Snails in my reef

[Keithhjs]

Looking to see if anyone knows these little guys. I just started noticing them at night. They come out briefly (mainly on the sandbed) after feeding nocturnally for only few minutes. They move rather fast and have a proboscis like thing. I was thing they are pyrams but I'm not sure. Let me know whatcha think!

 

[Mrc8858]

Nassarius snails but they are lighter colored then any I've personally seen

 

[Keithhjs]

So then these are wanted guests it seems. I thought they were hard to breed in home aquaria. Anyone ever hear of too many of them?

 

[Mrc8858]

No they will be fine. Do you have any hermits cause mine make them a snack anytime they get a chance.

 

[Keithhjs]

Ya I have couple dozen hermits and I just noticed these snails couple days ago, I thought I might be having an outbreak of them. I just caught like 15-20 few minutes ago lol. I havent noticed anything harassing them tho

 

[Mrc8858]

Ya if you don't see any drop a little of the mysis shrimp "juice" in and in a couple seconds every one of them will come jumping out of the sand and go on the hunt lol its quite the spectacle

 

[Mrc8858]

They are a great addition to a cuc though since they sift the sand and eat any left over foods missed and unreachable to the fish. They also seem to have a nose like a bloodhound lol

 

[Keithhjs]

Thanks for the info. That's a relief cuz for a lil while there I thought I had some nasties coming after my clams

 

[Mrc8858]

Thanks for the info. That's a relief cuz for a lil while there I thought I had some nasties coming after my clams

Nope. Some people are against a cuc but I think if your gonna utilize one nassarius snails are a must and should be kept 1 per every 1-2 gallons I have about 20-25 in my 46 gallon.. give or take a few due to my white hermit crab lol

 

[Keithhjs]

I'm all for a cuc too. Not only do they do a great job and add to the ecosystem they can be quite entertaining to watch, especially when you find new ones (like these guys for me, ha).

 

[Mrc8858]

Ya I think the more natural you can make it the better. The closer I am to a self sustained ecosystem the happier I am

 

[Crystal A]

I think nassarius sanails are Awsome. I will put a piece of raw shrimp or scallop in the tank and they all pop up like little tanks and search around till they find the food. When I saw them in my brothers tank I decided I was doing saltwater.

 

[BelleMorte]

I love to watch my snails. I have a narsaius snail that I see every blue moon and some other snails. I have to get more thanks to a crab that got tossed in my tank by my sister