Snails??

[Reef Hero]

I'm thinking about adding a few more snails to my 75g reef tank.....don't really see too many in there right now.....only ones I ever visibly see are about 4 astrae.
What are people's thoughts on trochus, nassarius, ceriths, and turbos? Just want to update my clean up crew a little but have always been uncertain on what kind of snails I should be adding.......


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[Reef Hero]

Well thanks for the input everyone lol
I bought 10 nassarius and 10 trochus from IA since its no tax weekend. Picking up in an hour after work....

 

[Poseidon]

haha, well thats what i wouldve told you anyways..
trochus are great, flip themselves over and move fairly quickly
nassarius are the best for your sand bed..

one ive kind of experimenter with is a huge smooth shelled snail with a red skirt around its body..
kind of looks like a Margarita snail but there not red lol..
anyways, this guy eats 10x as much as turbos and moves 10x as fast

ask Bill what he thinks about margarita snails

 

[Reef Hero]

I completely forgot to ask bill about the margaritas....
Acclimating my snails right now....anyone else acclimate them or just dump them in?

 

[yveterinarian]

I usually acclimate the snails.
I'm not a fan of trochus snails as they won't right themselves.  I picked up a few three weeks ago and they are all dead now because they fell off the rocks and didn't right themselves.  Not a problem if you can reach them to right them but a PITA when they fall behind your rockwork.
I hope your new snails work well for you. 

 

[vdubz]

i got that other red skirted smoothshelled snail from you, brandon. unforunately, he died a little while back, but if you know where to get them, or ever see them anywhere, let me know!  they look awes0me!

 

[Poseidon]

i got that other red skirted smoothshelled snail from you, brandon. unforunately, he died a little while back, but if you know where to get them, or ever see them anywhere, let me know!  they look awes0me!

ah, yes i remember!
i shoulda kept him if i knew you would just murder him... haha
just kidding, i want to find more..

 

[Darryl_V]

I only buy astera's and mexican turbo's

 

[unibob]

Are margarita snails not a colder water species?

 

[yveterinarian]

Are margarita snails not a colder water species?

Yes, that's what I was told so they don't do well in reef aquariums. 

The Mexican turbos are great because the are self righting but you have to make sure you aren't getting the Margarita snails by accident.  I like those and I also use nassarius snails due to to my deep sand bed needed for my garden eel.

 

[Poseidon]

[quote author=unibob link=topic=5165.msg48914#msg48914 date=1366544458]
Are margarita snails not a colder water species?

Yes, that's what I was told so they don't do well in reef aquariums. 

The Mexican turbos are great because the are self righting but you have to make sure you aren't getting the Margarita snails by accident.  I like those and I also use nassarius snails due to to my deep sand bed needed for my garden eel.
[/quote]

Lol I love how our experiances differ so much
My turbos are useless, couldn't flip them selves over if I paid them too... But my trochus are like ninjas, the barely land on their back and their flipped and eating again.

And for the margaritas, no idea if mine is one, ill try get a pic and post it.

 

[Reef Hero]

I have heard decent reviews from trochus, astrae, turbos, nassarius, amd ceriths......
I would like to get a couple turbos in the future.....never had one and want to see just how much they will live up to their name
I also read that some people are passing other snails off as the true nassarius vibex.......I think they are called obsoleta or something.....and they will hunt your pods and possibly destroy my ecosystem I have built up.....
Anyways, the trochus and nassarius snails seem to be doing ok.....
Thanks for all the input guys!


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[chuckm]

Tiger trochus are my favourite.
  if you had trochus snails that could not right themselves you were not sold trochus snails.
they are warm water snails, and long lived. 
You wre probably sold tectus snails.

I usually acclimate the snails.
I'm not a fan of trochus snails as they won't right themselves.  I picked up a few three weeks ago and they are all dead now because they fell off the rocks and didn't right themselves.  Not a problem if you can reach them to right them but a PITA when they fall behind your rockwork.
I hope your new snails work well for you. 

 

[yveterinarian]

Tiger trochus are my favourite.
  if you had trochus snails that could not right themselves you were not sold trochus snails.
they are warm water snails, and long lived. 
You wre probably sold tectus snails.

[quote author=yveterinarian link=topic=5165.msg48828#msg48828 date=1366416183]
I usually acclimate the snails.
I'm not a fan of trochus snails as they won't right themselves.  I picked up a few three weeks ago and they are all dead now because they fell off the rocks and didn't right themselves.  Not a problem if you can reach them to right them but a PITA when they fall behind your rockwork.
I hope your new snails work well for you. 

[/quote]

You are probably right.  It is sad because the first ones I got were from Sealife central and their shells had red and white stripes or squares on them.  They have been fabulous.  The next ones I got, again from Sealife Central, have white shells and can't right themselves at all.  I recently picked up some more for Dave's predator tank that have the red and white stripes/squares from Big Al's and they were calling them Zebra Turbos and they are the same as the first snails I picked up.  They right themselves and do a great job of cleaning up diatoms. 
No one seems to use the same names for these snails which is where the confusion comes in.  I just know that whatever they are called, the ones with the red and white markings have been the absolute best for my reef tanks.  They didn't survive in my seahorse tank though which is kept at a much lower temp than the reef tanks so I know they are not the Margarita turbos.

 

[Victoss]

You are probably right.  It is sad because the first ones I got were from Sealife central and their shells had red and white stripes or squares on them.  They have been fabulous.  The next ones I got, again from Sealife Central, have white shells and can't right themselves at all.  I recently picked up some more for Dave's predator tank that have the red and white stripes/squares from Big Al's and they were calling them Zebra Turbos and they are the same as the first snails I picked up.  They right themselves and do a great job of cleaning up diatoms. 
No one seems to use the same names for these snails which is where the confusion comes in.  I just know that whatever they are called, the ones with the red and white markings have been the absolute best for my reef tanks.  They didn't survive in my seahorse tank though which is kept at a much lower temp than the reef tanks so I know they are not the Margarita turbos.

Mine were called banded trochus snails, they are my fav snails and definitely right them selves. Started out with a few a year ago and they decided to breed and fully stock my tank for me  , then when I moved some to my biocube they did the same  ;D. It's nice to get a hundred or so snails free when they can cost $3 each. Zebra turbos have black stripes so they probably are banded or tiger (the same? ???) trochus.

 

[Kleko]

Do you need to quarantine snails? and crabs?

 

[Petercar (RIP Dec 2017)]

I just float the bags in the sump and scoop them outta the bag amd dump in the tank

 

[unibob]

I drip all inverts. No point in paying $3/snail to have them die from stores tank different then mine.