Looking for some snail eye candy

[kellylake01]

so i am interested in a NEW invertebrate, i have had a couple of apple snails and a VERY large infestation of them as well. I am looking for a snail that eats algae.....(in the entirety of my fish keeping carer i have yet to find a REAL algae eater).....or fish poop low breeding rate and tends to leave live plants alone. (i must be asking for the moon by now)

i have a 30g established, well planted fish tank. i dont mind nibbling on the plants. i was looking at assassin snails but i concerned that they would starve in my tank b/c i have no other snails

...can you ship snails and/or do they travel well ? "@ "@

 

[librarygirl]

Nerite snails. They can't breed in freshwater, they'll probably eat most kinds of algae and tend to leave plants alone. Nothing eats fish poop though lol That you should remove yourself with a siphon while doing water changes.

All of my nerites were shipped to me and they've been fine.

 

[paytertot]

Zebra nerites are pretty cool looking. But I was told by my lfs that they weren't really freshwater at all and would die within a couple weeks

Oh and as far as eating fish poo, I had ghost shrimp that I saw eating it but nowhere near enough to cut down on maintenance at all. No fish can do that lol.

 

[Coursair]

I love my Nerites. I have Horned, Zebra and Ruby. They can be sensitive and may need plain Cuttlebone added to the water if they get holes in their shells, but mine are algae eating machines and have been pretty hardy. I've had mine a couple of months.

 

[kellylake01]

i love how the nerites, they look AMAZING definitely EYE CANDY but i have cory cats in my tank and i can't add a lot of salt. do they still do ok in a pure freshwater tank, they will have a LOT of food though and no real predators to harass them

 

[librarygirl]

i love how the nerites, they look AMAZING definitely EYE CANDY but i have cory cats in my tank and i can't add a lot of salt. do they still do ok in a pure freshwater tank, they will have a LOT of food though and no real predators to harass them

Mine are in pure freshwater (with Corys) and I've had them for months and they're fine.

 

[kellylake01]

<3 thank you all for the great advice i will be investing in 3-4 nerites

just to check and make sure i need to know pH preference for them i have found only one place that has had it, 7.0 -8.0 is this correct?

 

[librarygirl]

<3 thank you all for the great advice i will be investing in 3-4 nerites

just to check and make sure i need to know pH preference for them i have found only one place that has had it, 7.0 -8.0 is this correct?

Yep that's fine. They'll adjust to your PH anyway, just like fish. Just slowly acclimate them to the tank same as you would with fish (by either drip acclimating or adding some of your tank's water to the bag's water every 10-15 minutes until the volume doubles; then empty half out (not in your tank) and do it again then just pick up the snail (gently) and put them into the tank). Good luck and have fun with them. They are fun to watch (and move surprisingly fast for snails lol)

 

[paytertot]

I want nerites now too! But I have kuhli loches and rope fish, do you think they'll eat them? My kuhlis almost never come out tho, I don't think they'd notice them. What do you think?

 

[Coursair]

I want nerites now too! But I have kuhli loches and rope fish, do you think they'll eat them? My kuhlis almost never come out tho, I don't think they'd notice them. What do you think?

Kuhlii aren't major snail killers AFAIK. Rope Fish ? No idea.

 

[paytertot]

They ate my ghost shrimp so idk

 

[Coursair]

I think Snails would be safe. Ghost Shrimp are fish candy if they fit in the mouth.

 

[paytertot]

Ok awesome. I'm sorry for hijacking this thread but how many is a good number to add?

 

[kellylake01]

LOL how many would be good for a 30 g WELL planted tank im looking 4-6 but im concerned i might not see them with so few and i have A LOT of hide spots and caves for anything under a inch

 

[Iodizedfate]

LOL how many would be good for a 30 g WELL planted tank im looking 4-6 but im concerned i might not see them with so few and i have A LOT of hide spots and caves for anything under a inch

I had 3 in a 10 gallon when I had algae growing everywhere and they got a handle on everything over the course of a couple months. I saw them a good amount then, but since I've moved them to my 65 I have to really look for them.

Once my plants start growing more and filling out the tank I'll probably get more because they're pretty neat. They eat algae like nobodies business.

They should be fine in freshwater, they breed in brackish and that's about it. They probably would be 'happier' in brackish water but I've had mine since at least January in freshwater and they keep on trucking.