I know they affect the water, but what about plants????

and how big do they usually get??? A fellow office mate, started with 1 and
now has 12-15 or so.... mostly under 1" but getting close....

I got two, within a couple weeks there were more. I don't think they get
longer than 1", one of my 'starter' two died (of old age i'm guessing since
the others were fine) and it was under an inch.

They don't touch the plants, (except to crawl on them looking for food), and
do a very good job stirring the gravel. (I put some crushed coral on top of
my brown gravel and they're mixed together quite well now) They're supposed
to hide in the substrate during the day and come out at night but mine don't
seem to know that.

The only problem I can see is if you ever wanted to get rid of them, their
shells are harder than those of most snails so snail-eating fish have a
harder time of it.

"RedForeman" wrote in message
...
I know they affect the water, but what about plants????

and how big do they usually get??? A fellow office mate, started with 1
and
now has 12-15 or so.... mostly under 1" but getting close....

How big they get and how much they reproduce depends on how much food
they get. In my main tank they reproduce and grow fast, but I think
their max size is under an inch. In another tank there are only a few
small ones that don't get much food and haven't grown significantly in
a few months.

They are great for my sand substrate tank because they dig through and
keep it loose. They don't eat the live plants, just maybe some dead
leaves. They don't have any negative affect on the water quality
unless you had a lot of them die and rot. Since they eat the waste
and sift sand they definitely have a positive affect on water and
plants.

Want some?
Cris


On Tue, 10 Jun 2003 16:46:33 -0400, "RedForeman"
wrote:

I know they affect the water, but what about plants????

and how big do they usually get??? A fellow office mate, started with 1 and
now has 12-15 or so.... mostly under 1" but getting close....

Cris wrote in message ws.com...

Want some?
Cris


Can anyone give me some good pictures of MTS's? I have Apple snails,
I think, and they seem to like eating some of my plants. I'm
wondering whether I should "trade up" for MTS's.

Tom

Tom Hale wrote:
Can anyone give me some good pictures of MTS's? I have Apple snails,

http://www.petresources.net/fish/plants/mel_tub.html

I think, and they seem to like eating some of my plants. I'm
wondering whether I should "trade up" for MTS's.

MTS and "apple" snails serve very different purposes in aquaria. However,
some apple snails will eat plants, while others won't. MTS will not eat
plants and will burrow in the substrate, which is good.


--
Victor M. Martinez

http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv

RedForeman wrote in message
...
I know they affect the water, but what about plants????

and how big do they usually get??? A fellow office mate, started with 1
and
now has 12-15 or so.... mostly under 1" but getting close....




If he sees 12-15, he probably has many dozen young snails he hasn't spotted
yet. They are a livebearing snail, and you only need one to start a colony.

Jim

(Victor M. Martinez) wrote in message ...
Tom Hale wrote:
Can anyone give me some good pictures of MTS's? I have Apple snails,

http://www.petresources.net/fish/plants/mel_tub.html

I think, and they seem to like eating some of my plants. I'm
wondering whether I should "trade up" for MTS's.

MTS and "apple" snails serve very different purposes in aquaria. However,
some apple snails will eat plants, while others won't. MTS will not eat
plants and will burrow in the substrate, which is good.

Thanks for the Information. That helps alot.

Tom

RedForeman wrote in message
...
I know they affect the water, but what about plants????

and how big do they usually get??? A fellow office mate, started with 1
and
now has 12-15 or so.... mostly under 1" but getting close....




If he sees 12-15, he probably has many dozen young snails he hasn't spotted
yet. They are a livebearing snail, and you only need one to start a colony.

Jim