The best snails

[queequegbls]

In your opinion, and I know there are a lot of different ones, what is the best kind of snail as far as not falling off the glass or getting stuck upside down. I have astreas and they spend half the time on their backs.

 

[beth]

Conchs.

 

[fshhub]

conchs are great for the substrate, but mine neverleavethe sand
fo the glass and algae on the lr, i like the trochus, can easily upright themselves
jsut out of curiosity, what is your salinity maintained at???

 

[fishfood]

fshhub - what is the suggested salinaty for snails?? I just got 2 fighting conchs, 5 nassarious and 2 red strip snails today. The lfs said the red strip snails were a type of turbo, but from the conversation on snails the other day i think they may be a trochus. I'm not sure and i know the lfs wasn't sure either. They can right themselves if they fall.

 

[fshhub]

inverts, should be kept over 1.021, IMO
but the reason i asked, not 1000% sure, but i recently read that the snails seem to hold much betterat 1.026 or real close(maybe 5 and a half), i was wondering because, i have lost fewer, sincewe raised ours(for other reasons, so i never payed attention to the snail loss, but i do know i have lost almost none if any since), anyhow, i was wondering, to seee if maybe there may be some merit to the fact
like i said just curious
as for your snails, look at their undersides, when they are on the glass, ther bodies are actually black or dk brown, on the trochus(the foot or what ever it is called is still pale), but the tentacles and head and such are black or dk brown
the nassarius are cool lil guys toooo,
fast! man can they move

 

[striker]

I just ordered 3 Mexican Trochus snails and they are great. Beautiful shells and always busy on the lr and glass. The only negative is that they don't graze on the substrate.

 

[krux]

I have a pair of fighting conch and they are like little vacumme cleaners running along the sand. Occasionally they climb the glass or rocks, but they spend most of the time cleaning the sand. I also have half a dozen turbos that run around all over the glass, as well as my heater and powerheads. I think I have enough sand to make use of a sand sifting star, but I'm going to wait for my tank to mature a little more before I introduce one.

 

[fishfood]

Well the red stripped snails that i have are gray/black on the body but the bottom of the foot is white. They move faster than anything i've seen before. I put one in and it sucked to the rock before i let go of him and then when i put the other one in the first one was no where to be seen. I too have had a die off of snails and the sg has been at 1.022.

 

[striker]

Hello krux, I was going to get a sand sifting star but heard from previous threads that they disturb the biological filtration in the sand that might lead to problems.

 

[queequegbls]

fshhub, I keep my salinity at 1.023~4. I have also heard that the higher the salinity the better. What confuses me is that half of my astreas have never tipped, they're great, but the other half just can't stay upright. I don't know. Maybe I'll try trochus and conchs

 

[tigerseyes01]

i have 4 turbo snails in my tank and they are great ... quick little guys

 

[beth]

You know I hardly ever see my conchs on the sand, I have Queens and Fighting. Mostly they are on the glass and sometimes on the rock.
HMMM.

 

[fshhub]

really, mine have never left the sand, but, as they say, all of hte species will have their exceptions, to almost every rule, guess this is no excetion to the rule, lol

 

[daluminum]

nassarus (sp?) are really cool.. I have about 6 of them in my tank.. they hide in the DSB and then pop up when I feed the fish.. then scramble to get the brine..
as far as the rock and glass.. hermits are much faster on the rocks and eat alot more.. and snails do a pretty poor job of cleaning glass.. they make nice streaks.. but ideally you dont want algae growing on the front glass anyway.. try getting rid of the algae instead of cleaning it with snails..

 

[broomer5]

Thinking of asking if we should just have a snails forum here
Lot's of recent discussions about snails and conchs.
In my opinion - snails are great little algae eaters - but very poorly designed.
Anything that is perfectly healthy, constantly falls over on the sand and can't get back up on it's foot .... well I don't know.
Forgive me for saying this, but I refuse to babysit a bunch of snails. I have plenty of them in my tanks, their relatively cheap, $1.00 buck a piece at my lfs, and if they can't make it on their own, then it's survial of the fittest. I've got plenty of hermits that will take care of the weak.

 

[mlm]

The Trochus or Mexican Turbo snails that they sell on this site for 3 bucks a piece are awsome. They can get up on there own and they clean the @#$% out of your tank.