SnailfreshwaterUndemandingHigh invasive risk

Malaysian trumpet snail

A burrowing, livebearing snail that turns over the substrate and prevents anaerobic pockets forming in deep sand. It also reproduces parthenogenetically, so one snail becomes a population and there is no getting rid of it.

Quick profile

Scientific name: Melanoides tuberculata
Adult size: 2–3 cm (0.8–1.2 in)
Lifespan: 1–2 years
Temperature: 20–30 °C (68–86 °F)
pH: 7–8.5
Hardness: 6–25 °dGH
Minimum tank: 20 L (5 US gal)
Minimum length: 30 cm
Swimming zone: Bottom
Social: Tolerant of any grouping
Diet: Detritivore
Overall confidence: moderate confidence

What keeping this species involves

Effectively indestructible in hard water.

Soft sediment in warm fresh water; burrows by day.

Identity and names

Common name: Malaysian trumpet snail
Scientific name: Melanoides tuberculata
Family: Thiaridae
Order: Sorbeoconcha
Class: Gastropoda
Also sold as: MTS, trumpet snail

Adult size and growth

2–3 cm (0.8–1.2 in)

Typical lifespan in an aquarium: 1–2 years. Almost every animal sold in a shop is a juvenile, so the tank has to suit the size in the first line rather than the size in the bag.

Water and tank requirements

Substrate depth matters more than tank size — the species lives in the sand rather than on it.

Requirement	Value	Notes
Temperature	20–30 °C (68–86 °F)	Stability matters more than hitting an exact figure.
pH	7–8.5	A stable pH outside the ideal band is usually better than an unstable one inside it.
General hardness	6–25 °dGH	Check your supplier's published figure before choosing species.
Minimum volume	20 L (5 US gal)	A floor, not a recommendation.
Minimum footprint	30 cm long	Substrate depth matters more than tank size — the species lives in the sand rather than on it.
Water flow	low	Match the outflow to this rather than to the filter's rating.
Lid required	Recommended	Reduces evaporation and prevents accidents.

Behaviour

Burrows through sand during the day and emerges at night.
A sudden mass emergence in daylight is a recognised warning sign of a water quality problem.

Feeding

Diet type: Detritivore
Staples: Detritus in the substrate, Uneaten food, Biofilm

Breeding

Strategy: Livebearing and parthenogenetic — a single individual founds a population
Difficulty: incidental
Parental care: none

Tankmates and compatibility

Assessments are derived from stored traits by the compatibility engine, with the reasoning shown. A verdict is a statement about probability, not a guarantee — individual temperament can override it.

Risk this species poses to common tankmates
Towards	Risk	What it means
Small fish	none	Anything that fits in the mouth is at risk once this species reaches adult size.
Adult dwarf shrimp	none	Cover reduces losses but rarely prevents them where the risk is high.
Shrimplets	none	Determines whether a shrimp colony can grow rather than merely persist.
Snails	none	Applies to snails you wanted as well as snails you did not.
Long or trailing fins	none	Fin damage is an entry point for secondary infection.
Plants	none	Tough species such as Anubias and Java fern survive most grazers.

Any pair in the catalogue can be assessed with the compatibility checker.

Welfare considerations

Points where the way this species is commonly sold or kept differs from what it actually needs.

Population size is set by how much you feed the tank. A trumpet snail explosion is a feeding problem, not a snail problem.
Effectively impossible to remove once established. Introduce deliberately or not at all.

Problems to watch for

Most problems in a tank containing this species are general rather than species-specific. Start with the troubleshooting index and work from the observation rather than from a guess at the cause.

What AquariumHQ does not yet hold

Species-level disease susceptibility is modelled in the graph and is not yet populated. Health pages will not be published until each condition has veterinary sourcing, because health content written without evidence is the most harmful thing this product could publish. The gap is recorded in the coverage report.

Where it comes from

Native range: Native to Africa and southern Asia; introduced worldwide
Habitat: Soft sediment in warm fresh water; burrows by day.

What the checklists say

124 distribution statements retrieved from GBIF checklists. Establishment means is reproduced from the source where it states one, and left unstated where it does not — a record of presence is not a record of origin.

Status	Places	What this means
Introduced	90	A checklist states the species arrived here with human help. That is not a statement that it is established, harmful or illegal.
Recorded as present, establishment means not stated	34	The source records the species as present and does not say whether it is native or introduced. AquariumHQ does not fill that in.

No checklist AquariumHQ holds positively calls this species native anywhere, so the native range above rests on AquariumHQ’s own reading of the literature rather than on a cited checklist.

Legal status and responsible practice

Restriction note

Established worldwide as an introduced species, and restricted in a few jurisdictions. Check the local position before acquiring, and never release or dispose of substrate into a watercourse.

What AquariumHQ has recorded, by jurisdiction, with the instrument each entry comes from and how far the check went. Ecological risk and legal status are separate: a species can be ecologically risky and legally unrestricted, or restricted where it could never establish.

EU

Not verified by AquariumHQpossession

No restriction was identified in the sources AquariumHQ checked for the EU as of 2026-08-11. That is not a finding that keeping, selling or moving this species is lawful there: sub-national rules, permit regimes and trade-specific requirements exist that these sources do not cover, and lists are amended. Check with the relevant authority before acquiring, selling or moving any animal.

Instrument recorded, species entry not re-checked · last checked 2026-08-11 · AquariumHQ has recorded the instrument and what it does, but has not re-confirmed this species' entry against the current consolidated text. Listings are amended, so treat this as a pointer to the right law rather than as a confirmation of the current position, and check with the authority before acting.

US

Prohibitedrelease

Widely established outside its native range, largely through the aquarium and ornamental plant trade. It travels as eggs and juveniles on plants rather than being deliberately moved, which is why plant disposal matters.

Instrument: State regulations; established populations are documented in the USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species database

Never release aquarium life into the wild

Aquarium animals, plants, and aquarium water must never be released into ponds, rivers, canals, drains or the sea — not even in a country where the species is sold freely. Released fish and invertebrates establish populations that displace native species, and released plants and water carry pathogens, parasites and fragments capable of spreading without any animal at all. If you can no longer keep an animal, rehome it through an aquarium society, a retailer that accepts returns, or another keeper.

Rehome through a local aquarium society, a specialist retailer or another keeper.
Unwanted plants go in household waste or a hot compost heap, never in a watercourse or a garden pond.
Never empty a bucket of tank water into a drain that discharges to open water.
If an animal is beyond rehoming, ask an aquatic veterinarian about humane euthanasia rather than releasing it.

Legal status is recorded from the sources named and was correct on the verification date shown. Rules change, and sub-national rules often differ from national ones. Check the current position with the relevant authority before acquiring, selling or moving any animal or plant.

Evidence

Every stored value with the kind of support behind it and where to check it. Evidence type and confidence are separate axes: an editorial position held confidently and a measurement held tentatively are different things.

Claim	Value	Evidence type	Confidence	Source
scientific name	Melanoides tuberculata	Observed / measured	high confidence	Catalogue of Life; GBIF — Global Biodiversity Information Facility
native range	Native to Africa and southern Asia; introduced worldwide	Observed / measured	moderate confidence	GBIF — Global Biodiversity Information Facility
adult size	2–3 cm	Aquarium-literature consensus	moderate confidence	AquariumHQ husbandry synthesis
lifespan	1–2 years	Aquarium-literature consensus	moderate confidence	AquariumHQ husbandry synthesis
temperature	20–30 °C	Aquarium-literature consensus	moderate confidence	AquariumHQ husbandry synthesis
ph	7–8.5 pH	Aquarium-literature consensus	moderate confidence	AquariumHQ husbandry synthesis
general hardness	6–25 °dGH	Aquarium-literature consensus	moderate confidence	AquariumHQ husbandry synthesis
minimum tank volume	≥ 20 L	AquariumHQ editorial position	moderate confidence	AquariumHQ husbandry synthesis
minimum tank length	≥ 30 cm	AquariumHQ editorial position	moderate confidence	AquariumHQ husbandry synthesis

Last reviewed 2026-08-10. Values labelled as an aquarium-literature consensus are AquariumHQ editorial positions rather than measurements — see how evidence is handled.

Why we say this

What each figure on this page rests on, and how far that is from being independently established.

Every figure on this page has a provenance. Open any claim to see what AquariumHQ holds for it, which sources say what, and what a claim of that kind actually needs. Different claims need different evidence: an accepted scientific name is settled by one authority, while a legal restriction needs a current primary instrument. A single source is often the right answer rather than a thin one.

scientific nameAquariumHQ's own position, externally checkableBased on a verified authoritative source.

AquariumHQ's own position on a claim an external source could support.

What this kind of claim needs: accepted scientific name and classification — 1 authoritative source in an appropriate context. Checked against gbif on 2026-08-11. One authoritative backbone is what this class requires.