My case against Nerite snails

[hogfanreefer]

These guys are good algae eaters but they are driving me insane. They can't right themselves and die if not turned over. This is fine unless they are in a hard to get to location.

Worse than that they are the only snail that I have than climbs in the overflow and ends up stopping up the drain pipe or getting in the venturi of my skimmer. It's never a turbo, trochus, cerith or astraea that does that. Always the nerites.

Any one else notice this with this critter? I'm banning all of mine to my refugium and never buying any more.

 

[Betta132]

The public aquarium near us has a bunch of open-top tanks. Now and then they have to recover nerites from wet corners and other places. At least, I'm pretty sure they're nerites... they look a lot like my nerites, though mine are the horned kind.

 

[mm.reefs]

I think the same. Nerites are one of the best algae eaters, but they tend to get in places no other snails like. Usually when I got a bunch of them, half of them got out of the tank and die in the next couple of days. I have not used them in years.

 

[Wangspeed]

The eggs! No one tells you how annoying the eggs are. I only buy trochus and nassarius now.

 

[rssjsb]

There are different types of nerites. One type is intertidal and will crawl out of the water, sometimes out of the tank and onto the floor.

The other will not. I've only ever had this type and never had any issue with them being unable to right themselves or otherwise getting into mischief by clogging up pipes, drains, etc.

Unfortunately, I don't know enough about the different types or their origin to help you identify which ones you have, but maybe it will inform your search.

 

[hogfanreefer]

Thanks rss. I undoubtedly have the intertidal type. I have to open up the valve and flush one out of the siphon part of my Bean Animal at least every 2-3 weeks. I see some for sale that don't look like mine but I think I'll stick with the turbos, astreas and ceriths for now.

 

[pinnatus]

Guilty!

Case closed!

 

[rssjsb]

Thanks rss. I undoubtedly have the intertidal type. I have to open up the valve and flush one out of the siphon part of my Bean Animal at least every 2-3 weeks. I see some for sale that don't look like mine but I think I'll stick with the turbos, astreas and ceriths for now.

That sounds extremely annoying.