Quick Stats
Minimum Tank Size: 1 Gallon
Care Level: Very Easy
Water Conditions: PH 6.8-8 and Soft to Very Hard
Temperature: 65-77 F (18-25C)
The Malaysian trumpet snail (MTS) or red-rimmed melania (Melanoides Tuberculata) is often alternatively praised and cursed by freshwater aquarium enthusiasts. On the one hand, this small snail will devour algae, eat excess food, and keep sand substrates well aerated. But if the snails are overfed, they will turn into a plague of biblical proportions, and completely overrun a tank.
Originally found throughout Southern Asia and Africa, the Malaysian trumpet snail has been introduced into countless water systems through escapes or careless releases into the wild. In fact, most Malaysian trumpet snails are accidentally introduced into fish tanks, by hitch-hiking on plants or aquarium decorations.
Housing
Malaysian trumpet snails will thrive in nearly any size aquarium, as long it is heated in any northern climate. The snails are incredibly hardy, and will even survive in tanks with dwarf puffer fish, as their heavily armored shells and burrowing behavior keep them safe. (Some of the more intelligent puffers will figure out how to eat them, which is quite impressive to watch.)
Any filtration will do for a tank containing Malaysian trumpet snails, and should instead be tailored to the fish inhabitants of the tank. Even in large numbers, MTS have an extremely small bio-load and shouldn’t put any undue strain on the filtration.
Feeding
Malaysian trumpet snails don’t require any special feeding, and will happily eat any leftover food in the aquarium. They will also consume large amounts of algae, and will help to keep the aquarium’s glass and plants clean.
If you want to supplement their diet, they will eat any plant based fish food, and will swarm any leafy vegetables or zucchini medallions. This is a handy process of collecting them, if you want to remove some of the snails from the tank. Simply allow them to accumulate on the vegetable and remove it from the tank in the morning, before you turn the lights on. But be sure to humanely euthanize the snails – the best way is to put them in a closed plastic bag, and freeze them in the freezer.
Breeding
The Malaysian trumpet snail reproduces asexually, and is similar to live-bearing fish, in that it gestates eggs internally in a brood pouch, and then produces tiny, perfectly formed baby snails. The amount of offspring produced varies based on the size of the snail, but usually 1-64 babies are stored in the brood pouch.
Nothing special is required to trigger breeding in Malaysian trumpet snails, and just a handful of snails can quickly colonize even the largest aquarium. If the population starts to get out of control, then it usually means that you are over-feeding the fish in the aquarium. Just reduce the amount of food given for a short period of time, and the population of snails will usually stabilize.
Hi,
To anyone that have a community tank. Do not have these nasty vicious snails. I have Gold Severum. A magnificent creature I have had for years and is so friendly. But these things got onto him and borrowed into his skull. He is now very sick. He has two holes in his head. If I could I would post some very graphic pictures. He is still alive and The medication I have put in the water seems to habe irritated the snail and my granddaughter saw the mongrel come out. Beware.
It sounds like your fish is suffering from hole-in-the-head disease, which is a pretty common bacterial infection in fish. It creates small holes in the fish as the scales are eroded by the infection. The disease is normally caused by poor water quality and can be treated with regular water changes. While Malaysian trumpet snails will likely eat a dead fish, I’ve never heard any accounts of them preying on healthy fish.
It sounds like you had an issue to begin with. Snails are environment cleaners
can mts snails survive in a bare bottom tank ?