Malaysian Trumpet Snails - good or bad

[JaVia]

I know these little guys are great for planted tanks because they aerate the substrate, my concern is the ability to readily multiply.

Does anyone have experience with these little guys? Do they invade or are they easily managed?

Thanks

[Offpath]

So long as you don't have tons of excess food sitting around in the tank, they won't overpopulate. But you should be keeping your discus tank clean anyway, right? =)

[JaVia]

I am actually asking for the tank I am setting up :)
I have three cory cats, one died randomly, so I plan on getting a few more so they will be in there too and help get anything I miss while vacuuming :)

Right now the tank is cycling, but my back tank is ready and waiting for my discus :D

[aXio]

IMO they are great. I use them in my planted Discus setup and I have no over population problems. As was mentioned above they only take over your tank if you have dirty substrate and left over food. And if you take care of Discus like you should (Lots of waterchanges) then that should never be a problem for you. I really like them because during they day they stay out of site and under the gravel and at night they all come out like clockwork and clean the tank.

[cyberhog05]

Agreed!! They are great. I had a population outbreak and it was bad. My 180 WAS heavily planted. so all the stuff I didnt vacuum out at the base of plants where it was a PITA to get to, well long story short....food source! I pulled thousands out. Enough to fill 2.5 costco sized sour cream containers:D. I still have a bunch but just enough for good substrate mixing. When the population gets a little high I just toss in my stinkpot musk turtles for a week and they eat a huge number of babies.

[Moon]

They are good at turning the substrate over and keeping it airated. Once you get them you will never get rid of them. I had a tank with substrate taht was dry for over a year. When water and fish were added they were back.