Bcrowe2012
New member
Are snails worth putting in a system or is it better to keep something like a brittle star to help with extra food and just keep up a good maintenance routine?
Snails
- Thread starter Bcrowe2012
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Dkuhlmann
New member
Nothing beats good maintenance and not over feeding your livestock. Yes snails are worth putting in your system and a mix of them is recommended because there are some that are specific to different types of algae and different parts of the tank. Need to know the size of your tank to suggest numbers of snails but here is a list of my favorites and they will work your tank from the top to the bottom under the sand.
Nerite snails
Cerith snails
Mexican Turbo snails
Astrea snails
Nassarius snails
Stomatella snails (these are usually hitchhikers but wonderful)
This mix will do a good job for you, with the Mexican Turbos at most get one per 10 gal of water volume, these guy's are great for eating green hair algae GHA. The Nassarius snails live in the sand keeping it clean with their long trunk sticking out of the sand. When you feed the tank they pop out of the sandbed and it reminds me of zombies LOL
If you can get lucky with having Stomatella snails as hitchhikers on your live rock if not ask a local LFS if they have some in their live rock tanks and can you get a few of them. They reproduce like crazy and are wonderful at eating algae from top to bottom.
The Astrea snails have a cone shell but are able to flip themselves over if they land on the back of the shell when falling off of the walls of the tank or the rock.
This gives you a few to work with and like I said once you give a tank size we can suggest numbers.
I have to mention Hermits here also. The blue legged ones are murderous bastards and they kill for the sport of it. They are great cleaners and come flying to the food when you feed the fish, quite funny to watch because they will be falling from the highest rock trying to get there. HOWEVER they will kill each other as well as your snails they are always looking for the next shell and usually wind up getting one that is too big. This is my opinion and that of many others.
So get scarlet legged hermits. Great cleaners not as crazy as the blue legs, they take their time and will clean the sand and the rocks for you. One caution is when you first put them in they will just sit wherever they land in the sand and appear to be dead. Not sure why they do this but they do it for a few days before they start moving and cleaning. I had to keep checking to make sure they were alive LOL
You can also have the brittle stars if you wish but most of the time you won't see them only their tentacles sticking out of their hiding place when you feed the tank.
WOW I wrote a book, sorry about the long post but I do hope it was helpful.
Nerite snails
Cerith snails
Mexican Turbo snails
Astrea snails
Nassarius snails
Stomatella snails (these are usually hitchhikers but wonderful)
This mix will do a good job for you, with the Mexican Turbos at most get one per 10 gal of water volume, these guy's are great for eating green hair algae GHA. The Nassarius snails live in the sand keeping it clean with their long trunk sticking out of the sand. When you feed the tank they pop out of the sandbed and it reminds me of zombies LOL
If you can get lucky with having Stomatella snails as hitchhikers on your live rock if not ask a local LFS if they have some in their live rock tanks and can you get a few of them. They reproduce like crazy and are wonderful at eating algae from top to bottom.
The Astrea snails have a cone shell but are able to flip themselves over if they land on the back of the shell when falling off of the walls of the tank or the rock.
This gives you a few to work with and like I said once you give a tank size we can suggest numbers.
I have to mention Hermits here also. The blue legged ones are murderous bastards and they kill for the sport of it. They are great cleaners and come flying to the food when you feed the fish, quite funny to watch because they will be falling from the highest rock trying to get there. HOWEVER they will kill each other as well as your snails they are always looking for the next shell and usually wind up getting one that is too big. This is my opinion and that of many others.
So get scarlet legged hermits. Great cleaners not as crazy as the blue legs, they take their time and will clean the sand and the rocks for you. One caution is when you first put them in they will just sit wherever they land in the sand and appear to be dead. Not sure why they do this but they do it for a few days before they start moving and cleaning. I had to keep checking to make sure they were alive LOL
You can also have the brittle stars if you wish but most of the time you won't see them only their tentacles sticking out of their hiding place when you feed the tank.
WOW I wrote a book, sorry about the long post but I do hope it was helpful.
Bcrowe2012
New member
It was very helpful. I had a 75 abt 4 yrs ago with a number of snails. I tried hermits but as you said, they ate the snails so I put them in the refugium. I currently have a 40b with no live stock yet. I just don't want to put a buncha snails in the tank that will end up dying and fouling up my water.
Dkuhlmann
New member
Since I threw all of my blue leg hermits in the sump dead snails came to a halt. Though lately I've had a few die on me. The good part is the bristle worms eat them rather quickly so no problems with ammonia or nasty smell.
I do have lots of baby snails in both my DT and sump, not sure what kind they are too small to tell yet. Not a lot bigger than a #2 pencil lead. I've got several different species of snails so time will tell what they are.
I do have lots of baby snails in both my DT and sump, not sure what kind they are too small to tell yet. Not a lot bigger than a #2 pencil lead. I've got several different species of snails so time will tell what they are.
Bcrowe2012
New member
How many should I have? I know reef cleaners has a 40b package but it seems like over kill. I haven't had any issues so far with algae. 2 weeks in isn't a long time though. I have a Swc skimmer, running carbon in a reactor and will have chaeto this week. I bought mostly dry rock and ordered some aqua cultured rock online. That was a waste of money though. It had nothing alive on it when I got it. I'm sure it still had bacteria but I've been trying to find someone who will sell me a small chunk of live rock from an established tank. I bought some pods to put in the tank Saturday. I'll end up having to buy or get some bristle worms from a local reef keeper as well but I've been having a hard time finding anyone willing to help out. I've posted a few times in my local club forum. People tell me mini brittle stars and bristle worms are easy to get for free from hobbyists but when I pm them to ask they never respond lol.
Dkuhlmann
New member
I've got a 40b as well. You should have bristle worms in your tank, just pick up a rock that is on the sand and you should find them easily. They will also be living in the rock. If you don't have any many people or LFS will let you have them for nothing.
I too have a 40b but I also don't have any algae growth so my snails population is on the skinny side. Here is what you should get IMO
Nerite snails - 4
Cerith snails - 4-6
Mexican Turbo snails - 4
Astrea snails - 6-8
Nassarius snails - 6 small ones and 2 larger Tonga Nassarius
Stomatella snails - get at least 6 if you can find them, they will reproduce easily.
Yes those online cuc packages can usually be cut in half at least. Remember what I suggest above isn't set in stone but what I think your tank could support after all of the algae is gone. Sure you will get some growth like my tank has very little but what I have in there for snails keeps up with it. I only have 2 Mexican turbos because others got killed by the blue legs.
For the scarlet hermits I'd get at least 6, I've only got 3 and plan to get 3 more.
I too have a 40b but I also don't have any algae growth so my snails population is on the skinny side. Here is what you should get IMO
Nerite snails - 4
Cerith snails - 4-6
Mexican Turbo snails - 4
Astrea snails - 6-8
Nassarius snails - 6 small ones and 2 larger Tonga Nassarius
Stomatella snails - get at least 6 if you can find them, they will reproduce easily.
Yes those online cuc packages can usually be cut in half at least. Remember what I suggest above isn't set in stone but what I think your tank could support after all of the algae is gone. Sure you will get some growth like my tank has very little but what I have in there for snails keeps up with it. I only have 2 Mexican turbos because others got killed by the blue legs.
For the scarlet hermits I'd get at least 6, I've only got 3 and plan to get 3 more.
e048
New member
Snails are dependent on your bio load, lights, tank age, etc
There is no x amount for y gallons
Honestly I would get a mixture of snails and avoid hermits
Go for astreas and cerinths and brittle star the exact numbers of which I would wait and see
I have in my 90g 15 astreas, 20 cerinths, a few peppermint shrimp, a serpent star, one turbo snail (bulldozes everything) and 2 cleaner shrimps and a tuxedo urchin my tank is almost always spotless
There is no x amount for y gallons
Honestly I would get a mixture of snails and avoid hermits
Go for astreas and cerinths and brittle star the exact numbers of which I would wait and see
I have in my 90g 15 astreas, 20 cerinths, a few peppermint shrimp, a serpent star, one turbo snail (bulldozes everything) and 2 cleaner shrimps and a tuxedo urchin my tank is almost always spotless
Bcrowe2012
New member
I got s few bristle worms from the guy who sold me the pods. I'd like to get some more. When should I start adding a clean up crew? Like I said I have 0 algae after 2 weeks. I need to get some test kits to see where the nitrate and all that is sitting. I had a slight ammonia spike a few days after the rock but I don't have the kits to test nitrite or nitrate.
