Baby Trochus Snails? Collonista? Something else?

[saltybeverage]

I have been researching to try and figure out these snails.

Let me say, for the record, I do not mind these snails in my tank, they are model citizens. I haven’t had them do anything I don’t like. My LFS has them in a few of their tanks and hate them because they hang out on the glass and they think it looks bad, but I don’t mind them on my glass.

They look like baby Trochus snails to me, others have ID’d them as such. They don’t really look like collonista. They haven’t been in my tank long enough to grow big enough to be more than the size of a match head, but they are insanely prolific at breeding. They breed almost immediately at any size and the eggs are in little clusters on the glass and in the tank in other places. I would estimate that in my 15gal Cube alone (first picture) there are well over a thousand. Every spec on the glass of the first picture is a snail.

I have two 50gal lowboys connected with a sump and they have what I can only estimate to be 3000 to 5000 in them. They are literally all over everything. My overflows alone have a few hundred each. The second picture is about 60 I knocked out of one of my overflow grates. The last picture you can kind of see them on the glass there, hard to focus.

I guess I just want to know what they are, as they are everywhere. I thought about getting some sort of invert eating fish just because they would have a great time munching on them, but don’t want to accidentally kill the population just in case the fish ends up being a ravenous eater.

What do people think? I always do a ton of research and found a few posts with similar snails but I’m not quite sure if they are the same…

Thanks for anyone who wants to help!

 

[Lavey29]

Looks like banded trochus. They will probably self regulate their population eventually based on available food source.

 

[saltybeverage]

Looks like banded trochus. They will probably self regulate their population eventually based on available food source.

That’s what they look like to me, but I can’t believe they are breeding like they are. I also saw someone post that banded Trochus snails broadcast breed, but these make clusters on the glass.

And if these are so easy to breed why do you have to buy them for $4-$5 a pop? And my last question would be, does this mean I have like $20k worth of snails milling around in my tanks??

 

[Lavey29]

That’s what they look like to me, but I can’t believe they are breeding like they are. I also saw someone post that banded Trochus snails broadcast breed, but these make clusters on the glass.

And if these are so easy to breed why do you have to buy them for $4-$5 a pop? And my last question would be, does this mean I have like $20k worth of snails milling around in my tanks??

Not sure where or why you are paying $5 for a snail. Decent size trochus are like $2 each. I just got 5 to add to my tank but also have a lot of tiny ones roaming around. Most dont seem to survive though. Most of the time they lay their eggs on the glass so they end up getting scraped off or fish or shrimp eat them too. I guess you could try to sell clusters of those small ones for a few bucks here or there.

 

[saltybeverage]

Not sure where or why you are paying $5 for a snail. Decent size trochus are like $2 each. I just got 5 to add to my tank but also have a lot of tiny ones roaming around. Most dont seem to survive though. Most of the time they lay their eggs on the glass so they end up getting scraped off or fish or shrimp eat them too. I guess you could try to sell clusters of those small ones for a few bucks here or there.

Yeah my LFS sells them for $4 and if you want them from live aquaria they sell 5 for 30, and you are going to pay shipping as well. Reef cleaners has dwarf Trochus for $3.25 each. And normal ones for $4.50 plus shipping. Someone told me where they lived they were paying $5 for them. So that’s where I got those numbers.

I don’t really know if I would be looking to sell them. First I would just want to make absolutely sure that I wouldn’t be selling something that was not ID’d correctly. Then I would probably just sell them as a favor to people for really cheap.

 

[Lavey29]

Yeah my LFS sells them for $4 and if you want them from live aquaria they sell 5 for 30, and you are going to pay shipping as well. Reef cleaners has dwarf Trochus for $3.25 each. And normal ones for $4.50 plus shipping. Someone told me where they lived they were paying $5 for them. So that’s where I got those numbers.

I don’t really know if I would be looking to sell them. First I would just want to make absolutely sure that I wouldn’t be selling something that was not ID’d correctly. Then I would probably just sell them as a favor to people for really cheap.

You're shopping at the wrong places

(10) Pack Trochus Snails (Trochus spp.) Banded or White - Cleanup Crew

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

 

[saltybeverage]

You're shopping at the wrong places

(10) Pack Trochus Snails (Trochus spp.) Banded or White - Cleanup Crew

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

Sure but there is a 40$ shipping charge on that. So it’s actually $6.50 per snail. I get it though, but still $2.5 a snail is wild if I have over 5k snails in my tank, with more every day.

 

[Janet Belanger]

Looks like collonista snails to me. Mine are distinctively banded like that and breed readily.

 

[BristleWormHater]

I would vote collonista as well, they reproduce very fast, I dont think trochus are capable of overpopulating a tank like this.
Also they have a more rounded shell shape and "zebra stripes" instead of straight bands like trochus have.

 

[BriDroid]

Yeah my LFS sells them for $4 and if you want them from live aquaria they sell 5 for 30, and you are going to pay shipping as well. Reef cleaners has dwarf Trochus for $3.25 each. And normal ones for $4.50 plus shipping. Someone told me where they lived they were paying $5 for them. So that’s where I got those numbers.

I don’t really know if I would be looking to sell them. First I would just want to make absolutely sure that I wouldn’t be selling something that was not ID’d correctly. Then I would probably just sell them as a favor to people for really cheap.

At the LFS around here they’re between $4 and $6 each. I’ve finally got a few babies in my tank from the 4 I added a while back. I see them from time to time.

 

[Lavey29]

Sure but there is a 40$ shipping charge on that. So it’s actually $6.50 per snail. I get it though, but still $2.5 a snail is wild if I have over 5k snails in my tank, with more every day.

Everything you get online has a shipping fee unless you spend over a certain amount. I pay like $2 for a good size trochus at my LFS

 

[Lavey29]

I have been researching to try and figure out these snails.

Let me say, for the record, I do not mind these snails in my tank, they are model citizens. I haven’t had them do anything I don’t like. My LFS has them in a few of their tanks and hate them because they hang out on the glass and they think it looks bad, but I don’t mind them on my glass.

They look like baby Trochus snails to me, others have ID’d them as such. They don’t really look like collonista. They haven’t been in my tank long enough to grow big enough to be more than the size of a match head, but they are insanely prolific at breeding. They breed almost immediately at any size and the eggs are in little clusters on the glass and in the tank in other places. I would estimate that in my 15gal Cube alone (first picture) there are well over a thousand. Every spec on the glass of the first picture is a snail.

I have two 50gal lowboys connected with a sump and they have what I can only estimate to be 3000 to 5000 in them. They are literally all over everything. My overflows alone have a few hundred each. The second picture is about 60 I knocked out of one of my overflow grates. The last picture you can kind of see them on the glass there, hard to focus.

I guess I just want to know what they are, as they are everywhere. I thought about getting some sort of invert eating fish just because they would have a great time munching on them, but don’t want to accidentally kill the population just in case the fish ends up being a ravenous eater.

What do people think? I always do a ton of research and found a few posts with similar snails but I’m not quite sure if they are the same…

Thanks for anyone who wants to help!

Do you have any fish, shrimp or crabs in those tanks now? If not then that is why the population grows. No natural predators to the eggs.