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To MTS or Not?

Add MTS or Not?

  • Total voters
    21
I've been reading a lot about deep sand beds/ways to make the substrate in the aquarium a better 'natural filter', and all of the articles I've found consider adding MTS essential for churning the sand to help mulm get pulled under and create a more nutritious substrate for plants. I also added some california blackworms to also help with the job. I think because their focus for food is on the substrate they wouldn't compete much with the other occupants who like algae.

On the other hand, when I asked my local fish shop to buy some they said 'what, those pest snails???? sure you can have a few' which didn't inspire massive confidence! I added my 6 free ones anyway, here's hoping they're doing their job.
 
shangman said:
On the other hand, when I asked my local fish shop to buy some they said 'what, those pest snails????
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There was a lfs when I was growing up that had the most amazing substrate. From a distance it looked like a fluffy black carpet over brown shingle but on closer inspection it was just a mass of mts covered in black turf algae. It was a shop that had the healthiest stock by far in the area, I'm guessing by the snail population because every night was banquet night😀
 
If they can get into your pipe work then I wouldn’t add them as they can kill flow if they congregate inside pipes. If they can’t get into your pipe work then I would add them, they’re exceptionally good at churning a substrate up.

🙂
 
JoshP12 said:
I know I sang their praises earlier, but I failed to mention that until stuff is rooted, they will dig it out - like a carpet. I'd still take 'em.

They come out at night more too - and it looks like the creatures from the movie Tremors as they emerge at lights off. 😀
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hmm, I wonder if this is why one of my rotalas keeps coming unmoored! The roots do seem a bit rubbish on it 😳
 
In my opinion, this is the most useful and best looking 'free' snail out there.

What's in there not to like?

- They are beautiful, trumpet-shaped and similar to Sulawesi brothers and sisters, but smaller. There are white and black ones. Both look stunning.
- There are no eggs.
- They eat decaying matter or dead fish.
- They eat diatoms and even green carpet algae (though they will eat other stuff before green carpet algae).
- They will NEVER eat live plants.
- They aerate the substrate and prevent calcification and forming of gases.
- Best free janitors out there.

What's really bad?

- Prolific breeding. Though this can be somewhat or totally controlled depending on the food source. It's easy as that. On the other hand, you can easily harvest them out when they attach themselves to the glass.

Personally? After 3 years, I had to add them several times in my tank to actually see them. Adding CO2 and having pH =<7.0 seem to be controlling their population. I also feed my fish 1x per day and their food rarely falls to the ground.
 
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Here's another proof. I pulled up some MTS's and ramshorns for my father in law in a small bucket of water, like a half a litre. One biggish ramshorn died, I noticed it was clumped in its shell and didn't move.

In about 24h, the shell was empty. MTS crew eat it before it contaminated the water. Water remained crystal clear with no odor.

So imagine similar thing happening in your tank too. You can't beat the cleaning crew of MTS, scavenging and making your tank in sync with natural forces.
 
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I love all commonly labelled "pest" snails. They make a great cleanup crew and something a bit different to watch in the tank.
Mines filled with ramshorns and tadpoles. Just ordered some M.T.S and mini rams from ebay myself.

Lost the last lot of m.t.s i had and never bothered restarting until now.
There pretty bullet proof but can't handle cooler waters long term from my experience (which shouldn't be a problem for yourself) aside from that they'd survive a nuclear bomb.

You can get pure black shelled M.T.S aswell which are a bit more appealing to the eyes.
 
Just coming back to this after adding three (two were tiny) black MTS in the middle of June last year.
Yesterday I fed one of those grazer blocks that you stick to the side of the tank and forgot to remove it 😳
This morning I thought the tank looked odd and noticed quite a gathering (and now I now how I can get them to group together so I can easily thin their population).

Rubbish picture but I was attempting to feed a small child at the same time
PXL_20210311_103903535.MP.jpg

They do seem to have done a pretty good job of cleaning the substrate and the only plant they cause a bit o pain with is my Limnophila Sessiflora which occasionally gets uprooted.

These do seem to have out compete the bladder snails I had in there and I don't recall seeing any in some time. The other odd impact is that they seem to have got my otos to come out more. I am not sure if this is just coincidence or whether they have polished off the food the otos were grazing on. The otos have spent the last three years largely hidden out of site and quite happy to hang out in one area of the tank. Since adding the MTS they are out on the glass and a lot more visible.

Also here is one of the larger ones sunbathing on top of the frogbit (I have to admire their determination to climb the glass as they really aren't built for climbing)
PXL_20210207_195110489.MP.jpg
 
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