Mts
1 - 18 of 18 Posts
Joined
·
143 Posts
Ive currently no issues with MTS, They stay out of sight, dont eat plants, dont clog your glass, and aerate your soil in the tank.
Joined
·
217 Posts
I haven't had any problems with them. Very few of mine have reached any substantial size. In fact, I like them. Last night, I was at a Petco and they had tons of MTS that with different and very interesting shells. I'm thinking of going back and asking if I buy a couple of Otto's, if they will throw in a half dozen of their MTS's for free.
Joined
·
12,768 Posts
Hemianthus callitrichoides see why they call it HC? I can't even spell it without looking it up.
Thank You and I dont think I will be trying any of it. Well 3 say good and one says possibly bad. My friend hates them and wants to get rid of them so maybe I will grab a few. I see they reproduce very well so how many should I get for my 120 and will they do OK in soft water or for that matter will any snails do good in soft water.
Joined
·
466 Posts
Whether you get just a few or a lot you will have a million in no time. I put them in my tanks intentionally because everything I read said they were great for planted tanks but I regret it now. They do stay under the substrate during the day but if you turn on the tank light an hour after turning it off it's easy to see how many you really have! I know I must be overfeeding right? Well maybe... but I think we all tend to do that a little. I think I've seen a reduction in their numbers since I started feeding only once per day.
The worst part is when I try to feed my BN Pleco algae wafers he can't get to them because they are instantly covered in MTS.
IMO they are pests. I wouldn't get them. Just know if you get them you can't change your mind. I've caught piles of them every night for days on end and there are still trillions. I will say that with a sand tank it's not that bad though because they can be sifted out with a net.
The worst part is when I try to feed my BN Pleco algae wafers he can't get to them because they are instantly covered in MTS.
IMO they are pests. I wouldn't get them. Just know if you get them you can't change your mind. I've caught piles of them every night for days on end and there are still trillions. I will say that with a sand tank it's not that bad though because they can be sifted out with a net.
Joined
·
12,768 Posts
I actually had to pull up some microsword to find a baby:
![]()
In my experience, they aren't horrible. I don't even see them until I start uprooting massive amounts of plants. Don't overfeed and they won't be a problem. Over feed and you'll see tons. Same goes with most 'pest' snails.
It only takes one to make babies, so get a couple dozen or so and you'll be set in no time. If you are adding some sort of calcium supplement, they should be okay. If you aren't and the water is too soft or acidic, you'll see damage to the shells.
In my experience, they aren't horrible. I don't even see them until I start uprooting massive amounts of plants. Don't overfeed and they won't be a problem. Over feed and you'll see tons. Same goes with most 'pest' snails.
It only takes one to make babies, so get a couple dozen or so and you'll be set in no time. If you are adding some sort of calcium supplement, they should be okay. If you aren't and the water is too soft or acidic, you'll see damage to the shells.
Joined
·
439 Posts
How does a damaged shell from a lack of calcium look like? Does it appear as white patches on their shell? Because some of my MTS, along with some of the adult ramshorns, are displaying tiny blotches of white-like patterns on their shells.
Will one of those calcium blocks from the LFS work as a calcium supplement?
Will one of those calcium blocks from the LFS work as a calcium supplement?
Joined
·
12,768 Posts
Look at the bottom of this guy (toward the point). The white splotches on the shell are actually calcium deficiencies. This could also be erosion due to an acidic environment. In severe cases, you can see the snail's body.
Either way, feeding a calcium enriched food works wonders for them. The calcium blocks will work. Just be aware they can raise the hardness of the water as well. I use the cheap white vacation feeders (plaster of paris and food) once a month.
Either way, feeding a calcium enriched food works wonders for them. The calcium blocks will work. Just be aware they can raise the hardness of the water as well. I use the cheap white vacation feeders (plaster of paris and food) once a month.
If you have other snails, I'd advise avoiding MTS. They breed too fast and basically consume most of the available food before other snails get a chance.
I had a Golden Mystery Snail hatch 100+ eggs. Once they were the size of a BB I started to move them around to various tanks. While some fairly quickly got to the size of a nickle, none in the tank with the MTS snails was got larger than a pea. I eventually moved them out because they were hardly growing and were dying off.
Once your MTS population reaches a certain size, it stops increasing due to lack of food. I also found that once this happens the MTS start growing very slowly. The only really big MTS I have is the original I found as a baby and decided to keep (it's the mom/dad of all my MTS). Also, once I removed a large number of MTS and noticed the remaining MTS increasing in size rather quickly.
I'm glad I saved that one MTS, because now I can have fun breeding assassin snails! I've had them for a few weeks. Lots of empty MTS shells now, and a few assassin eggs.
I had a Golden Mystery Snail hatch 100+ eggs. Once they were the size of a BB I started to move them around to various tanks. While some fairly quickly got to the size of a nickle, none in the tank with the MTS snails was got larger than a pea. I eventually moved them out because they were hardly growing and were dying off.
Once your MTS population reaches a certain size, it stops increasing due to lack of food. I also found that once this happens the MTS start growing very slowly. The only really big MTS I have is the original I found as a baby and decided to keep (it's the mom/dad of all my MTS). Also, once I removed a large number of MTS and noticed the remaining MTS increasing in size rather quickly.
I'm glad I saved that one MTS, because now I can have fun breeding assassin snails! I've had them for a few weeks. Lots of empty MTS shells now, and a few assassin eggs.
Joined
·
987 Posts
They can be a pain on new hc carpets and if you have many from over feeding they can do some serious damage but they are awesome against diatoms.
Really? I have just one tank with MTS, a 10g. I recently "overcleaned" it. I did this by removing all the inhabitants and larger MTS, and vacuumed the gravel by siphoning all 10g of water 4 times, so there was basically no detritus left. The result has been a diatom outbreak that the MTS haven't put a dent in.
I've recently started reading up on assassin snails. It sounds like you like them. Are there any cons to introducing them into a tank? Besides lots of empty MTS shells of course...
I've only had them a little over a month. I can't see any downside assuming you don't have any snails in the tank you want to keep. There have been some reports of them eating shrimp, but the assumption by most has been that the shrimp was already dead or very weak.
Not much luck breeding them yet. I've only seen a few eggs, which is surprising since others reported a large number of eggs when there is plenty of food. Unfortunately I disturbed the eggs during a rescape, and also the MTS are pretty much gone (at least the ones big enough to eat).
However, before introducing the assassins, I moved about half the MTS to a 5g bucket, and they are doing quite well there. I want to populate a large garbage can with the MTS, and then introduce the assassins.
1 - 18 of 18 Posts
Join the discussion
