Algivorous snails that'll breed in the reef!

[Barncat]

Hey everyone,

I'm poor as dirt and tired of buying snails so I'm curious about which saltwater species might establish themselves a population and reproduce. I've heard that dove snails might but I've never seen them available in Canada. I have had trochus snails before but I did not notice any breeding; of course back then I also did have some hermit crabs so that might've been why.

Since my reef is currently entirely hermit crab free, now seems like a grand time to introduce some snails capable of actually prolifically making pests of themselves.

I'm also very curious about the nerite snails sold in the freshwater hobby of since apparently the selling point of them there is that they don't breed in freshwater but that they do in saltwater! Is this true?

My algivorous cleanup crew currently consists of Doughnut the tuxedo urchin and five money cowries. (As far as I know cowries don't breed in the aquarium.) I may also have a single turbo snail and an emerald crab but I haven't seen either in a while.

I also have at least one nassarius snail and possibly a bumblebee snail, the latter which I know could potentially cause some trouble with other snails.

There is plenty of algae for algivores to eat in my well established 30 gallon reef. Multiple species of pesky salad for everyone!

To be blunt: I need some pest snails. I'd be honestly very thrilled if they reproduced enough that I had to cull them once in a while (my garden would love that,) or if they gave me an excuse to adopt a toby puffer!

 

[saltcats]

The Strombus maculatus nano conches are supposed to breed readily in tanks, but they are very hard to come by. Your best bet would be to find another reefer who has some, but I'm not sure how much luck you'd even have there; the only ones I've seen are in the US and haven't seemed to still be selling.

Doesn't seem like there's much info out there on successful nerite breeding at all. I think I've heard some accounts of cerith snails successfully breeding in home aquariums, if there are no predators to eat the eggs (in my case my Nassarius snails always get those!).

 

[twentyleagues]

I believe Nerite snails breed in brackish water but will lay eggs in both salt and fresh but they will not hatch. Stomatella (?) snails breed in saltwater pretty rapidly. There is a small snail that looks like a very small trochus snail that have been breeding like crazy in my tank also, I can not remember their name ... oh its collonista snail I think.

 

[IceNein]

I've been told that trochus reproduce in aquariums, and those dudes are hard workers and can right themselves. I love them.

 

[GSPClown94]

I’d recommend some Stomatella snails.

 

[Barncat]

Thank you so much everyone! I'll try to find those species, and definitely get some trichus snails!

 

[BristleWormHater]

Heres a bunch of tiny guys, most of these can be found for sale on Reef Cleaners.org
Dove snails (Columbellidae family), Collonista snails (Collonista amakusaensis), Button snails (Modulus modulus), and Tegula snails (Tegula fasciata).

 

[rogueshrimp88]

Slightly unrelated but I never realized "Algivorous" was a word until now. I always thought of snails or fish that consumed algae as herbivores but now realize that algae aren't plants. The more you know.

On a more related note, +1 for Trochus and Stomatella.

 

[Barncat]

Heres a bunch of tiny guys, most of these can be found for sale on Reef Cleaners.org
Dove snails (Columbellidae family), Collonista snails (Collonista amakusaensis), Button snails (Modulus modulus), and Tegula snails (Tegula fasciata).

Sadly all out of reach to me since I'm in Canada but I love just looking at that website!!

 

[Barncat]

Slightly unrelated but I never realized "Algivorous" was a word until now. I always thought of snails or fish that consumed algae as herbivores but now realize that algae aren't plants. The more you know.

On a more related note, +1 for Trochus and Stomatella.

'Algivorous' is just super fun to say too haha

I'm going to adopt as many trochus snails as I can ASAP but so far I haven't seen Stomatella snails here yet!

 

[BristleWormHater]

Sadly all out of reach to me since I'm in Canada but I love just looking at that website!!

There are other places to buy dove snails and collonista snails, not sure about shipping to Canada though. As far as I know reef cleaners is the only place to get tegulas and buttons

 

[Red_Beard]

There are other places to buy dove snails and collonista snails, not sure about shipping to Canada though. As far as I know reef cleaners is the only place to get tegulas and buttons

Those tegulas look interesting, are they go getters like the trochus? I saw reefcleaners says they bridge the evolutionary gap between turbos and trochus, but didnt mention how hungry they are.

Baby nassarius. Saw it tonight, didnt think they would reproduce in my tank until i saw it tonight. Barely caught it before it dove back into the sand