will they starve?

[alexmurovec]

when i'm ready to add corals to my tank, i plan to order them off the internet, along with some other inverts. no place in town sells nass. snails, so i would buy them the same time, so i save on shipping. my question is, without fish waste, will the nass. snails starve unless i feed them? i will be adding corals before fish, so this is why i ask. thanks guys.

[fraggle rockette]

when i'm ready to add corals to my tank, i plan to order them off the internet, along with some other inverts. no place in town sells nass. snails, so i would buy them the same time, so i save on shipping. my question is, without fish waste, will the nass. snails starve unless i feed them? i will be adding corals before fish, so this is why i ask. thanks guys.

 

if ur worried, you can always feed cyclopeeze- everything in my tank eats it- nasses, corals, crustaceans, and fish. just feed less since there are no fish yet.

[chrisstankevitz]

Nass snails do not eat poo, they eat food and other animals They will eat any food you put in the tank. You can even drop in a chopped up clam from the supermarket if you are worried.

[alexmurovec]

alright, thanks for the help. but, i do not know if i should be worried or not

[willyboy]

I wouldn't worry. I got my CUC (including nas. snails) several months before adding fish or corals. But you've already heard my opinion so I'll let some other people talk.

[alexmurovec]

how many would you guys suggest for a 20? right now i have 2 red scarlets, 2 astrea, and 1 turbo. i'm considering taking back the astrea snails, they sure dont do much, and the scarlets are useless too i dont think 1 turbo is enough though i'm thinking get 5 nass. snails maybe? what do you guys think about cerith snails as well? both those snails feed on the sandbed right?

[willyboy]

I have 4 or 5 nass. snails in my 20H and they do a good job. Do you mean more than 1 turbo? If so, you only need one. After the hair algae is gone there will probably only be enough algae for one turbo.

[alexmurovec]

I have 4 or 5 nass. snails in my 20H and they do a good job. Do you mean more than 1 turbo? If so, you only need one. After the hair algae is gone there will probably only be enough algae for one turbo.

 

i meant 1 turbo. your thinking i only need 1 turbo and around 5 nass. snails for my hole tank? seems skimpy, anyone else got opinions?

[willyboy]

No. I think you need some kind of hermits. I've never been sure of what kind my hermits are but they don't kill my snails and they clean good.

[WilD]

I think 5 nassarius will be plenty for a 20. I have seven, three large and four small, and I don't think they get enough to eat. I would stick to 3-4 if I had it to do over. I'm not sure about turbo snails as I have Astrea (4). Hermits don't do a whole lot against algae but do a good job of snatching food the fish miss. I have two red leg hermits andthey haven't hurt anything in my tank yet (two months). I had three hermits, but one was eaten by the Nassarius snails when he was molting on the sand bed.

[tstone]

I keep a range of CUC. I have 2 scarlet hermits, a couple astrea, cerith and nassarius. oh yeah and a coule bumble bees cause I like em.

 

The scarlets eat algea and pick at the rock all the time.

 

They all do a good job of keepin the place clean.

[alexmurovec]

what do people think about cerith snails? isn't their main purpose to eat stuff off the sandbed? isn't that what nass. are for? thanks, you guys are realling helping so far.

[tstone]

I think cerith are omnivores and will eat left over food, nuisance algae. They do get down in the sand and stir the bed but they also get up on the rock and glass.

[HecticDialectics]

what do people think about cerith snails? isn't their main purpose to eat stuff off the sandbed? isn't that what nass. are for? thanks, you guys are realling helping so far.

 

 

Nassarius snails are detrivores and eat leftover fish food and such. They don't eat algae. Ceriths eat algae. They do different things. Nassarius live in the sandbed. Ceriths move in and out of the sandbed, and some don't even necessarily go into the sandbed depending on the species. You should only need 3 or 4 nassarius snails.

 

And to answer your turbo concern... turbos eat a LOT. One in a 12G isn't all that far-fetched at all. Leave it in the tank for three or four days and see if it's having trouble keeping up with aglae growth. It should be plenty.

[genuck]

i like the nass just because as soon as food hits the water they pop out of the sand and zoom all over the tank lookin for food i've had the same ones for over 2 yrs and only one has died.

 

as for hermits the scarlets will be your best friends, most of the others will start to misbehave eventually and will be sent to the alcatraz tank for destruction of property. and of all the "you dirty lil bastard, your goin to jail" hermits the scarlets are still hangin out. i just let out on parole actually...

 

ceriths will pop up and you'll have 20 million of them as for the others... i don't like the ones that fall down and die were those the astrea? gad i forget!

[alexmurovec]

i like the nass just because as soon as food hits the water they pop out of the sand and zoom all over the tank lookin for food i've had the same ones for over 2 yrs and only one has died.

 

as for hermits the scarlets will be your best friends, most of the others will start to misbehave eventually and will be sent to the alcatraz tank for destruction of property. and of all the "you dirty lil bastard, your goin to jail" hermits the scarlets are still hangin out. i just let out on parole actually...

 

ceriths will pop up and you'll have 20 million of them as for the others... i don't like the ones that fall down and die were those the astrea? gad i forget!

 

i have 2 astrea snails, and they are always falling all over the place, but these guys are troopers. they twist their body like 270 degrees and worm their way back upright, its pretty neat actually.

 

after looking in my tank a little more, a creature i was once told was a harmless worm, now appears to be a mantis! i'm unclear about these things, but are they good or bad? it looks like its a small mantis, without the coloration yet. it hugs the rocks and creeps in and out of them, and digs small little crevices along the base of the rock and the sand. if anyone could give me some more insite on mantis, that would be awesome!

[willyboy]

Ya, astrea have trouble uprighting themselves. genuck, my nass. snails do that too. I like trying to find their "snorkels" when their hiding just below the surface of the sand. Sometimes they chase each other. It's real funny cause they're slow.