7Enigma
Aquarium Advice Addict
Hey everyone,
After trying in vain to find some FW nerite snails in the area I've come to the conclusion that the only way this is going to work is if I acclimate salt water/brackish myself. I've done some reading and it seems like a prolonged drip acclimation will work without loss. My friend will be visiting me from Lancaster in the next week or two and will pick up a batch of salt water nerites from That Pet Place which apparently is a great fish store (never been there myself). I plan to get between 5 and 10 for myself and will be housing them temporarily in my 10 gallon QT/hospital tank that has a fair bit of algae in it.
For those that don't know, nerites are considered THE snail that will eat algae like a champ but stay off our live plants. They are also native to brackish/marine conditions and so will not successfully breed in a FW setup (they will lay eggs but they are not viable).
They do not specify the exact species on their site (they have some really cool shapes and patterns, most notably the tiger nerite and the staghorn nerite), and I would only be purchasing the normal size unless someone specifies the large, but to be honest I consider a larger snail to have a shorter overall lifespan and so would prefer the small ones myself ($2 each), but shoot me an email if you want to do a mini group buy. Pickup of the snails in person would be appreciated, but I guess I could ship them locally as well. I'm located in Havertown, about 20min west of Philadelphia.
Here's the link from the store:
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/group/17785/product.web
Here's a couple others:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1076
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/sept2003/invert.htm
Let me know.
P.S. If all goes well with the acclimation, my barbs don't try to eat/kill the snails, and they actually lay eggs in the water I very well might try to breed these guys in a semi-saltwater system. From my limited research, in SW/brackish conditions they are prolific breeders which should make my job easier. Heck I could farm them for our local LFS' that don't carry nerite snails! But I digress; I have no experience with SW or brackish, and have no idea the time frame from when the juveniles can be transitioned from SW to FW. It will be an experiment to say the least.
After trying in vain to find some FW nerite snails in the area I've come to the conclusion that the only way this is going to work is if I acclimate salt water/brackish myself. I've done some reading and it seems like a prolonged drip acclimation will work without loss. My friend will be visiting me from Lancaster in the next week or two and will pick up a batch of salt water nerites from That Pet Place which apparently is a great fish store (never been there myself). I plan to get between 5 and 10 for myself and will be housing them temporarily in my 10 gallon QT/hospital tank that has a fair bit of algae in it.
For those that don't know, nerites are considered THE snail that will eat algae like a champ but stay off our live plants. They are also native to brackish/marine conditions and so will not successfully breed in a FW setup (they will lay eggs but they are not viable).
They do not specify the exact species on their site (they have some really cool shapes and patterns, most notably the tiger nerite and the staghorn nerite), and I would only be purchasing the normal size unless someone specifies the large, but to be honest I consider a larger snail to have a shorter overall lifespan and so would prefer the small ones myself ($2 each), but shoot me an email if you want to do a mini group buy. Pickup of the snails in person would be appreciated, but I guess I could ship them locally as well. I'm located in Havertown, about 20min west of Philadelphia.
Here's the link from the store:
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/group/17785/product.web
Here's a couple others:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1076
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/sept2003/invert.htm
Let me know.
P.S. If all goes well with the acclimation, my barbs don't try to eat/kill the snails, and they actually lay eggs in the water I very well might try to breed these guys in a semi-saltwater system. From my limited research, in SW/brackish conditions they are prolific breeders which should make my job easier. Heck I could farm them for our local LFS' that don't carry nerite snails! But I digress; I have no experience with SW or brackish, and have no idea the time frame from when the juveniles can be transitioned from SW to FW. It will be an experiment to say the least.