do snails hump like crazy?

[mlwoods007]

my roomate brought up a good point. he was telling me that snails are extremely bad for a freshwater tank because they reproduce very very fast, and before you know it, your tank will be overrun with them. pretty much every saltwater tank ive seen has some and they don't seem to be overruning them at all. so what im asking is if i put some in my tank, if they're different from those that are freshwater, and will keep their hormones under control.

 

[tizzo]

Yeah, they are different. I would love to have to many, but instead, we hafta keep buying them. Not real sure but I think the fish eat the eggs in a saltwater tank.

 

[smshep01]

I have had my tank up for over a year now. I can honestly say that in my instance...They have humped like crazy apparently. lol I have more baby snails than I know what to do with. They are all over my LR, LS, glass and everywhere lol. They are no bigger than a dull pencil tip, but they are all over the place. I am not complaining though because they don't harm anything. So, once they get bigger, I guess I will get rid of some of them. Hope this helps.
Sheppie

 

[thomas712]

smshep01
Perhaps you have the small algea grazers that don't get any larger than what you have now, I've got them and they don't get any bigger.
8971

 

[cjeffrey77]

I got 50 snails of the big auction site ( I think they sent me more like 100) they have laid eggs everywhere! I only wish that the fish would eat the eggs. I have 2 rpercula clownfish & even when I scrape the eggs off of the glass they won't eat them. I don't know yet how long they take to hatch but I have a funny feeling i'm gonna come home one day & think aliens have invaded or something!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ren99]

anyone else have an opinion on this ?

 

[dragonfli]

I have had my tank up for 8 months now it has cycled, but i had a huge algae problem. It is legal to collect about everything out here in hawaii except LR, and coral. so i went out and grabbed about 50 snails, and 25 hermits. well they are doing well and i hadnt even thought about the "humping" thing. will they really reproduce in a salt tank that quickly? and what do you do about the buggers(snails) crawling outta the tank? have any of you seen bumpy slugs? i found a few one night on the rock just above the surf. they are doing well at cleaning the algae, but have any of you seen these before?

 

[dragonfli]

CJEFFREY77......im not sure but my perks have never really gone to the bottom to eat anything. but my damsels, and even my cardinals will go down to get at the eggs. but i guess they all got their personalities. what do you feed the perks normally?

 

[maeistero]

my snails get it on at sundown every single night.

my hermit crabs seem to feast at the same time, so i end up with lots of snail "eggs" for about 4 hours. then a few dead crabs.
i've been buying snails and hermits on a regular basis every few months. i'd love to have multiplying hermits.

 

[ren99]

I really dont get what you said maeistro. if your crab is feasting then how come you end up with dead crabs?
if you have to buy hermit at a regular basis then how are they multiplying?

 

[maeistero]

sorry i didn't explain fully, the snails keep multiplying. the crabs kill the snails and take their shells whilst they also take other crabs shells. i'm still experimenting with how big of shells for various species of crabs and i don't actually have the perfect sizes available at my lfs in kansas. therefore it's a fight to the end for these guys. snails seem to keep up their numbers, but crabs are a regular casualty, seemingly just due to each other.
edit: i've only the smaller crabs, nothing like a sally or so. my crabs all are about the size of a nassarius snail.

 

[snipe]

maeistero-Email me at SnipeEasyC@yahoo.com
On the snail thing I heard that saltwater snails only reproduce to as mutch food there is kinda like just about everything els. If theres lots of food there are lots of snails if there isnt alot of food they will die back to the amount of food to sustain the amount that is left. "or at least I heard this I dont know if it is true or not"

 

[maeistero]

that could very well be true about the food thing. there's plenty of algae still available, but perhaps not the right kind for nassarius snails. i'm going to research this this weekend for sure. i found a goldmine in books at a local book resale shop at a buck apiece and bought them out this morning!!!:hilarious
my lighting is also suspect as i only have 3 48" marine glow tubes right now. that could be hindering food growth. when i go back home to my parents, i'm for sure picking up my metal halide.
or the fact that the snail graveyard is right outside my engineer goby's lair could point to him. if they eat snails, i don't know. haven't seen it, but he's not usually out and about during the day. but it is rather suspect that the empty shells are all within a 4-5" circle.
at least the crabs are getting a selection of shells i guess.