Favorite/best snails for a nano

[chief15]

So I'm going to pick up some more snails for my CUC this weekend and I was wondering what everyones favorites were and why and I thought this poll might help me decide what to come home with. Please vote and leave a comment to let my know why you prefer that snail.

[shan]

So I'm going to pick up some more snails for my CUC this weekend and I was wondering what everyones favorites were and why and I thought this poll might help me decide what to come home with. Please vote and leave a comment to let my know why you prefer that snail.

 

It is hard to pick one from that list because they do different things.

I like ceriths and nerites for cleaning glass and rocks

nassarius for cleaning sand bed

[jeremai]

I removed margarita snails from your list - they are temperate snails, and inappropriate for a tropical tank.

[scorpkeeper]

IMHO, no ONE snail is the perfect snail. you should balance out your CUC to include snails that will cover most "typical" issues: film algae, diatoms, detritus, carrion/leftover food.

 

unless you run a temperate tank, stay away from margarita snails, as the warm temps of most setups greatly shorten their lives.

 

for film algae and diatoms, use Astrea, Nerite, or Trochus, or a combination thereof. stock them at 1 snail per 2-3 gals to begin with.

 

for detritus and film algae, you can stock some Ceriths at the same stocking rate.

 

for carrion/uneaten food, get some Nassarius. stock a bit more lightly with these maybe 1 per 10 gals to begin with.

 

IF you have a HA problem, stock 1 turbo per 25 gals. remember, these get huge and are clumsy (they knock over small rocks and unsecured frags).

 

i recommend stocking lightly at first until you see which snails do well in your tank, and whether or not they seem to be doing what your tank needs. after you get a feel for it, you can adjust the stocking levels up of down for the different species.

 

i realize this sounds WAY off from the usual "one snail per gallon" rule you normally see (usually from the places that sell the snails), but remember, an overstocked CUC will starve back to the levels that the food in the tank will support, so why not build up slowly instead of wasting money and snails?

 

HTH

[chief15]

Thanks for the input. I realize they don't all do the same thing and i thought that might be a problem with the poll but i decided to go with it anyway. Also thanks scorp for the great breakdown and jer for removing margaritas i dont want to mislead anyone into buying an animal just to cause it a slow death. They were only on the list because I know they are in stock at my LFS. Glad I've got somewhere to turn for some good info.

[jeremai]

hi5

[straightjiggy10]

I bought 60 cerith snails for my 60g cube and they just didn't cut the mustard for me!

[Phyto4life]

just added 12 nassarus snails to my 29G 30 "long x 12" w tank do you think this is too much? I only have a algae blenny and a coral beauty I feed a few polyps of each duncan,dandros,sunpolyps,spiral coral 3 cubes of frozen food every 2 days with no skimmer or refuge

 

any chance that they will breed?

[lakshwadeep]

Collonistas and Stomatellas, IMO and IME. It's hard to beat hitchhikers that came with live rock. Ceriths are great as far as purchased snails go.

[twkoh]

i have a 5.5 gallon and i feel like my nassarius is to big. i wish i had gotten something smaller and more for algae.

[FishFreak77]

I have a nerite, trochus, and nassarius snail in my 2.5 gallon. The nerite covers a lot more ground than the trochus but focuses less on cleaning the areas it covers. My trochus moves slowly but cleans the areas it stays in pretty thoroughly. The nass just cleans up after feedings. I personally would say the nerite is my favorite atm.

[Phyto4life]

Collonistas and Stomatellas, IMO and IME. It's hard to beat hitchhikers that came with live rock. Ceriths are great as far as purchased snails go.

 

 

Collonistas will be my next purchase

[imsobored152]

john at reefcleaners can give you an accurate run down of what you should have

[Dizzle21]

i have a ton of limpet hitchhikers there pretty cool. started out with a couple and now i have like 40

[Amphiprion1]

I tend to prefer a mix, including Trochus, Stomatella, Collonista, rissoids, cerithids, etc.

[scorpkeeper]

just added 12 nassarus snails to my 29G 30 "long x 12" w tank do you think this is too much? I only have a algae blenny and a coral beauty I feed a few polyps of each duncan,dandros,sunpolyps,spiral coral 3 cubes of frozen food every 2 days with no skimmer or refuge

 

any chance that they will breed?

 

that's a LOT of "Nassies"...in a 29, i'd keep about 3-4. it really depends on how much food hits the substrate and is uneaten, but i can tell you i don't even have a dozen in a heavily-fed 60 gal (i think i have six, and sometimes i hand feed them to make sure they get enuff food).

 

FWIW, i'm talking large Tongan snails in this case.

[peach]

i have a bit of a bias against turbos, every single one of them i have had has died.....

 

i've had a lot of luck with ceriths, asteas, giant tonga nassarrius, and sand sifting conches. not one has died and they all do a great job

[lakshwadeep]

Well, turbos that come from temperate waters (i.e. "mexican turbos") are going to have short lifespans in tropical tanks. That's where finding tropical turbo snails (like the "DIBS turbo") becomes important.

[chief15]

Thanks for all your help and especially for the heads up on the mexican turbos. All I seem to see for sale are the mexican so I'll keep away from them for sure. After hearing some opinons I'm leaning toward nerite because they sound like they can cover a lot of ground and I know I can pick them up locally. I see that a lot of you like the cerith but I think I want to add something else because I have a few of them and they just don't seem to be that active and adding some diversity will be nice.

[animalmaster6]

I hear Chitons and Limpets are the best.

 

 

IME I love my Turbo. My Nassarius Snails come out once every 2 months.

 

 

I LOVE my Tonga Fighting Conch so much!!!!!

 

Imo though, you should have as many snail species as possible. Diverse CUC's are the best CUC's. Just don't put too many of one species in.

[NanoGeege]

I have a grip of nassarius snails in my 46 gal. They all come busting up out of the sand and cruise around every time any food hits the water. They remind me of the Racing Snail from Neverending Story.