How to tell the difference between turbo's and Nassarius snails

meadbhb

meadbhb

Member
Hiya,
Since my tank was done cycling I decided to put a clean up crew in the tank. I got:
5 turbo snails
3 nassarius snails
1 peppermint shrimp...which I haven't seen since I put it in Saturday.
How do I know I got turbo's and nassarius and not all of one type? They both look the same to me.
Either way, the snails have been going crazy on the algea on my glass and rocks.
Meadbhb
 
badkharma

badkharma

Member
Nassarius snails should bury in the substrate and rise out like zombies when food is detected...turbos are more rock/glass grazers.
 
sailfin

sailfin

Member
Turbo snails are giants compared to nassarius snails. It should be easy to tell the difference between them.
 
meadbhb

meadbhb

Member
Hiya,
All my snails have points on them and are on the glass. I haven't seen any zombie type action from them. They're all over my coral and glass. Also, they're all the same size :nope:
I looked at the pictures on this site under the reef packages. If the nass's are supposed to have rounded shells, then I definately got all turbo's. :(
Meadhbh
 
A

autopilot

Guest

Originally posted by Meadbhb
1 peppermint shrimp...which I haven't seen since I put it in Saturday.

I have 2 pepermint shrimp I have had for about 3 weeks. I only see one every once in a few days. Ussually just grabbing alittle bit of food passing by then he goes back under a rock. They did eat all my aptasias though. :yes:
 
meadbhb

meadbhb

Member
Hiya,
I bought them at one of my local LFS. I trusted them to point me in the right direction. My bad....should have researched them more.
I'm hoping the peppermint shrimp will take care of my anenomes like the snails are taking care of the algea. I figure he's still in there, I just can't see him. I've got lots of places he can hid and they are kinda small.
Meadbhb
 
ssmariner9

ssmariner9

Member
My nass snails look nothing like the snails on this website. You will know for sure they are nass in that they are much smaller, and they also have a parascope type tenticle that sticks out and above the shell.
 
sailfin

sailfin

Member
Agreed, the nass snails on this website are definitely weird looking. I have never seen any like that before. :)
 
A

autopilot

Guest
Just curious, how do the snails know you added food. It seems no sooner than I put food in my tank they raise out of my sand bed.
 
meadbhb

meadbhb

Member
Hiya,
Well, I did notice that some of them have antenna and some don't. Do turbo's have antenni?
Meadbhb
 
barry cuda

barry cuda

Member
You shouldn't see any antennae on the turbos. The nassarius will have one long antenna-like organ that looks like a miniature elephant's trunk. You'll often see it sticking up out of the sand.
 
meadbhb

meadbhb

Member
Hiya,
Barry, some of my snails have two tenticals...hmmm, no telling what I got from my LFS's then. At least they're taking care of the algea!
Did a night check last night....saw my peppermint shrimp, so I know he's still alive!
Meadhbh
 
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