Snails and sea shells?

[evil Nick]

Can you put a saltwater sea shell in an aquarium for calcium?
I live literally an 8 minute walk from the beach.

On a side note I have pond and MTS.

the MTS Ive started giving away to people but the pond snails I pull out when I see to many and flush or chuck them.

I wanted to get a pea puffer to eat my pond snails but I dont want it to go after my Mystery, Red Ramhorn or Nerite.

Ive heard even though they are to big for it they might get harassed to death.

Are there any living things that will eat small snails only? Really like my mystery snail, hes an algae machine

 

[Fishfur]

I think some of the snail eating loaches tend to go for the smaller snails.. but I am not sure they wouldn't also go for bigger ones. Maybe ask that question of some who keep snail eating loaches.

As for the sea shells, if you want to put one in, and having it leach calcium is ok, sure, put one in. Just give it a decent rinse first, make sure it's not got contaminants on it. Beaches aren't always the cleanest places.

To eat small nuisance snails, you might get Spixi snails, possibly. They're not as efficient as Assassins are, and they don't drill shells. I have several in one tank, but there are still other snails in with them. But there are very, very few bladder snails in there, they don't last long. Spixis appear to prefer them to other species. They eat ramshorns as well, if bladder or pond snails aren't available. They also do not reproduce themselves at high rates.. they lay an underwater clutch, on a plant stem or leaf, which hangs loose and floats 'til the babies hatch. But I see only one clutch every now and then, nothing like as many as you'd get with most other egg layers.

I did have a Spixi kill at least one Mystery snail, though I am not sure if the Mystery snail was healthy or not. Might have been a fluke, or maybe the Mystery was just slow closing his door. There are also Nerites in this tank, and the Spixis don't seem very interested in them either, though if they were hungry enough, I'm sure they'd go for them. I throw bladder & ramshorn snails I find in other tanks into this one with the Spixis, as I really would rather they didn't eat the Nerites and so far, this seems to work. I don't know if they eat MTS, I've yet to see that happen, maybe because the MTS burrow and Spixis don't.

Assassin snails will eat any other snail, of any kind, including MTS. Unlike Spixis, who have to grab the snail's foot, Assassins can drill their shells and get at the prey snail that way. They're not super fast at clearing a tank, but they will keep eating snails 'til there are none left. Then you have to give them a high protein diet to keep them healthy, if you keep them.