Baby Malaysian Trumpet Snails: Are They Bad?

Hobbyists have varying opinions of baby Malaysian trumpet snails for planted tanks. They are seen as both good and bad depending on the state of your tank, the types of creatures that you already have in your tank, and what you want their purpose to be.

If you have an algae problem in your tank then the addition of Malaysian trumpet snails may be a good choice as they are very fond of eating algae! They will happily clean up any excess algae in your tank and help to maintain it and keep it neat and tidy.

However, they are also known to be pests. This is simply because of how they look.

Putting Malaysian trumpet snails in a planted tank is actually one of the best things you can add. They help to keep your home aquarium’s ecosystem in check. 

Will Malaysian trumpet snails eat plants?

Although these little creatures will happily nibble away on any excess algae that you have in your home tank they are very peaceful by nature. This means that they will not eat or go after any living plants. This makes them a great addition to a planted tank as they will not disturb your living plants but will simply clean up any unwanted excess materials in your aquarium.

Will Malaysian trumpet snails climb out of the tank?

Since they do not swim (they are snails after all) Malaysian trumpet snails will need to stick to any flat surfaces to get around. This means that they are often found moving around the substrate of your tank, and sometimes even the sides of the tank. 

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Basically, if they can stick to it then they will climb it! 

However, they are nocturnal creatures. They will happily climb the sides of your tank during the night but during the day you may struggle to find them. This is because they are tucked away under the substrate. 

By burrowing under the substrate they are actually doing you and your tank a favor! By moving the substrate around they are aerating it. This new oxygen allows your plants to grow better as well as reducing the likelihood of anaerobic bacteria (which can be very harmful to your home aquarium’s ecosystem). 

How do you control Malaysian trumpet snails?

Malaysian trumpet snails may be very docile and calm by nature but they will still need to be kept under control due to the rate at which they reproduce. You may start out with only a few Malaysian trumpet snails but soon enough you may find that your tank is overrun with the creatures! 

This may become a problem for the other creatures and plants living in your home aquarium. So, in order to control Malaysian trumpet snails, you will need to learn how to keep their numbers under control.

In order to do this, you have a few options.

Catch the snails and take them out of the aquarium

Firstly, you can repeatedly remove any excess number of snails by catching them and simply taking them out of the tank. You can catch them by placing a piece of blanched vegetable or lettuce in the tank. overnight the snails will gravitate toward the piece of food and in the morning you can easily take the piece of food out of the tank along with a large number of snails.

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However, this is an ongoing solution and so you will need to do this chore regularly in order to maintain the snail population in your home tank.

Limit the amount of food for your snails

The second solution is to limit the amount of food available to your snails. The less food that the Malaysian trumpet snails are getting the less they will breed.

Since you cannot limit the snails’ food alone you will need to reduce the amount of food that you give to the other creatures in your tank. This way there will be less leftover food available for your snails to eat (as the fish would have eaten the vast majority of the food by this time). 

By controlling the number of baby Malaysian trumpet snails in your tank you can still reap the benefits of the species while ensuring that they do not completely overtake their environment.

What will eat Malaysian trumpet snails?

When considering whether or not to add baby Malaysian trumpet snails to your home aquarium you must first take into account which creatures you already have. Snails are a delicacy for some fish and so you would not be adding snails to your tank, but rather food!

Loaches in particular are very fond of eating snails. If you already have loaches in your tank, especially yo-yo loaches, clown loaches, or even skunk loaches then you will not want to add any baby Malaysian trumpet snails to your home aquarium as they, unfortunately, will not survive for very long!

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Similarly, if you have any assassin snails in your tank then adding any baby Malaysian trumpet snails is also a bad idea. They, too, will happily eat your new additions.

Whilst they can keep your baby Malaysian trumpet snail population in check they can just as easily obliterate it. If this is your solution of choice make sure that they have enough other food so as to leave a few Malaysian trumpet snails alone!

Conclusion

So, although some people view baby Malaysian trumpet snails as pests in home aquariums (due to their rapid rate of reproduction) they are actually a good and healthy addition to your home tank. 

However, they will need to be kept under control and can be done so either by removing them by hand or adding other creatures to your tank who will eat them (such as loaches or assassin snails). As long as they are controlled their benefits outweigh this negative.

This way you can get all the benefits from the Malaysian trumpet snails such as substrate aeration and removal of excess algae without the worry of having your home aquarium becoming overrun by the little creatures. 

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