaners and will only eat dead and decaying plant matter. They won't eat your plants, though they might climb all over them to eat any algae growing there. Another benefit of MTSs is that their burrowing prevents poisonous anaerobic bacteria forming in the substrate. These dead spots can release highly toxic hydrogen sulfide into your tank and potentially kill your livestock. The movement of the snails rotates the substrate and helps prevent these bacteria flourishing.

In short what I'm saying is, if managed properly MTSs can be a very beneficial cleanup crew. If tank cleanliness goes south a bit though, they CAN end up being a nuisance. I recommend them with caution

Cheers Aroshni, I'll defo take some from you in the near future if you have any left. I've only got a 60 liter up and running at the moment which is quite stocked so i'll wait till my planted is done.