Nassarius snails aggressive?

[mrkmas]

I was told that nassarius snails can be aggressive towards corals and anemones since the snails are meat eaters. Is there any truth to this? Everywhere I look they are listed as peaceful, but just wanted to run it by everyone here.

 

[mndfreeze]

No. They will only eat dying/decaying things.

Keep in mind there are other snails that LOOK similar to nassarius snails, but are whelks and other snouty looking guys that COULD be predatory.

 

[gtphale]

never have had a problem with mine

 

[mrkmas]

is there any way to distinguish nassarius snails from other welk snails?

 

[thebkramer]

Here is a great read on whelks

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-11/rs/index.php

 

[mrkmas]

thx thebkramer, that straightened out alot of my questions.
I am pretty confident that what I have are nassarius snails. They are just about always under the crushed coral bottom of my tank with the proboscis sticking up throught the crushed coral. Whenever they get the extra fish food, they all jump right out of the bottom and go crazy. Im just worried about putting them in my reef tank and having a real big problem. A few times, I even put the snail on my finger and it was moving across my finger.

Would you care if I posted a picture just to be sure?

 

[thebkramer]

go right ahead and post pic!! We love pics!! :bounce3:
its actually always best to post pic

and nassarius snails in reefs are 100% a good idea!! they are great at keeping the sandbed stirred and eating leftovers and all other goodies!!

 

[mrkmas]

That is exactly what I want them for, as I need some help keeping the sand clean in the reef tank. Just hesitant without making sure they are infact nassarius snails. I will post pics tomorrow.