Have you actualy witnessed your snails being eaten? Or just finding dead snails?
ron shimek-
Astrea:
"Most snails sold as Astraea in the marine reef hobby are trochid snails, although they are seldom from the genus Trochus. Many of the actual individuals of Astraea offered for sale in the reef aquarium hobby come from the cooler waters of Baja California. These animals are not from areas that have sand substrates or, really, much of anything else in the way of flat surfaces. If they get dislodged from rocks, they tend to fall into crevices or crannies where they can reach a rock with their foot and attach to it. Consequently, they have never developed a "righting response." This means that if they fall from the aquarium walls onto the sand, they will not be able to turn over, and will die there unless somebody or something turns them over. Given that they also are not warm water animals, they tend to die young and leave a good-looking corpse in the aquarium. Purchase them if you wish. I would spend my money on tropical species, however. "
Margarita:
"This species is one of the three or four species of Trochoideans collected from cool water areas of Baja California and unethically sold to gullible, or informed, aquarists as a reef aquarium animal under the delightfully ambiguous name of "margarite or margarita snail. Tegula funebralis has a high thermal tolerance for an animal that lives in cold water areas (it ranges northward from Baja and is common in the British Columbian and Alaskan intertidal zones). They normally live a small fraction of one percent of their normal life span, or only a few months, in reef aquaria. Putting these animals in a reef aquarium is both unethical and immoral."
Both those snails are good grazers and dirt cheap but last about a month before they die.
I suggest you spend money on a clean up crew that will last such as
Hawian Turbo Snails (Turbo sandwicensis), may dislodge rockwork so mini-turbos might be better on tanks with smaller rocks
Mini Turbo Snails (Collonista), they also reproduce like crazy
Trochus, pretty much my favorite grazer
Strombus maculatus, stay small and reproduce (IPSF.com claims to have them but they actualy have a whole different species ... the ones from IPSF.com are great too though)
Nerites, I like to call these ones the glass polishers and they only work at night so you dont have viewing obstructons during the day
Stomatella varia, good grazers and also reproduce well in aquaria lacking hermit crabs and shrimp predators. Nocturnal aswell.
