Olive Snails

[bizzleb01]

Are olive snails bad to have. I got one and then saw that they might not be that great cause they could eat all the good bacteria out of the sand. About a month after I put it in I started having a cyano outbreak. Could this be because of the snail? And if it has eaten a significant amount of the good stuff is there a way to replenish it?

 

[bizzleb01]

anyone?

 

[aquaknight]

There are two common snails that I know in the hobby, under 'olive snail.' The first is Olivella biplicata. Which is actually a coldwater speices from the Pacific. They eat kelp in the wild and don't live long in our warm tropical tanks.
The second, I'm not exactly sure what is, but I bought under the "Olive Snail" name. It appears to be more of a conch, and is a predator/scavenager and will eat other snails and large food scraps. Great for a predator/aggressive fish tank as it will eat loefteovers.
First pic is the coldwater species shell. Second pic is the best I could find of the conch-like species. Mine is much lighter in color, more white/gray.

 

[groupergenius]

I have had the ones in pic 2 before. You can catch them locally here. Here's 1 I had a while back. I don't think they really go after stuff in the sand too much. Put a chunk of food like shrimp or silversides on a stick and hover it above the sand....they come out and attack it. I'll see if I can find a video I made of mine once.

 

[aquaknight]

Thanks for the pic. That is definitely the second one I was talking about, mine looks identical. Yea, while they hide in the sand, they're diet is much more meaty then the life in the sand. Mine would take down a large chunk of silverside without stopping. Interesting on them being a local specimen.

 

[bizzleb01]

Ok, good to know that they aren't bad. I have two of the kind in the second pic. I never see them, as soon as I put them in the tank the went under the sand. Whenever I feed, my nass snails come up for scraps but the olives never do. I'll try the silverside

 

[groupergenius]

If you have a fish die in the tank...you will never see the body with these guys in there. As soon as the carcass starts a little death stink, it's over. These snails pop out and drag it under the sand to munch.

 

[groupergenius]

Originally Posted by AquaKnight
http:///forum/post/2757561
Thanks for the pic. That is definitely the second one I was talking about, mine looks identical. Yea, while they hide in the sand, they're diet is much more meaty then the life in the sand. Mine would take down a large chunk of silverside without stopping. Interesting on them being a local specimen.
I got that one in Tampa Bay. PM me if you need more. Next time I take the boat in the Bay I could stop and get some more. I usually do most of my stuff in the Gulf.

 

[bizzleb01]

Both of mine came out of the gulf.