Best Snail for Sand Clean UP?

[NCADAM]

I have just recently began to see a good level of some brown substance attach itself to my live sand thus changing its shade. The guy at the LFS said that a cerith would be the best to clean it up. How bout your ideas!!!!

Thanks,

Adam
:rollface:

 

[VacavilleFC3S]

i like ceriths alot also astreas and margaritas

 

[Airwolf75]

I like the fighting conch.

 

[cplklegg]

Nassarius get in the sand and stir it up well. They live in it until food is sniffed, then they come out to clean out any leftovers.

 

[NCADAM]

Thanks,

Adam

 

[lildraken]

ceriths, IMO, don't stir up the sand as much. neither do astrea's. I have different species of nassarius, babylonias, and olive snails. they all live in the sand bed but they can be preditory towards clams!

 

[NCADAM]

Hmm,

Babylonians and Olives never seen those or heard of them. Do thay have other names.

Thanks,

Adam

 

[lildraken]

babylonia spirata to be exact. the LFS sold them to me as "spotted turbo snails". To me they look like giant nassarius snails but pretty! I dunno what the common name is since they were misidentified by the LFS.

just keep in mind that they don't eat anything in the sand unless it's meat and they will kill clams if you have them. They're quite fearless when it comes to scavenging. I have video footage of mine eating and trying to hang on to his food despite an invasion by a lobster 3 times his size. I just have to figure out this media card thingy in order to edit videos on my computer

 

[lildraken]

oh the olive snail is said to hunt conchs and swallow them whole. I've yet to witness that since I don't want to pay for such an expensive meal for him but i've seen him swallow a whole tomato clown that had died. He never bothers the other snails or live fish.
just keep in mind when you're looking for these snails they are beneath the sand so unless the staff is knowledgeable about them you won't see them in the tanks at the store unless they dig them out for u.
http://www.chucksaddiction.com/Hitchsnails.html

 

[Nick Fr.]

I have had a little luck with ceriths but nassarius' are the best imho

 

[VacavilleFC3S]

nassarius only submerge and re=emerge they don't move around under the sand

 

[sl-atl]

I have both the florida cerith (Cerith floridanum) and the smaller and much more common Cerith litteratum. The florida ceriths spend much more of their time bulldozing through the substrate, and made a noticeable difference on the appearance of the sand bed. Highly recommended based on my experience. (The common ceriths spend most of their time on the rocks and glass.)

 

[lildraken]

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Bl41mf6b8Eo&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param>******* src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Bl41mf6b8Eo&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Here's a video I just made of my spirata snails.

 

[lildraken]

oops .. here ya go
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl41mf6b8Eo

 

[jellyfish4me]

Just want to say that I LOVED the video!

 

[lildraken]

Thanks! I hope to do more, but I think I'm going to take the words out of the movie.

 

[jellyfish4me]

Actually I loved the words. They made me grin They went by a little fast, so I had to rewind to catch them all, but it was worth it.

Good luck and I hope to see more!

 

[NCADAM]

Love it. Keep the videos coming

 

[cichlid333]

can;t wait to see motre as well