[fmueller]

What Malawi cichlid eats Malaysian Trumpet Snails and can be kept with aggressive mbuna (Auratus, Demasoni, Red Zebras) in a 10' (3m) tank?

I don't want clown loaches, puffers, or anything else non-Malawi. Assassin snails are illegal and not available in New Zealand, where I live.

 

[fishboy75]

Chilotilapia Rhoadesii is the only cichlid from Lake Malawi that I can think of that eats snails. Get up to a foot long but temperament wise is not a match for your tank. Are there any other haps in there or just the mbuna you mentioned? If there are wide open swimming areas might work since your tank is so big. If its stacked with rocks throughout then I would think it wouldn't work.

 

[noki]

Rhoadesii but may be stressed out, and not sure if they would do it anyway. You can try if you want. You do have a large tank, which is good. Larger tougher less specialized Mbuna might be more likely, like Chipokae or Crabro. Not sure if you would want those.

As an experiment, you could try to teach them to eat snails by crushing snails so the fish learn they are food. :wink:

 

[Fogelhund]

Trematochromis placadon also is a snail eater. Whether either would eat MTS is an unknown, especially if they are F29.

I think in a tank as big as Franks, you could get away with an 8" Hap, without it being too stressed.

 

[fmueller]

Thanks for the input folks! I can't believe I find Fogelhund here! I thought your CF days were over!

Crabro would be a nice fit for my other tank inhabitants. Not sure how easy they are to get hold of in NZ.

I'd also consider a hap, but again, got to see what's available.

Training them is actually not a bad idea. I think I got this to work in other tanks - or I am just kidding myself. Unfortunately the darn trumpet snails are not easy to crush!

 

[master chi]

*** had those dang snails in my tank for a long time. I eventually just sifted through my sand to bring down the numbers. There was a massive population. With that,my Yellow Labs definitely found their way to eating the snails.I saw them often picking the large ones out,and off the glass in the early morning. Still they weren't any help in MTS population control. But taking my fish net and sifting sand,then discarding the snails has worked quite well.

 

[DJRansome]

Finally got rid of mine when I moved. To keep numbers low I would put my rocks in a hydrogen peroxide solution during PWC and squirt the solution on the exposed glass.

Next time I buy fish I'm sure they will be back.