Nassarius Snails

Like many newbies, I was so anxious to get my tank running, that I made some mistakes. Probably the biggest one was putting fine gravel on the bottom instead of sand. I don't think they can burrow through it. Mind you I have not sat there for hours watching them. I do know that they appear out of no where when I do the feeding.

I think I have too many snails anyway in my 10 gallon nano. I feed every other day. I have quite A # of astrea snails & nassarius. Do you think I should be feeding once a day so the snails would have enough to eat ?

 

dont worry about the snails, they will always find what they need. and if theres too many , will become a law of nature, only the strong will survive. how many do you have ?

 

i think it wont matter much either way if your just feeding them you can feed every other day what kind of livestock do you have

 

I can't really comment on the amount of snails you have as I don't know the number, but you can supplement a piece of algae for the astreas if there isn't enough growth on the rocks and glass. The nassarius are scavengers and eat meaty materials and are comfortable in sand. I'm not sure how they'll fair in gravel since they burrow for protection. My nassarius bury themselves rather fast when they've had their fill.

 

I would say I have about 7 of each. For livestock I have 1 clown, 1 anenome, 1 crab, 1 shrimp & 4 corals.
Perhaps I shouldn't be so diligent when I clean. Once a week I do a water change, once a month I do a filter change & occassionally clean the glass. ( probably a job best left for the snails ) If the nassarius have trouble getting under the substrate, can they survive on the surface waste, cleaning the rocks & glass like the astrea ?
Again, I ask the question, if the nassarius are depending on surface waste should I be feeding daily ? There is that delicate balance of feeding properly & fouling the water resulting in bad water readings. I am quite new @ this compared to many of you. Thanks for your comments. I really can use the help.

 

The nassarius do eat surface waste. Don't worry about feeding them as they will grab whatever your fish don't eat. As long as the hermits leave the nassarius snails alone, I'm confident they will be fine on gravel.

 

Thanks. That makes me feel better. I notice a lot of my nassarius on the glass this morning. I guess they'll get food whever they can find it.

I''ll continure with my water changes, but leave the glass cleaning to the snails.

 

Mine seem to like to jump from the top of my tank alot, right before the lights come on. they climb to the top and free-fall down to the sand.

Yours climbing on the glass isnt them trying to find food...If you are really worried about them living, drop a small piece of food down to the substrate and watch them flock towards it.