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Hi guys, just thought I'd give you a warning about Trumpet snails! Some people say that you can have them in your tanks, but I've just been informed that they can eat Zebra Pleco eggs . So if there's any newbies out there, who are thinking of breeding these cute little guys (Zeb's, I mean) avoid putting anything in the tank, unless the plants/rocks have been treated with some kind of pesticide.

We've never had any problems and have actually tried to use them to keep eggs free from fungus when raising artificially...

Our zebs actually eat them too (I'll get pics later )

I keep finding empty shells to but never caught them eating

same here... we used to add snails to our original 2 fry's breeding trap to clean the food up etc... there was soon a collection of empty shells

Trumpet snails will eat unfertilized eggs. In my experience they are great housekeepers

Thought it sounded strange when my mum told me! I mean, they don't touch the adult ones, so why pick on the babies And I'm sure their good house-keepers like you and king will be with yer new house

i cant remember where i have seen it but i read an article saying that if you are hatching eggs in a fry trap then trumpet snails can be introduced to eat the unfertalised and mouldy eggs stoping the whole batch from being killed

Ah, but what happens when they reproduce themselves You'll have more snails than what you know what to do with!

that is very true bonsai i have personally had problems with snails leeding me to emtying all the fish water into containers with fish power wasing the whole tank soaking everything in bioling water then scrubbing it apart from filter media which got a thourough clean in aquarium water put everything back in and in a couple of months some how they still managed to reapear breeding at a fast rate i hate the things the only snail i can tolerate are apple snail

Snails may "suffocate" eggs if they are too many and they go on the batch. This is particularly true if one is trying to hatch cichlids - at the stage the fry are about to become free swimming. But we are talking an offensive number of snails here, literally covering the batch.
There seems to be, also, the possibility of "food" competition if too many snails are present in a tank as invariably they will get to the food before the baby zebs (2-3 months old).
The empty shells are not necessarily an indication that the zebras are eating the snails. We would have thought that to eat the snails the fish need to crack their shell, as is the case with the Leporacanthicus.
Snails are quite necessary in tanks though as they keep it clean and turn the sand over. We try to keep a balance in our tanks by syphoning the excess amount out once a month or so using an Eheim 16/22. Whether they are on the sand, the glass or the wood, they offer no resistance whatsoever. Just put some food in the tank in the evening, give them half an hour to surface and they are ready to depart.

Caesars and Polleni