Snails: Which are the best?

[dankbardy31]

I would like to get everyone's opinions on CUC's and snails. I have a 60 gallon FOWLR and a just finished cycling 24g nano cube. I want to go get come clean up crew items but am thinking of only going with snails. I have heard that hermits don't aid that much and can 1. knock stuff over 2. fight for shells 3. occasionally be aggressive. I have heard that turbo snails can also knock stuff over. So question is should I just get the snails that can right them selves over if they fall and stick with them or is it really important to mix up the CUC. The nano has nothing and in the 60g there are some damsels (I know they suck, but they were just the first fish), 1 chocolate chip star fish, 1 pepermint shrimp, and 7 small snails.
Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!

 

[dankbardy31]

Forgot to put that I am looking at only Cerith and Nassarius snails because my research has indicated that they would be better than the astraea, bumblebee, and turbos.

 

[teresaq]

I would get both.
T

 

[uneverno]

Depends what your objective is. They serve different purposes.
Cerith (in particular) and Nassarius will sift your sandbed for detritus.
Turbo/Astrea will cruise your glass and rocks for algae.
Personally, I have all of them except Bumblebees, which I know nothing about.

 

[dankbardy31]

Do you also have hermits or are the snails enough for you? I am wanting to know if turbos or hermits are worth getting or if their negatives outweigh the positives. My goal is to have a clean tank so I will probably get some for the sand and some for the glass/rocks.

 

[joe____17]

I have hermits, turbos are good at getting rid of algae. Hermits get rid of algae and eat leftover food that hits the tank floor. Nassarius snails are awesome at sand sifting and eating left over food as well.

 

[olemiss]

I prefer Nerites because they can flip themselves over and Nassarius snails for their scavenging skills. I added cerith, astrea, turbo, nerites, bumblebee, and nass to my reef tank a couple of years back, the nass, nerites and bumblebees are the only ones left. Hermits killed many but I am pretty sure the rest fell, could not right themselves(I got tired of doing it) and died.

 

[dankbardy31]

Will I be ok with only snails and no hermits. If they eat other snails I can't see any reason to have them at all especially if I have a variety of snails?

 

[joe____17]

I have a variety of snails and hermits in my tank and they all do well, none of my hermist bother my snails either. Oh yeah nerites are awesome! I might buy more.

 

[teresaq]

I also have all turbos, nass, ceriths and nerites along with hermits. The only time I have a problem is when there arent enough empty shell. Also, I have so many snails, I could never keep track of them all so I have no clue if any are missing. I think I just added 20 dwarf ceriths a few months ago. at about 22 cents each, they are cheap enough
T

 

[uneverno]

I think hermits are cool myself. Some of them are not reef safe, however. I had to get rid of my Maroon legs 'cuz they decided one of my corals was a tasty treat. (These are a hermit billed by my LFS as reef safe, btw. but I don't blame LFS - every critter has its own tastes. For all I know, 99 of 100 are, but I got one that wasn't. I removed all three as a precaution.)
Scarlet legs, blue legs and halloweens (ck SWF.com - really cool) are, so far, ok - in my tank - YMMV.
Downside is:
1) They knock things down, so your coral frags need to be secured whether you want to or not.
2) If you don't have plenty of spare shells for them, they can and will kill your snails for the shells.
Upside is:
1) They're colorful and fun to watch - especially when they're changing shells.
2) If they do become a problem, they're plenty easy to catch.
You're tank will be perfectly fine without them though.

 

[dankbardy31]

Thanks for all the input guys, I appreciate it!