Olive Snails (Lettered)

[JustSalty]

I just purchased a small 1" olive snail for my FOWLR tank.

• Has any one else have these little critters in their tank setup?
• Any tips on their care?
• What should I look out for?

I mainly wanted something to stir up the ground and eat debris.

(I guess I should have asked these questions before I put it in my tank)

My tank consists of:
2 paired Clowns
3 Margarita turbo snails
2 blue and 1 red leg hermits
1 Firefish
and tons of coraline aglae

And

Now one underground olive snail...

 

[mr_X]

Olive snails are predators that can eat other snails and clams. They do not eat debris, unless it's made out of meat.

 

[JustSalty]

They are cool to look at
I wonder if they eat bristle worms...

 

[mr_X]

I doubt there are fast enough for bristle worms. They are better to have than to get rid of anyway.
You have 3 margarita snails. It may go after them first, as it's on their menu.

 

[JustSalty]

To answer my own questions:

While Olive snails are predatory they are neat to have "in my opinion." They seek-out the dead stuff almost immediately. They stay under the sand bed and shoot out like a rockets when they sense something either dead or decaying.

They are not mass murderers as some people portray them to be. But they might feed on small clams and other snails when hungry. I found that mine is picky as to what he eats. He happens to only eat dead pre-frozen shrimp (the kind that you eat).

I still do not know how much or how often they need to be fed. So far, I have done every other day and longest 3 days in between feeding only a small pea size piece of shrimp. I'm not sure if he stores them or eats right away. So, I'm taking it slow... So I don't overload my system...

In my opinion I would only keep one per 20 gallons. I found some info at: Olive Snail - Oliva sp. | ThatPetPlace.com

Other comments regarding tips are welcomed

Thank you for your input.