Nerite question

[Reef Doctor]

I had a small freshwater tank temporarily until I could get the equipment needed to turn it to saltwater. I had purchased a nerite snail that lived in the freshwater tank. The tank had some marine sand in containers which may have made the tank water a little brackish (nerites reproduced quite a bit in there). Anyway, I'm setting up my tank now and have slowly acclimated my nerite to reef tank salinity. I assumed a nerite was a nerite, and it could live in either. However, after reading a bit more, I realize that there are different species and some brackish, some saltwater.

My question is this: Is my snail going to be OK, or am I doing something cruel by making this particular variety of nerite live in saltwater?

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

It's seems they prefer brackish, so you may be okay. Pagojoe will probably be able to give you a definitive answer.

 

[pagojoe]

The answer is...it depends. The chance that you have a true freshwater nerite is pretty slim, since I never see them for sale. As Sugar implied, the ones seen in the hobby are almost all brackish water snails. Some of these are more tolerant of salt water than others, though. I'd think that any of the species that you are likely to have will probably do OK in your new tank, even if it's not ideal. I don't think it would be cruel to give it a try.

Cheers,


Don

 

[Reef Doctor]

Thanks. He seems to be fine now. I have one of the baby nerites in a freshwater tank. The one acclimated to saltwater (in a bucket now) seems to be enjoying it. Will try adding him to the tank next week. I think it probably was a brackish one because the marine sand substrate (which probably has some salt) when it was added to the freshwater tank, caused the snail to lay eggs like crazy, and most hatched and survived. I'll definitely see how the snail goes. It has been pretty hardy so far with all the slow changes in salinity. I would hate to lose him. He kept my glass super clean, and even ate a little green hair algae.