Brilliant Algae eating snail

[rain-]

Could they be zebra nerites, Neritina natalensis? The size matches (and the claim that they won't grow bigger than that, but we all know how reliable fish stores might be when they talk about sizes...) and they are absolutely the best algae eating snails I've ever seen. They really blast the algae off the tank walls.

Oh, and my MTS eat only fish food, some algae and only rotting plant parts. There has been cases when they have eaten live plants (or so some people have said), but it is really rare and might happen because they have nothing else to eat or there are too many of them (so, not much to eat) or then they just get blamed of someone elses munching or actually are munching the plants for no specific reason. But I have never seen a live plant eating MTS.

They are also easy to keep in control, when the lights go out they climb to the tank walls and you can just net them and either kill them or offer them to someone who might want them. I don't usually see mine much, they spend most of the time buried inside the substrate and I have never had too many MTS in my tanks.

 

[shaunradams]

Hi and sorry for the delay.

The above pic is the snail I was talking about. It cost me £2 from Fintasia Aquatics in Darlington. This is a good shop with a helpful and knowledgeable owner. I would recomend one to anyone with algae problems.

 

[keane]

no pic!

steve 8)

 

[shaunradams]

Sorry, what I ment was the pic from the post before mine by rain-.

Hope this helps.

 

[Mr Miagi]

Has anyone had bad success with snails......i know i have. For example, i had two apple snails, and they ate a little, not much, and after a month, just carced it! Dunno why? and before that one more did the same thing....

Could it have been my temps. Norm is 27C

 

[gale]

I found some nerites for sale online, but not zebra. I wonder if they would still work-the price seems in line but it doesn't actually say they're ok for freshwater and it says that people like to breed them although everything I've read says they are nearly impossible to breed.

http/petsolutions.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E...Nerite+Snail_E_

 

[Yenko]

Malaysian trumpet snails are the best snails avaliable; they reproduce in almost any condition so you do not have to buy a huge number or replace them, they do not eat healthy (or even slightly unhealthy) plantmatter and because their shells are much stronger than normal shells, they seem to be able to withstand snail-eaters much better. They are also nocturnal, which helps protect them. The only tank I have failed to keep them in is one with clown loaches, the loaches simply flip them over and suck out the body. The apistogramma never learned the trick; he would just headbutt one untill he got bored.

 

[gale]

I read somewhere online (not sure where, I've been reading up on these snails) that the nerites will actually eat diatoms and cyano. Not sure how true that last one could be. Either way I might order some when it warms up and put them in a tank alone with plants and see if they eat them.

 

[Neal]

I agree, Fintasia Aquatics in Darlington know there fish and take good care of them!

 

[Iron Man]

I've been a fan of snails for years and the applesnail.net site is an excellent one. Snails and shrimp are very interesting and fun to watch. I'd have a tank dedicated to just these if I could.

I've had applesnails for years in with tropicals and goldfish alike....they seem to like warm water better, but they will survive cold water. As with all algae eaters....once the algae is gone make sure you keep them fed with an algae disk every now and then or they will slowly starve to death.

Apple snails are tremendous little algae eaters, but they do produce a lot of poop and are sensitive to meds and copper/heavy metals.

I've never seen the 'zebras' mentioned here in person, but they are very interesting.

Also, the best thing I've ever seen for controlling algae on live plants is a rubberlip pleco.

I've had MTS's too and they're also great little natural substrate aerators/cleaners. They will eat anything and everything but plants. Never have I ever had a MTS that ate plants.