Best tiny marine snail to eat algae

[karimwassef]

I'm tired of turbo snails, astrea, trochus from different regions, star shaped snails....

They bulldoze their way and fall on their backs to die regularly. I travel and can't spend every trip home turning snails over.

I have over 400 blue legged hermits that do ok. They fall off my complex rockwork though and don't do a good job in the very steep slopes.

Ok. So, I'm looking for the best small snail to eat algae from the rockwork. Should be no larger than 0.5" and preferably more like 0.25". An army of miniature grazers is what I am looking for.

 

[Betta132]

There are mini limpets that don't go over half an inch long. I don't think there's any place to buy them, but you could look for someone who has hitch-hikers and would give you some.
There are probably a few small hitch-hiker snail species, you could ask around.
How about a tuxedo urchin? They pick pebbles and little frags up, but they usually crawl over things instead of bulldozing, and they flip themselves over if they fall on their backs.

 

[karimwassef]

I got urchins. They grab small corals and walk way with them. I had one literally crush through my zoanthids and then break a piece of the base rock off and carry it away - zoas and all until they all died.

They do the same with my snails and crabs. One of my emeralds lost an arm in a tug of war with a large tuxedo.

 

[karimwassef]

Nerite, Cerith, Nassarius?

 

[karimwassef]

Which is the best algae eater?

 

[Betta132]

Nassarius won't eat algae at all, they burrow in the sand and eat gunk.
Nerites constantly crawl out of the tank, they're tidal snails and don't like being constantly underwater.
Cerith are best.

 

[fermentedhiker]

Nassarius won't eat algae at all, they burrow in the sand and eat gunk.
Nerites constantly crawl out of the tank, they're tidal snails and don't like being constantly underwater.
Cerith are best.

I haven't had any trouble with Nerites crawling out of my tanks fresh or saltwater. They do hang out above the waterline during the day so rimless tanks might have issues.

It seems like Ceriths and dwarf ceriths might be what you need. The only problem I have with the larger ceriths is that hermits love to kill them and take their shells :/

reefcleaners also has the small limpets someone else was talking about. As well as ringed cowrie and zigzag periwinkle. I like variety so I would get a few of everything and see what works best in your tank before sinking a bunch of money in to a ton of anything.

just my 2cents

 

[philosophile]

Dove snails are pretty great for general cleaning. They reproduce in the tank and never get much bigger than 1/2 inch.

 

[karimwassef]

Nerite and dwarf cerith look like the winners here.

What are dove snails? Where do you get them?

 

[Miz40B]

Cowrie's are great!!

 

[karimwassef]

I think cowries are huge

 

[karimwassef]

I found 1000 dwarf cerith for $85... Free shipping. Going for that.

 

[Betta132]

Money cowries are just slightly over half an inch long. They're also hermit-proof and fully capable of flipping themselves over.
That's a LOT of snails.

 

[karimwassef]

I have a 380g DT. 600g total volume and my bulldozing snails and ripping urchins have to go. I have 400-500 hermits but their ability to climb vertical walls is challenged. I also lost my sea hares in a dino outbreak last month.

My rockwork is almost all suspended on a single rock 'trunk' and the tank walls meaning that falling off the rockwork starts a long journey across the open sands to the trunk or walls. The bottom of the rocks gets a brown algae from the light reflected off the sand that few can reach.