Tiger Nerites

[maxwellag]

Maybe the snail is stressed... try leaving the lights off for a while

 

[mr.waffles1842]

awesome! this is gonna be great! hes so far gliding over the the gravel. cant wait to see him on the glass.

 

[mr.waffles1842]

oh yeah, this is my first ever thread that has ever gone over 4 pages! whooooooooo!

 

[CatmanDru]

btw, what algae does these guys eat? its been aawhile since ive had a nerite. ive heard some of em eat solely algae...

I've also read Nerites eat only algea. And I've read posts from people that claimed they had a tank of algea, put in a bunch of Nerites, the Nerites ate all the algea and they ate the algea faster than it could re-grow, didn't have any algea, and starved and died.

So it's probably a good idea to always make sure they have algea to eat.

I put my nerite in a new 2 gallon container as quarantine, so there wasn't any algea. I gave it a portion of an "algea" wafer, the Nerite didn't touch it. Microwaved baby spinach and beet leaves -- didn't seem to touch it, Dying Elodia leaves: no. Flake fish food: no. Hikari Betta pellets: no. This went on for at least two weeks and I'd read that Nerites (and Otocinclus) don't get much to eat in shipping to the fish store, nor when they are at the fish store, so I was worried. And It didn't move much: it would be stationary and every several hours I would notice it had moved a couple of inches. Finally it occured to me that I could gravel-vac up the algea in my Display tank and put it into the container with the Nerite. Bingo! The Nerite started cruzing around eating the imported algea. Finally!

So maybe with time or extreme hunger they will get used to eating "algea" wafers or vegetables like zuchini or cucumber, but they seem to really, really prefer algea.

 

[maxwellag]

So how's it going waffles? Did your snail start being more active?

 

[CatmanDru]

do they eat spot algae?

I think Nerites *prefer* spot algea. I saw a web page where they posted photos of before, during, and after introducing Nerites and the Nerites ate all the green spot algea, then started in on the hair algea.

This is the webpage. It is very informative and has lots of photos including many close-ups, close-ups of the Nerites' undersides, Nerite eggs, and "Before and After" photos of one algea-covered flower pot and three tanks, one with plants and both spot algea and hair algea. You can see they eat all the spot algea and then start eating the hair algea.

The page is very long, so be sure to scroll down to see it all.

How to care for your new Tiger Nerite Snails, Nerita species, with pictures

 

[mr.waffles1842]

my guy is moving around alot. i went to a new store today and the guy gave me free java moss. i tied it to my DW, and my snail isnt moving that much now, but i bet he will. hes looking pretty interested in the dw...

 

[mr.waffles1842]

thanks btw for the link.

 

[CatmanDru]

thanks btw for the link.

You're very welcome. I'm glad I could help.