Too many snails?

[severum mama]

This question is about my 2.5 pico, of course- see sig for thread.

The first snails that I added were 3 nassarius. Then, I added 3 bumblebees. Then, 2 margarita snails came in by accident on my mushroom rock last weekend. I didn't even notice until I was acclimating the mushrooms. Now I have 8 snails in a 2.5 gallon! That seems like a lot to me, but I have noticed that other people seem to keep a lot of snails in their tanks. As you can see in my pico thread, my perameters check out fine, and I do water changes like 3x per week. I test the water almost daily.

So, do I have too many snails? If yes, which ones should I rehome? I like them all but I want to make sure they will have enough to eat.

 

[melosu58]

You`ll have to decide by looking at your glass and rock. If there is any algea for them to feed off of then you`ll be OK. But if not then they might starve to death and even though in a bigger tank a snail death would not make a difference in a 2.5 gallon tank I think it would make an ammonia spike in that small of a tank. According to LA the bumblebees are sand sifters and should be OK but you`ll need to be the judge of the other snails.

 

[tecwzrd]

I agree that it they might starve to death competing for a food source. IMO 1 per gal is about the most you would want and only if you have 1.5+ lbs per gal of lr for them. I actually prefer/recommend one per 2 gal and I keep around 20 in my 55 with 90 lbs of lr and it's just about the perfect balance IME without having to supplement feed them.

You have plenty of lr in the tank but very little algae growth so I'd return a couple to the lfs or give to a friend. You could supplement feed them but IMO it's not worth the risk of fouling such a small tank.

From the progress thread I gather you don't have any other fish/mobile inverts in the tank and only a few corals at this point.

 

[roka64]

The bumblebees are carnivores and might eat other snails. That might help in your decision.

 

[severum mama]

Would it be a bad idea to keep one of each species and find new homes for the others? I like them all. I didn't know that the bumblebees were carnivores, that's interesting. I thought that all the snails would just clean up uneaten food and leave each other alone, but maybe not! 8O Or, should I just keep one nassarius and one margarita?

tec- The tank has a few corals and a yellow clown goby. I've been feeding the goby frozen mysis, so there is at least some uneaten food for the snails to clean up.

Thanks as usual for the advice!

 

[roka64]

I don't think they would actively go after other snails, unless hungry or they run accross a weakend one. I had 12 in my tank and they are all dead, my nassis and ceriths are still going strong.

 

[severum mama]

Good news- my friend that has an established 75 gallon reef has expressed interest in my extra snails! 8) She will be picking them up within the next few days.

 

[melosu58]

That is good news indeed.

 

[roka64]

Awesome!