Should I buy it?
Malaysian Trumpet Snail
Melanoides tuberculata
Typical trade / ID note: Melanoides tuberculata
Also known as: mts, trumpet snail, red-rim melania, MTS, Trumpet snail, Red-rim melania
Fishori provides conservative planning guidance, not guarantees.
Based on typical aquarium care sources; details may vary between setups. Use the numbers here as planning defaults — your room, water, and routine still shape real-world outcomes.
A working substrate snail, not a pest. Population scales with overfeeding. The fix for too many MTS is less food, not more chemicals.
Best for
Any planted tank wanting passive substrate aeration. Particularly useful in sand-bottom setups where they prevent anaerobic compaction.
Avoid if
You dislike snails. There is no reliable way to keep one or two; they breed to food supply and are very difficult to eliminate without chemicals.
Top things that go wrong
- Shrimp & snails. Compatible with shrimp and most other snails except assassins. Often introduced accidentally with plants from another tank.
Common mistakeTrying to eliminate MTS with assassin snails while still overfeeding the tank. The population recovers faster than the assassins can eat.
What most shops don't tell you
- 1.Adding assassin snails to 'control' the MTS. Assassins eat the small ones and the population stabilises around the larger snails the assassins cannot crack, with no real reduction.
- 2.Overfeeding then panicking at the snail count. Cutting the feed by a third over a fortnight halves the visible MTS without removing a single snail.
- 3.Beneficial in a planted substrate. The population self-regulates against food supply, so a tank with disciplined feeding holds 30 MTS comfortably and a tank that overfeeds builds 300. Reduce numbers by reducing feed, not by chasing snails with tweezers.
About this species
Malaysian trumpet snails are small cone-shelled livebearing snails that burrow in the substrate during the day and surface at night. They aerate sand and gravel, clean up uneaten food, and breed live young so the population builds quietly until the keeper notices it.
- Blue Dream Shrimp20L min · same group, comparable tank size
- Cherry Shrimp20L min · same group, comparable tank size
- Nerite Snail20L min · same group, comparable tank size
- Assassin Snail30L min · same group, comparable tank size
- Amano Shrimp40L min · same group, similar adult size
- Ghost Shrimp40L min · same group, similar adult size
- Mystery Snail40L min · same group, similar adult size
- Bamboo Shrimp80L min · same fish family
- Amano Shrimpalso beginner peaceful, similar tank size
- Assassin Snailalso beginner peaceful, similar tank size
- Beckford Pencilfishalso beginner peaceful, similar tank size
- Black Neon Tetraalso beginner peaceful, similar tank size
- Bloodfin tetraalso beginner peaceful, similar tank size
- Blue Dream Shrimpalso beginner peaceful, similar tank size
No reverse lookups on file yet.
Plan grid
Key limits are shown above; this section adds planning detail: pH band, swim level, bioload and activity, and the radar.
Swim zones
Planning trait chart
Six indices for comparing species on paper before you spend.
- Beginner ease82
- Peacefulness90
- Community fit82
- Small-tank fit100
- Hardiness76
- Energy24
Numbers are deterministic planning indices from Fishori fields — not a scientific score of your individual fish.
Common setup sketches
Conservative patterns from Fishori fields — still run the pair checker for every species you add; sketches are not a stocking guarantee.
Rough 90L+ layout: one calm centrepiece, 8–12 small tetras/rasboras, 6–8 corydoras-type bottom fish — verify every name in the pair checker before buying.
Safe directions on file include: Corydoras Catfish, Neon Tetra, Harlequin Rasbora.
Tank mate intelligence
Use the "Often compatible" lists as a shortlist, not a stocking plan. Always run the pair tool and check the footprint of your actual tank first. Verify behaviour for Malaysian Trumpet Snail against your own reading before you buy.
Pair-level compatibility with this fish as anchor.
Read the blocking rule on each pair page before experimenting.
Do-not-stock combinations on conservative hobby rules.
Compare with
Run a real pair check: Malaysian Trumpet Snail + Corydoras Catfish
Behaviour, temperament, and what to watch
Prose and lists come from the same record: read temperament first, then glass-level signals so you are not surprised after day three.
Malaysian Trumpet Snail is peaceful in mixed company.
Stress / aggression triggers on file
- Sudden crowding
- Poor water quality
Fin nipping: Not a habitual fin-nipper, but individuals can still test fins under stress or in a crowded tank.
Predation: Not a predator toward similarly-sized community fish. The usual community caveats about mouth size still apply for very small fry or shrimp.
Territory: Not strongly territorial, but still claims a working area in the tank. Give it room to settle without overlapping the next species' patch.
Planted tanks: excellent — easy plant ideas
In the glass: typical and warning signs
- Often calm on the glass — bursts of movement around food or tank disturbance.
- Clamped fins, gasping at the surface, hiding non-stop, or refusing food after the first week.
- Rapid breathing when parameters swing — fix ammonia/nitrite first, then reassess mates.
- Low listed risk — still watch new introductions.
- Separate or rehome if injuries appear, one fish is pinned, or feeding becomes a daily chase.
- If water is stable but behaviour worsens, reduce stocking or remove the highest-impact species first.
Fish behaviour can vary between individuals and tank setups. Always observe new fish closely after introduction.
Care parameters: water, food, inverts, grouping
Chemistry and group rules sit here so you are not re-reading the same line from tank mate or temperament blocks. Swim level is in the plan grid above.
Hardness
medium-hard
Diet
omnivore
Mixed diet: a quality flake or pellet as the staple, with frozen or live foods two or three times a week.
Shrimp & snails
Compatible with shrimp and most other snails except assassins. Often introduced accidentally with plants from another tank.
A starting cluster of five seeds the colony. The population then sets itself based on food supply.
Breeding behaviour depends on the species. Research before you buy a mixed-sex group of this fish.
- Sand or fine gravel substrate for burrowing. Coarse pebbles trap them on the surface and limit the benefit.
- Acceptance that the population builds with feeding and shrinks when feeding is disciplined.
- No assassin snails, yoyo loaches, or clown loaches in the same tank if you want the colony to stay healthy.
- Tank volume meets or exceeds 20L published minimum for adults.
- Heater can hold 18–30°C without cooking cooler-water tank mates.
Explore and stocking hubs
Same library as the rest of Fishori: tank-mate index for this species, category peers, guides, and litre-based stocking lists where min tank on file is within the hub volume.
Plan with tools
Pair-level rules and multi-fish stocking use the same conservative engine — add this fish in the tank builder only after mates pass pair checks.
Filtration & heating
A 20L minimum tank needs a filter rated for at least 80L/hr turnover and a heater to hold 18–30°C reliably.
Plant suggestions
Malaysian Trumpet Snail does well in planted tanks. Plants compatible with 18–30°C and pH 7–8.5:
Profile status: partially verified · Evidence tier: medium · 2 linked source(s). Fishori does not fabricate citations.
Fishori uses conservative planning rules based on these sources.
Confidence is explained in the summary at the top of this page (same tier as here), not repeated below.
How Fishori evaluates compatibility (same logic as pair and tank tools).
- Seriously Fish. Melanoides tuberculata
Primary: species page covering range, livebearing reproduction, and substrate aeration behaviour.
- Aquarium Co-Op. Trumpet Snails in Planted Tanks
Secondary: retailer write-up on the population-vs-feeding cycle and benefits in planted substrates.
Evidence notes
- MTS are livebearers, not egg-layers, so there are no visible egg clutches to scrape off and no easy way to slow reproduction except by reducing feed.
- A population that explodes is a feeding signal, not a snail problem. Keepers who treat the snails first and feeding second see the population rebuild within weeks.
- Fishori profiles work from typical aquarium trade sizes and hobby care norms. Specialist site checks and literature review for this species are not yet recorded here, so the ranges on this page are planning numbers rather than guarantees.