Black racer nerite snail about useless

[Murf.]

I bought a black racer nerite snail last Friday. He should be called a pit stop snail as he spends most his time sitting on the side of the tank. My tank had a decent amount of algae on the glass and I figured he would feast on it. Not so much so I cleaned the glass myself. He does move to different locations every once a in awhile so I know he is alive. I just thought these things really did a number on algae. I bought the biggest one they had thinking the bigger, the more of an appetite. He is about an inch long at least. Should I have bought one of the quarter of an inch ones that was moving around? Do the smaller ones eat more? I don't want egg mess so only want one and it is only a 10 gal tank.
Thanks

 

[Yohance1130]

He is pro

I bought a black racer nerite snail last Friday. He should be called a pit stop snail as he spends most his time sitting on the side of the tank. My tank had a decent amount of algae on the glass and I figured he would feast on it. Not so much so I cleaned the glass myself. He does move to different locations every once a in awhile so I know he is alive. I just thought these things really did a number on algae. I bought the biggest one they had thinking the bigger, the more of an appetite. He is about an inch long at least. Should I have bought one of the quarter of an inch ones that was moving around? Do the smaller ones eat more? I don't want egg mess so only want one and it is only a 10 gal tank.
Thanks

He was probably still adjusting to your tank. When I first added my nerite snail he barely moved for the first couple of days. Also when they sleep they usually sleep for a full day for me. Leave the algae he well eventually eat the algae and they do not really eat much other food other than algae. They only eat bio-film and dying plant matter. Sometimes you will be lucky if they Will eat boiled veggies mine only eats decaying plant matter, bio-film, and algae. and well not accept anything else

They are really good with algae for the first couple days my nerite barely moved but 1 day he went all over my tank and was really active and he cleared all the algae all over my tank in 3 days.

You can look on his shell if you see some white chips or at the tip of his shell if you see white that can give you a good idea of his age. The more white their shell is the more older they are for the most part. You can see photos of them with their shell fully white when they are very old. Im not necessarily sure if the younger ones eat more.

 

[Murf.]

He is pro

He was probably still adjusting to your tank. When I first added my nerite snail he barely moved for the first couple of days. Also when they sleep they usually sleep for a full day for me. Leave the algae he well eventually eat the algae and they do not really eat much other food other than algae. They only eat bio-film and dying plant matter. Sometimes you will be lucky if they Will eat boiled veggies mine only eats decaying plant matter, bio-film, and algae. and well not accept anything else

They are really good with algae for the first couple days my nerite barely moved but 1 day he went all over my tank and was really active and he cleared all the algae all over my tank in 3 days.

You can look on his shell if you see some white chips or at the tip of his shell if you see white that can give you a good idea of his age. The more white their shell is the more older they are for the most part. You can see photos of them with their shell fully white when they are very old. Im not necessarily sure if the younger ones eat more.

Thanks for sharing. I'm not seeing any white on him right now, but I thought I saw a speck the other day. Right now he is chilling in the bubbles on side of tank letting them flow over him.
Can they see, smell, sense the algae and go to it or do they have to get lucky and stumble upon it?

 

[Yohance1130]

Thanks for sharing. I'm not seeing any white on him right now, but I thought I saw a speck the other day. Right now he is chilling in the bubbles on side of tank letting them flow over him.
Can they see, smell, sense the algae and go to it or do they have to get lucky and stumble upon it?

No I do not think they can see the algae, I think they do sense the algae tho

For the most part they don't seem to hunt for algae they scavenge more. They will go all over your tank every corner, glass, substrate, plants. and eat whatever food they stumble upon they will eat that is edible. I don't know if you realized but they're mouth's are always opening and closing when they move around the tank.

I believe that if they are near the algae they can detect it and smell it but only in short distances. But they are so slow that you can't really tell if they are actually hunting and moving to the algae on purpose.

I forgot to mention usually when my nerites are full they will rest and sleep more often and well not move as much. It is a possibility that he was possibly not hungry when you got him. I'm pretty sure he will be fine. I would be more worried about not having enough algae in the tank honestly. They have huge appetites.

He is probably eating the micro organism's present in your tank that you can not see with your own eyes for now. Give him time and you will see he will be eating your algae in no time.

I would not be too concerned

hopefully everything works well!