The Puffer Forum

I use pliers

How many you get will depend on how much you feed. If you're feeding frozen foods from tongs and/or only feed what your puffers will eat then I don't think you'll get too many.

Read my MTS post I just submitted today in the General Discussion section of the Forum.

I see posts which say the MTS will live in a salt water aquarium. Is this true? And, if so, what is the specific gravity of the salt water in which you ar ekeeping them? Seems to me the SW would kill this snail pretty quickly as, from what I read, it prefers fresh to brackish conditions, not full marine conditins. Thanks for anyone's reply.

Sara. Get a cheapo 1.5 or 2 gallon tank and drop them in there. After babies appear. Drop in an Assassin Snail (Clea helena). Poof. No more MTS. Feed the Assassin a few snails every week. Just DON'T put him where you want to grown snails. They also eat flakes or whatever after that. They are kind of attractive as well. And SLOW to breed.

Alternately....sneak them into a LFS that is terrible (probably a chain) and drop them into one of their tanks.

Well problem solved. I awoke this morning to find them both dead. I think it was mainly from the stress of being shipped. They were in the box for 9 days because of the post office.

For some reason, many hobbyists do not recognize that snail populations are directly related to their food supply. Increased snail food leads directly to increased snail populations. Snail food does include algae, not just added prepared food. It is quite simple really - if there is a great overpopulation of snails in a given tank, there is also an excess of food available to them.

Yes, assassin snails can help control undesirable populations, no question on that. But controlling the snail population without correcting the excess food issue leads to increased food and pollution in the tank. Excess snails are a symptom, just as are nitrate titers. Both are indicators.

In snail breeding tanks, we want high population growth, and/or larger individual snails, so we do need to care for the snail breeder tank just as we would any other over-crowded and/over-fed tank.

HTH

RTR wrote:For some reason, many hobbyists do not recognize that snail populations are directly related to their food supply. Increased snail food leads directly to increased snail populations. Snail food does include algae, not just added prepared food. It is quite simple really - if there is a great overpopulation of snails in a given tank, there is also an excess of food available to them.

Yes, assassin snails can help control undesirable populations, no question on that. But controlling the snail population without correcting the excess food issue leads to increased food and pollution in the tank. Excess snails are a symptom, just as are nitrate titers. Both are indicators.

In snail breeding tanks, we want high population growth, and/or larger individual snails, so we do need to care for the snail breeder tank just as we would any other over-crowded and/over-fed tank.

HTH

This is true (of course). MTS, in my opinion, are a must for planted tanks. They will eat the dead and decaying plants in the tank. I do not feed mine whatsoever. They clean leftovers....

This is true (of course). MTS, in my opinion, are a must for planted tanks. They will eat the dead and decaying plants in the tank. I do not feed mine whatsoever. They clean leftovers....

Also... In many Shrimp tanks bio film/algae growth is necessary, but unfortunately provides a source of food for snails. MTS do a decent job of soil aeration as well.

Folks also misunderstand MTS and their burrowing. they are restricted to the aerobic levels of the substrate, so the idea that they will or can block the formation of anoxic and potentially toxic areas is unfortunately mythology.

I do have to disagree that planted tanks require or even need MTS. I keep lots of planted tanks. Most are MTS-free, and some have been running for over 10 years each, so MTS can hardly be a requirement. Several snail types are relatively harmless in planted tanks, and may help with some upkeep chores, but there are always trade-offs with "work crews" - there is always other upkeep requirements to compensate for their assistance. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

RTR wrote:Folks also misunderstand MTS and their burrowing. they are restricted to the aerobic levels of the substrate, so the idea that they will or can block the formation of anoxic and potentially toxic areas is unfortunately mythology.

None of my tanks have deep substrate to avoid anaerobic problems anyway so I guess I never really thought about it. Interesting. All of my "evidence" is anecdotal but it seems that my tanks with plants have always benefited (with the caveat being the shallow substrate). I also imagine that the fact that I THINK it helps make me feel better as well.

geronimo69 wrote:

RTR wrote:For some reason, many hobbyists do not recognize that snail populations are directly related to their food supply. Increased snail food leads directly to increased snail populations. Snail food does include algae, not just added prepared food. It is quite simple really - if there is a great overpopulation of snails in a given tank, there is also an excess of food available to them.

Yes, assassin snails can help control undesirable populations, no question on that. But controlling the snail population without correcting the excess food issue leads to increased food and pollution in the tank. Excess snails are a symptom, just as are nitrate titers. Both are indicators.

In snail breeding tanks, we want high population growth, and/or larger individual snails, so we do need to care for the snail breeder tank just as we would any other over-crowded and/over-fed tank.

HTH

This is true (of course). MTS, in my opinion, are a must for planted tanks. They will eat the dead and decaying plants in the tank. I do not feed mine whatsoever. They clean leftovers....

RTR wrote:Folks also misunderstand MTS and their burrowing. they are restricted to the aerobic levels of the substrate, so the idea that they will or can block the formation of anoxic and potentially toxic areas is unfortunately mythology.

I do have to disagree that planted tanks require or even need MTS. I keep lots of planted tanks. Most are MTS-free, and some have been running for over 10 years each, so MTS can hardly be a requirement. Several snail types are relatively harmless in planted tanks, and may help with some upkeep chores, but there are always trade-offs with "work crews" - there is always other upkeep requirements to compensate for their assistance. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

I said they are a must IMO. Not required. They are wonderful. I'm not sure what you mean by "other upkeep chores". Maybe removing them to feed my Ceylon?

As for this free lunch.... add a group of clown loaches to a tank infested with MTS (and of course big enough for the loaches) and they will have a free lunch.