Extra!! “Mexican Turbos not for reef tanks”?

bheron

bheron

Member
The below is big news to me since I’ve always heard Mexican Turbos were great for “cleaner crew critters”. Well, after I just had one die after only 1 month, I was still astounded to learn the below from well respected, industry expert Dr. Ron Shimek.
He quotes,
“These "Mexican" turbos are temperate animals; normally found in a waters with temperatures of 60F or less. While they can live decades in nature, they slowly cook at reef tank temperatures. They generally last from a few weeks to about a year before they poach. These are NOT animals that should be put into reef tanks at all.”
He’s actually doing a feature article in May that will include Turbo Snails.
 
nas19320

nas19320

Active Member
Is it just the "mexican" turbo snails or all turbo snails? I've heard the same thing about Astrea turbo snails I believe.
 
T

thomas712

Guest
That is true many of them do die simply because of the reef temps that we keep, for this reason they have always died in my tank. They start off well then get sluggish, then stay in one spot, next thing you know the cleaner crew are coming buy to borrow a cup of escargot
 
rwhite

rwhite

Member
Yep, we tried a couple Mexs in our tank and they lasted little more than 2 weeks. Have had much better luck with Astrea, some do die but we have a few that have grown quite large. We will occasionally replenish stock, but not too often...I think it has a lot to do with competion for algae also. A bunch of hermits and a Sally that constantly grazes, not all snails and hermits survive. I think Astrea are the only snails we've ever purchased as we have a cc bed and a lot of snails seem to prefer sand.
 
nas19320

nas19320

Active Member
Wow, I've had the complete opposite. I bought a bunch of Astrea snails and they all died within a month yet I bought 2 mexican snails and they have lasted almost a year.
 
E

eaglefan

Guest
This would explain why I lost mine in a two week time period. Water params. were fine everything else was fine they all just killed over one every couple days(water temp 79 degrees). Thanks for the info
 
rwhite

rwhite

Member
Just to be clear, these are what we purchased as Astrea. These are shots of a couple of our larger, long lived residents. The Mex turbos we tried were large with a rounded, tapering shell.
 
stapler

stapler

Member
Ive had my 2 mexican turbos for a little over a month...and they still are active as ever. Sure maybe in a few months it might change...but I dont see any change in their activity. I keep my temp at 77-79. I even found a small one in my tank...not sure if its a hitchiker or came from one of mine.
 
skirrby

skirrby

Active Member
carole gave me 2 of her mexicans... lol that sounds funny.. ive had them for awhile now.. they are very active. and are doing good so far.. knock on wood.. this is cool info to know though.
 
pacopetty

pacopetty

Member
My snails have been slowly dieing also. I am glad it's not just me. I'm not glad you all are losing snails but I feel better that it's a common problem.
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Could still be an interesting thread, could those who still have the large mexican turbos please also post your tank temps?
Thomas
 
skirrby

skirrby

Active Member
my tank stays around 77-80ish right now sometimes higher if my mom gets the urge to turn the air off on the hottest part of the day
 
saltynewbie

saltynewbie

Member
a friend of mine has had one particular mexican turbo for about 2 years now... its huge... one of the largest i have ever seen at about 2.5-3 inches in diameter... she keeps her tank at about 77-79. i have had several in my day. i currently only have one which seems to be doing ok. my tank temp ranges from 78-80.
 
bdhough

bdhough

Active Member
never mind the temperature i was always under the asumption that the average tank just can't provide their algael requirements. they need huge amounts of algae to subsist on. working at the fish store they always seemed half starved. i used to take hair algae from coral tanks and stick it in with them so they had something to eat. maybe they were cooking as well? i used to recommend only getting one or two of the guys since they do eat alot of algae.
i have had a few none lasting much longer than a few weeks. i had one who lasted a couple months but he was on his own in a well established 20. i've also had other factors involved such as a large hawaiian zebra and a halloween hermit crab both killing one or two snails the later killing the snail i mentioned. so i can't say for certain if it was the heat or starvation. i have had a few of my astreas for about a year and a half now.
i have not bought snails for a while but cerith and nassarius snails are great snails and i've got mini strombus snails reproducing like crazy in 2 tanks now. started with about 15 of the little guys and now have close to 40 total if not 50. i have a shot of 5 of them if anyone is interested in seeing.
getting back to the temprature though would that not make sense? im assuming these come from the mexican gulf which is the altantic ocean essentially which is always much colder....
 
belothsurf

belothsurf

Member

Originally posted by Thomas712
Could still be an interesting thread, could those who still have the large mexican turbos please also post your tank temps?
Thomas
I have 1 large Mexican Turbo. I intially had 2 but had a large hermit crab kill the other one. The one left is smaller than what the hermit crab wants, so apparently he's safe. The one I have left is doing great, he's about 2 months old, and plows through hair algae, which is now non-existent in my dt. I keep my tank at 80 degrees......the only thing I supplement is Kent's A&B, and every other day some phytoplankton or marine snow................and of course for the Mex turbo's......a shot of Jose Quervo every other day.....and every 3rd day I'll dose with a little Taco Bell hot sauce.....occasionally I'll make it Fire Sauce....when I'm feeling..."SPICY"...........:jumping:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top