Snail question

Is there such thing as adding snails to a saltwater tank too early? We've had our tank for about 1 month. We have had 2 clownfish for about 1 week. Our live rock definately has algae on it, and I read that snails will take the algae off. My husband thinks it is too early to add snails. Our bio filter is almost complete. The ammonia is 0, nitrite is very close to 0, and nitrate is about 30. We are new to this saltwater thing, so I just wanted some input from others. Thanks!

 

Depends on how much algae you have.. They could starve if the run out of a food supply.. Sorry, but I can't remember how long I waited before adding snails....

 

Does anyone else know when the right time is to add snails? Should we wait til we get a couple of more fish?

 

when you get first fish, get snails while there

 

I would wait until your nitrates drop a bit more before adding snails.

 

I added my cleaning crew Snail, Crabs, Hermits, Etc first before I added any fish. The fish were the last thing I added. You can get some now most LFS sell snails in sets of 5. Unless you are getting fancy ones. But you don't say how big your tank is. So I would start out with 5 and see how they do if they are doing good and you are still have issues with tank maintenance then next week add 5 more and so on. I have been told 1 snail and hermit per gallon of water but I believe in my own opinion thats a bit much. I would go maybe 1 per 2 gallons myself. You will also continue added them even when your tank has matured that is if you have hermits. Hermits need a new shell as they grow so if you dont have different sized shells in your tank for them to move into, They will kill your snails and take their shell. It will happen even if you have some shells in there for them but no where as much as if you did not. I have seen a hermit kill a snail take its shell not like it and go back to its original shell. But yes you can add snails. Just take it slow. I let my tank cycle for 2 months before I added any animals to it. But you have the fish in there already. Just go slow from here and take your time. It will pay off in the end.

 

My tank is a 30 gallon hex. It has 20lbs of live rock. Thanks a lot for the great advice everyone!

 

How many snails do you plan on adding?
I would begin with just a couple to reduce chances of starvation and get a better idea if your tank is ready or not!!

 

ahhh

i wouldnt say its to early. i added snails before fish just to "test" the water. if you have algee its time for snails, just not to many i would say less then 5. besides if they die it wont hurt they are cheap, just do a water change...

 

We plan on adding only a few snails. We thought if we had a lot it would look bad. Just enough to get algae off the rocks. We don't have algae on the glass yet, but I believe they have plenty of algae for right now. How fast do they clean up the algae, lets say if I only add 3-5 snails? Because if they eat the algae pretty fast, I'll just get 1 or 2 snails. I know this seems like a trivial issue, but my husband is adamant about not getting snails for at least another month or so, even though he got 2 clownfish pretty fast.