Best Kind of Snails

Discussion in 'Inverts' started by Godbert, Feb 21, 2008.

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  1. Godbert

    Godbert Montipora Capricornis

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    What are the best kind of snails to keep? i have a 50 gallon tank and so far i have about 40 margaritas.
     
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  3. amcarrig

    amcarrig Super Moderator

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    I like to mix them up. I have astrea, margarita, cerith, nerites, nassarius.
     
  4. coral reefer

    coral reefer Giant Squid

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    They are good as they can right themselves if they fall over or land in the sand!!!
    I personally like Astrea and Conch snails!!!!
     
  5. Godbert

    Godbert Montipora Capricornis

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    the main thing i was worried about was sand sifting the margaritas are also kinda lazy
     
  6. amcarrig

    amcarrig Super Moderator

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    That's because they're not sand sifting snails :) Ceriths are algae eaters that burrow in the sand during the day. Nassarius are carnivores that stay buried until you feed your fish. Both will do a great job keeping your sand stirred (assuming you get enough of them).
     
  7. Godbert

    Godbert Montipora Capricornis

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    what types of algae will the ceriths eat? ive got a bit of a hair algae problem:-[
     
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  9. totter0817

    totter0817 Purple Spiny Lobster

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    My astrea's have a really hard time correcting themselves if they fall over. I have actually had two die because they couldn't flip back over.
     
  10. amcarrig

    amcarrig Super Moderator

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    They eat hair algae but no algae eating snail will touch hair algae if it's too long. So, that being said, manually remove as much of the long stuff as possible then add some snails to mow down the shorter stuff :)
     
  11. Godbert

    Godbert Montipora Capricornis

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    ive also had snails die from falling over, i actually had to clean all the shells out of the bottom of my tank last week
     
  12. amcarrig

    amcarrig Super Moderator

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    Survival of the fittest :D I'm able to overlook the extra work that is required to keep astreas alive (flipping them back over if they fall on their backs) because they're such great algae eaters :)