Why do we still use Astraea snails?

[ehutchby]

good thread folks... thanks for the information

 

[username in use]

I believe Astrea snails come from two distinctly diferent areas and have evolved different behaviors. Snails that have grown in the sandy flats have not developed the ability to right themselves, as they never fall off of anything. The snails that are found on rock walls in the reefs HAVE developed the ability to right themselves. I expect that it is easier to collect thousands of Astrea's from the sandy flats than to search them out of a crowded, colorful reef. I have a feeling that people who have successfully kept the got some from reef areas.

 

[fourzero]

Anyone interested in splitting up an order of 500 dwarf ceriths ($90) from reefcleaners.org?

Thanks.

 

[ds4x4]

I have never had an astrea fall off on it's own? clumsy reef keeper yes. i think they are good part of the crew but need to be in small numbers and mine breed in my 55 and 220

 

[xJake]

So, one of my friends brought up an interesting point that I thought was common knowledge.

Everyone here should realize that Astrea spp. are virtually all intertidal snails and will suffocate if they can't exit the water as needed. Again, I figured it was pretty much common knowledge, but it may not be. They require a place to get out of the water in order to maintain proper respiration.

 

[username in use]

nice tidbit of info xjake

 

[dc_909]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14427505#post14427505 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by PaintGuru
I have found that owning a lot of snails is never a good proposition, as I seem to get massive die off until they reach a sustainable level. My 90 gal tank has probably 15-20 of them, and everything is going well...they've been around for quite a while too.

I agree with you. I see lots of reefers WAY overstock on snails.

 

[BlastoEric1589]

Astrea die,
Trochus die,
Nerites are TINY,
Nassarius hide all day,
Turbos are bulldozers,
and almost all of them get eaten by hermits...
I have a handful of Nerites left and 1 astrea, i think he's still alive.
I just buy blue spotted sea hares now. I LOVE THEM! they're the ugliest thing you could put in your tank but they are better than turbos at eating algae and faster then you'd believe, and no heavy shell to knock over your corals

 

[dc_909]

Blastoeric,

Any problem with them dieing and inking?

 

[ludnix]

I love my large mexican turbos. The LFS will mark margaritas as mexican turbos but the one's I'm talking about are huge. I haven't had then be bulldozers, but my tuxedo urchin definitely is.