Which snail to choose?

[slitherbomb]

I love the way snails look and everything and I want 1 for my 40B. Which one should I get? Today I held an abalone and I wanted to keep it but it was at an aquarium.... He was black and about 4", and I think it was a Californian one. Which snail is good to get? I only want 1 and I want a big one because they are awesome. Thanks.

[kelly77143]

apple snails get pretty large. about 5-6 inches Ive seen. I dont know what their bioload is tho. I have mystery snails (3) and I love to watch them.

[slitherbomb]

Unfortunately they are freshwater snails

[kurtyboh]

Apple snails are also self reproducing i believe.

[alLexX]

Originally Posted by kurtyboh

Apple snails are also self reproducing i believe.

there not. and there fw. i think queen conchs and fighting conches get big

[kurtyboh]

I knew for sure they were fw... conches are awesomw for sure though.

[kelly77143]

Sorry! I didnt know where I was!

[Homedog98]

Nerites can be good

[ezy33]

I have a tropical abalone in my system, they only get to 3". Like most snails they only come out at night. It's a small part of my clean up crew.
Depending on what you have in your tank as some snails will knock over corals. I use liveaquaria.com to research anything I'm interested in. By the way they have have tropical abalone for sale.

[slitherbomb]

Can you get a pic of your abalone? I held one today and fell in love. It was at an aquarium so I couldn't buy him and I wasn't going to steal him....lol. He looked really cool and was looking at that one on liveaquaria.

[mr_X]

make sure there is enough food in the tank for whatever you purchase.

[johnmaloney]

abalones are temperate species usually, you would need to run a chiller or they would die pre-maturely on you. Tropical large snails are things like conchs and larger astreae species, like the Astreae tuber. Queen conchs are too big, they bulldoze around and climb on rocks etc... Fighting conchs like mentioned are a good size, there are a lot of large marine snails. Most in the hobby are beneficial cleaners, but there are a lot more predatory ones that are cool. Google image search "Murex Shells/Snails" "Tulip Snails" " Florida Horse Conch" "Comb Murex" "Gaudy Natica" "Purple Moon Snail", "Crown Conch" etc...

[ezy33]

Here's the photo of My Abalone, Sorry it took so long but he's nocturnal and rarely out during the day.