nassarius obsoleta

[DrChaos619]

I have a ton of nassarius obsoleta ripe for the picking down at the shores.

With some reasearch, I learned that they can be alright in a reef tank and can be quite the voracious diatom and detrius eaters. Any info that anyone has on them would be quite helpful.

However, since i am from the northeast, ive read that cold water snails in a reef environment wont do so well. on the other hand, ive heard they'd be alright.

which one is correct?

Reguardless im going to take the risk

secondly, how do I go about quarantining the snails? Are they the same as fish when it comes to QTing snails? any advice would be helpful

thanks in advance

 

[DrChaos619]

helloooooooooo?

 

[graveyardworm]

I would leave them in the ocean and get more appropriate tropical grazers. In the wild the temperate obsoleta snails live a long time greater than a decade. At reef tank temps they dont last much longer than a year if they make it that long. So by placing them in your tank they are doomed to a very shortened life.

 

[cbell]

i have 300 in my 180

i have 300 in my 180

i got them in feb, i have seen no problems. the do a great job. my water stays at about 79-80 degrees F. over all i am very happy with them

 

[spawner]

The ones from North Carolina live very well in tanks. They live in water well over 90F in the saltmarshes, exposed to 100F in the mid day sun at low tide. I don't have a clue how long they live in tanks, maybe only a few years instead of a decade, but I have never seen a snail other than the black cerith snails do extremely well in tanks. Take Astrea snails for example, most die quickly and they are subtropical.

Personally, with the litterly tons of Nassarius vibrex taken from Florida waters I would love to see more people use Ilyanassa (what you are calling Nassarius). Demand for them is only increasing. I have about 3000 in my sump Qing right now, I'll be interested in seeing how well they would do.

I wouldn't believe everything your read, a certain expert many times makes claims about products and organism that he has little personal or expermintal experence with. Taking a few dozen of them for your tank will do no harm at all. I would put them in a bare bottom tank for a few weeks, and let them purge.