AdamHorton
Aquarium Advice FINatic
About a year ago before I stocked my 150G SW tank, I added a clean-up crew of snails and hermit crabs. Most of the snails were killed by the crabs (at least I think) and I thought they were all gone until a couple of months ago when I saw at least two that un-buried themselves from the sand to eat a couple of times.
The other night I saw several (about 10) of what I'm very sure are baby snails in my refugium. I can't get a good picture yet because they're too small, they're smaller than a BB pellet, but I've gotten a good look at them and I'm sure they're snails. I'll try and post pictures as soon as I can get some to come out.
A couple of questions: first of all, how could they have gotten down there? I just find it unlikely that either eggs or tiny snails could have made it through two overflows and some mechanical filtration, especially considering that they probably started from the sand bed more than two feet below the first overflow. I recently moved the heaters from the display tank to the sump, so I guess it's possible that they could have laid eggs on the heater and hatched down there, but that still seems unlikely.
Second, I have a pretty good pod population in my sump/refugium that I want to keep thriving. Should I worry about the snails eating the pods at all? I was hoping I could let them grow nice and big down there and eventually put them in the display tank, but I don't want to do that at the cost of the pods. I have no idea what type of snail they are, but I'll try and get an ID once they're big enough.
The other night I saw several (about 10) of what I'm very sure are baby snails in my refugium. I can't get a good picture yet because they're too small, they're smaller than a BB pellet, but I've gotten a good look at them and I'm sure they're snails. I'll try and post pictures as soon as I can get some to come out.
A couple of questions: first of all, how could they have gotten down there? I just find it unlikely that either eggs or tiny snails could have made it through two overflows and some mechanical filtration, especially considering that they probably started from the sand bed more than two feet below the first overflow. I recently moved the heaters from the display tank to the sump, so I guess it's possible that they could have laid eggs on the heater and hatched down there, but that still seems unlikely.
Second, I have a pretty good pod population in my sump/refugium that I want to keep thriving. Should I worry about the snails eating the pods at all? I was hoping I could let them grow nice and big down there and eventually put them in the display tank, but I don't want to do that at the cost of the pods. I have no idea what type of snail they are, but I'll try and get an ID once they're big enough.
Mine come out at night (maybe to keep hidden from the fish) and seem to eat algae so thats good for me
