Sand diggers?

[Tankster]

i need to add something to the tank to turn my sand over. The sand drifts from 1 to 4 inches. The tank is 240 gallons with Peacocks and cory’s for a clean up crew.
Is there stock that can be added to avoid getting up on a ladder to manually turn it over every week?

 

[CichlidDan]

Lethrinops sift through sand, my red cap lethrinops does it a lot.

 

[FishEggs]

Malaysian trumpet snails might help out.

 

[Becca]

Malaysian trumpet snails might help out.

I second the MTS.

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

A lot of loaches will do a fair amount of digging.

 

[jonclark96]

Or, you can switch your tank over to large Central American cichlids. You won't be able to stop them from digging!

 

[Tankster]

jonclark96 lol - but I JUST got this one up and running! That is evil to plant that seed so early.

Everyone else, than you for the reply's

I have been told in the past, snails are notorious carriers of disease. Is this an issue with MTS?

Also, will they reproduce and end up throughout my whole system (overflow, sump, pump motor,)?

 

[Becca]

I've never heard anything about snails and disease...

Yes, MTS will be everywhere, although they shouldn't quite be getting into your pump....

 

[Tankster]

I should not have said disease, but rather parasites. Snails are intermediate hosts for parasitic worms. It is one of the ways gill flukes are introduced into an aquarium.

Here is as link to a great article on the subject.

 

[Becca]

I should not have said disease, but rather parasites. Snails are intermediate hosts for parasitic worms. It is one of the ways gill flukes are introduced into an aquarium.

Here is as link to a great article on the subject.

If these ones carried gill flukes, all my fish would be dead. You could always dose the snails with something and QT them before adding them if you're concerned. I don't think I've ever successfully avoided snails, even in set-ups with no plants.

 

[Tankster]

What about one of these guys - Horse-Faced Loach? Wonder if they would be harassed by the peacocks?

 

[rawdeakka]

While Lethrinops do sift quite a bit, i wouldnt suggest them for a mixed species tank. Since you do have a nice sized aquarium i would suggest some of the bigger sand sifting malawi species like fossochromis rostratus or taeniolethrinop(furcicauda or praeorbitalis).

 

[Tankster]

Thank you all for the great advice. After much research, snails are just not something I want to intentionally introduce into my tank. The MTS, albeit great for aerating sand, are also prolific reproducers since they don't need a mate to make babies and they add a heavy bio load to the tank.

I like what rawdeakka has suggested and will look into that further.

C CichlidDan I am such a noob to this I don't know all of the scientific names for the fish and it turns out you suggested the same fish I posted a pic of, the commonly named - Horse faced loach. Can you tell me about the tank you have yours in? what other species is it homed with?

 

[CichlidDan]

Thank you all for the great advice. After much research, snails are just not something I want to intentionally introduce into my tank. The MTS, albeit great for aerating sand, are also prolific reproducers since they don't need a mate to make babies and they add a heavy bio load to the tank.

I like what rawdeakka has suggested and will look into that further.

C CichlidDan I am such a noob to this I don't know all of the scientific names for the fish and it turns out you suggested the same fish I posted a pic of, the commonly named - Horse faced loach. Can you tell me about the tank you have yours in? what other species is it homed with?

Sorry for the delayed response haven’t been on the forum in a while Lethrinops are actually a type of hap not that horse faced loach.