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OK - I'm trying to help my nephew finish out his 10 gal which has 2 jullii cories and 3 zebra danios. I'm thinking of another two cories and maybe one or two more danios. The problem is algae.

Would an apple or mystery snail do the job? If we got just one would we end up many? Does anyone think this would overcrowd the tank?

I don't want to get him sensitive otos. He's 11 and I need more bulletproof fish (hence, the danios).

Last edited by Cory_Di at 30-Oct-2004 22:04

Personally in my experiences with the apple and mystery snails, I would have to say they would not do a great job on the algae. I would go with bn pleco. I know your thinking it will get six inches and be to big for the tank, personally I have to disagree, I have seen people use them in a ten gallon. Sure the tank would be a little to small for the bn, but it would be effective. One or two snails would not be effective IMO. I would however add a snail to that tank anyways. I think they are interesting creatures and they help to keep the tank a little cleaner by sifting throught the substrate for leftovers in case of overfeeding. Also many of the apple and mystery snail are either females or males and reproduces much like we do, except for some obvious differences. So if you get an apple you don't have to worry about self reproduction, there could be from time to time just some eggs above the waterline if you have a female. Which you can easily remove as they are in big hard cluster and won't be fertile.

Last edited by openwater at 30-Oct-2004 22:41

if all they had to eat was algae that might work, but as a rule apple/mystery snails aren't the best at algae removal. if you want a snail to eat algae, get malaysian trumpet snails instead. they might not get nearly so big, but they will do an excellent job on almost all the algae you can grow in a tank

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If I got one malaysian trumpet snail, would I end up with many?

How long would I need to "quarantine" a trumpet snail before I could be assured it has run out of, well, you know, stuff.

trumpet snails are good though. if you get one and it becomes many, you shouldn't be disappointed mts are great algae eaters and won't touch your live plants

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"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

applesnails will likely starve to death on algae diet alone. Except the plant eaters that would enjoy anything else in the tank before algae lol mts do reproduce but don't generally get out of hand. Unless you over feed your fish by alot their population stays in check and they prefer to come out more at night so they won't coat your tank. Another option is a few otocinclus if you can find them. They aren't common everywhere.

I would go with either a MTS, as my apple snail rarely touches the algae. He prefers to be fed.

The other option I see is a pitbull pleco, if you can find one. Not sure how sensitive they are though.

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Gee, does MTS eat long stringy hair algae? Will such a snail damage my valisneria?

Can someone link me to a site that can help me to understand what an MTS looks like so I know which one to get? I saw a rather large (10cm) snail with a long cone-like shell in a bin of plants. He was on the wall and I almost asked for him. Is this likely an MTS?

Are all cone shaped shelled snails "equal"?

Interesting...I find my Apple Snails - both the Gold and the Blue one, Love algae with a passion!!!!
I had them out of the 10g for 2 weeks while treating hatchetfish for ick, and the algae ran rampant again, in fact so bad I couldnt get it to come off the front glass.
Popped back in my 2 apples after treatment was done and water changes complete, and BOOM, Algae is disappearing at a rapid rate!
My hillstream and BN are lazy, but the snails make up for it!
I would say an Apple Snail would be great. Easy to keep, eats everything, including algae, and dont reproduce without a partner!
Good luck!
(i have apple snails Pomacea Bridgesii just in case that helps).


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if you have plenty of leftover food your MTS population will increase quite dramatically.

as mentioned above the do not eat plants, but as far a i know apple snails love to eat plants.

quarantining them would be a good idea i guess because snails can carry diseases. i duno about the details of the quarantine tho, iv asked this question before byt got no replys.

heres a link for them, its not very good tho, just do a search for them in google if you want better fotos.

http://www.fishpalace.org/M_tuberculata.html

My Apple Snails do not eat plants that I have noticed, except browny wilted leaves.


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They will eat strings of algae but generally just scrape the top and leave the front of my tank covered in little green spots. The larger applesnails are almost always canas which eat plants and may eat your algae but most would rather eat plants first. The golfball sized brigs rarely eat much plant or algae and I've had them starve in a tank coated with brown and hair algae. They are more carnivorous and prefer fish food. That's not to say there aren't exceptions but overall brigs aren't good algae eaters.

Try this site for a good picture ID of a MTS. I have some of these and they really do a great job on cleaning the fine leaved plants of algae.

http://www.aquamaniacs.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4582