Nerite Snail Questions

[FCWonderer]

Have a fully established 10 gal tank (fake plants) and within days I'm seeing it being covered in algae. Now I know my tank is too small for any fish that eat primarily algae and I hear Nerite Snails are a great pet to keep in a smaller tank, so just a few questions.
 
How many would be enough to keep the tank clean but not starve the snails?
 
Will they eat the algae growing on my fake plants?
 
They won't reproduce will they?
 
Thanks for your help guys!

 

[Lillefishy]

Nerites will lay eggs but they won't hatch in freshwater.
They're great algae eaters & will eat the algae everywhere, I'd go for just two to start with in your tank, you'll be amazed how much algae they can eat

 

[greenmumma141]

will nerites eat fish eggs?

 

[mitch70]

My Nerite snails keep my tank and my fake plant sparkling clean  (obviously I still need to do my weekly clean, they can't do it all themselves)

 

[ncguppy830]

will nerites eat fish eggs?

from what ive seen know but the other way around yes

 

[FCWonderer]

So the final verdict for my 10 gal is two snails? Does it matter if they are horned or not?

 

[Lillefishy]

It doesn't really matter, the horned is quite small, the zebra is larger

 

[bigcheed]

I love my nerites. I have quite a few. olive, zebra, red spotted (onion), and spiral thorned. they eat algae like you wouldent believe. I wouldent get too many to be honest for a 10g. two zebras or red spotted. 3 olives or 4 spiral thorned as they are the smallest. there are others of course but they tend to be rare and expensive. the above mentioned are the hardier species. ive had others (candy,yellow diamond.) but they died probably due to being out competed for food. you can supplement there diet. ive seen mine eat algae wafers shrimp pellets and fresh cucumber. that is they will eat it if they come across it. but wont actively seek it out. they will lay eggs in a new environment but ive found this decreases over time. hope this helps.

 

[FCWonderer]

I'm looking at 5 tigers online. Is that too many?

 

[bigcheed]

I reckon it is mate. not because of the tank size. but because they are so good at cleaning the algae I just don't think there will be enough to sustain 5. 2or 3 would be my advice.