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Where could I find MTS? I don't think I've ever seen them in the LFS around me. Are there any other snails or critters that would bury into the sand like the MTS?

not that i know of. i got mine at petsmart. they wernt listed so i got all 6 of them for free

I got my MTS by accident too...from ptsmart as well .
Without knowing what they look like it might not be the best idea to just go into a store and ask for snails, or even to hope they come as freebies with your plants...I've gotten pond snails that way.
Check around, they're not likely to be something that a LFS is selling, but they probably have some in one or two of their tanks and would be more than happy to hand off a dozen or so to you. There's no need to get that many of them as they're livebearing snails...and the more you feed them the happier they get...and happy snails multiply.

^_^

I doubt that any of the petsmarts in my area would have any MTS especially on any of the plants simply because we (I work at petsmart) quarantine all the new plants and treat them for snails before adding them to the plant tank. We used to keep the mystery snails in the plant tank but moved the snails to their own tank when some genious realized that the plants weren't just vanishing on their own . What exactly do they look like? I know of a couple other LFS that have snails but I'm pretty sure they're just the regular old pond snail. Don't MTS have a pointy shell?

Hi,
Here is a link for the MTS:
http://www.snailshop.co.uk/html/trumpet_snails2.html

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

I've found many snails identical to the ones Ive seen on internet in my garden coming out of the ground after the rain...are they the same trumpet snails? And can i put them in my tank??

Hi,
I don't think they are the same snail. The MTS is entirely
aquatic, burrows in the substrate, and usually comes out
when the tank lights go out. Yours sounds like what we
have here in the states. They are not aquatic, and live
in the vegetative overburden (dead leaves, grasses, etc.)
and come out at night.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Thanks Frank,
I actually tried puting one in the tank after giving it good long bath in fresh water. It looked happy underwater before my CL spotted it and put him to peace

I found some MTS at a little LFS today!! They gave me about 50 of them because they were so happy to have someone take them off their hands. These little snails are so cool, they went to work as soon as I added them into the tank.

Now i am worried. I have a tank with sand but no stock yet. I am getting multis who apparently like the sand so they can do their interior design. Hope I go okay with cleaning it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

Hi,
Note where the fish come from and that they prefer water
that is hard and a high pH. I would not use aquarium
gravel. That is basically Quartz and will not affect the
water chemistry. I would, instead, use crushed limestone
or crushed dolomite, or even crushed coral. Those are
carbonates, and will keep your pH and hardness high like
the fish prefer. I would use just a "dusting" of the gravel
as the fish like to dig through the stuff.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Frank is that msg for me?

I was told I could use, sand, marble chip or the tiny shells and all will raise the pH.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

Hi,
Yes, it was for you. What "we" call sand is basically all
quartz which is inert and will not affect the water
chemistry. If the "sand" is crushed coral,then it is a
carbonate and will hold the pH in the "8" range and
increase the hardness.

Marble chips are metamorphic chunks of limestone and will
affect (raise) the pH and hardness, but not as rapidly as
the carbonate bonds are bound tighter than in limestone.
The white marble chips might look nice in the tank.
Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Guy that sold it to me knew it was for a multi set up and obvioulsy knows the local water conditions.

I will be testing pH.

Thanks for the heads up much appreciated. /:'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

Hi,
I cleaned the sand for the first time a week ago. The tank has been established for around three months now. I've been feeling that the plant growth has been effected somehow by this cleanning. Looks like they were better off with the dirty substrate.
Has anybody else noticed something like this? Could it be the decaying matter providing some nutrition to the plants?

Thanks.

I just thought that I'd let you all know that I wasn't having any luck with sand and decided to switch back to gravel. I made the switch tonight. I guess I just wasn't meant to have sand in my tank.

Hi
When cleaning a planted tank, you would want to clean only
the unplanted sections staying a couple of inches out from
the plant roots. That can mean several inches from the
center of the plant as many root systems can be huge.

You probably vacuumed up much of the mulm that the roots
turn into nutrients. Whenever I clean a tank that is
well planted, I stay well away from the plants, and when
cleaning the planted areas I swirl my hand over them
to lift the "junk" up into the water column where the
vacuum or the filter can pull if out.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Thanks Frank
Sounds very much close to logic

sophiecat22, keeping sand isnt that difficult, believe me. All you need is some good practice with the gravel vacuum. All the best next time...

I know its not difficult, its just not my thing I guess. I've always used gravel and I thought a change would be nice but I guess change isn't always good. I switched to a dark gravel and I think my betta appreciates the darker color of the gravel more than the bright white sand. His coloration is much more vibrant and he's much more active.