Malaysian Trumpet Snail

Care at a glance

Overview

These are peaceful bottom dwellers that need no special attention. They eat leftover food, detritus, and algae, and they sift through the substrate as they go. You do not really stock them by group size. Numbers track the amount of waste available, which is why they boom in overfed tanks. They leave plants and other animals alone. A tank as small as 20 liters is plenty.

In the wild

Malaysian trumpet snails come from streams and ponds across Southeast Asia, where they spend the day buried in soft sediment and come out to feed. That burrowing habit is the reason a lot of keepers want them. In a tank, a sand or fine-gravel bottom lets them dig and turn the substrate. They handle a wide range, from around 21 to 25 C and pH 6.5 to 8, which makes them easy to slot into most setups.

Good to know

Melanoides tuberculata is a small livebearing snail in the family Thiaridae, with a tall, cone-shaped (trumpet) shell that grows to roughly 3 cm. It reproduces by parthenogenesis, meaning females clone themselves without a mate, so one snail can start a population. It carries young internally and gives birth to live, fully formed snails rather than laying eggs.

Did you know

They are mostly nocturnal and stay buried during the day, so a tank can look almost empty until the lights go out and dozens come up through the sand. Because of that, a sudden crowd of them sitting on the glass in daylight is a classic sign of poor water or low oxygen down in the substrate.

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