the population of mts snail has exploded in my 55 gal . there are thousands of babys in my sump and in my main tank, i change my water every other week, i dont over feed and it is lightly stocked. has anyone seen this before or do i have perfect conditions for them ? i might have to go renta loach haha !
1) Nobody feels that they overfeed.
2) Do not over feed
3 How much and when to what fish?
4 I Always have snails in my tank.
5) I think they are good.
6) Do not over feed and they will slow down.
6) If past stage "2", manually remove all snails possible every day.
7) If you do not want to do stage "6", refer to stage "2" and live with them. They are good when they do not take over.
8) The above steps are what I personally prescribe and take no liability upon myself if you follow them.......(fine print - my lawyer made me say this)
It works for me. I have learned to live with common snails because they work hard and keep my tanks clean if not over-run (see #2)
They do stir your gravel for you and clean up. Loaches will take care of them for you.
Also, you can take a small jar, put some weighted down lettuce in it, put the jar in the tank, turn off the lights, and remove the jar about 2 hours later...that will cause an instance decrease in the population. You can repeat as needed.
I had MTS for a while. I found that they will continue to reproduce like mad until the available food source is eliminated. Then, there is a big population collapse. I still have some in my canister filters, save one or two, I no longer have them in my tanks, and did nothing to get rid of them.
i had an overkill of these a while ago, i just picked out as many as i could by hand every morning for a week, and fed my fish a little less, and now they are fine. still there, but under control. i got the added bonus of taming my gourami at the same time, he's been really friendly ever since... maybe he fell in love with my hand... lol
I've got a question about MTS - I've got a few in my goldfish tank, and really like them. I put them in there when they were about 1/4" long, and they're now over an inch long. However, they've never bred, as far as I can tell - it's the same original 5 snails. I feed my goldies quite heavily (although they eat like the little piggies they are), but don't have a population problem with the snails. Is that because it's a coldwater tank? Temp is 70 F.
I've got a question about MTS - I've got a few in my goldfish tank, and really like them. I put them in there when they were about 1/4" long, and they're now over an inch long. However, they've never bred, as far as I can tell - it's the same original 5 snails. I feed my goldies quite heavily (although they eat like the little piggies they are), but don't have a population problem with the snails. Is that because it's a coldwater tank? Temp is 70 F.
Could be the GF are eating any babies...they do like snails. I have several larger ~1" MTS in my GF tank, but rarely see any little ones. They breed well in all my tropical tanks....all of which have small fish. I suspect the coldwater would slow 'em down, but I keep a room temp snail only tank and they breed fine in there.
There ya go madtundra...time for a 2nd 55G with a coupla big goldfish...
Sounds like you have a ready source of snacks
