Easiest snails or invert to breed for beginners.

[Kapachuka3]

I have a 32.5 gallon tank which is my main display tank. However i have a 13 gallon tank next to it which just recently went through an ich problem. Its been around 70 days now and i was wondering what snails or inverts i could try and breed in the 13 gallon. I think it would be cool to basically breed and then add the inverts to my display whenever i need to do so. Any ideas? Turbos, margaritas, or shrimp or something?

 

[W1thr0w]

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[Kapachuka3]

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Im definitely going to do it haha but it might take a while i am in the process of moving so ill have to take apart my tanks and livestock and then ill do it. This is just to make a decision on what to breed.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Aside from things like micro brittle stars, Stomatella and Collonista snails, Asterina (Aquilonastra) stars, Aiptasia and Majano anemones, etc. the easiest to breed in that size of tank would probably be shrimp or some crab species (snails typically require more difficult to cultivate phyto species).

That said, you’d likely need to separate the larvae from the adults to prevent the adults eating the larvae (the second link in the quote below gives an idea for this).

Well hopefully someone with more experience will chime in, but - aside from various pods, BBS, etc. - there are a few relatively easy to breed shrimp species (Palaemonetes pugio, Palaemonetes vulgaris, Palaemon elegans, and even a few peppermint shrimp species - Lysmata spp. - to name a few) and - if you can get them spawning - red-ridged clinging crabs/ruby red crabs, Mithraculus forceps are easy too (green emerald crabs, Mithraculus sculptus, are just as easy to breed/rear, but they have much lower larval survival rates). Arrow crabs, Stenorhynchus seticornis, are similarly easy as well, but I don’t remember their survival rates at the moment.

As far as snails go, they range from a bit to a lot more intensive to raise, but stomatella snails, as I understand it, reproduce readily enough in our tanks (most people get them as hitchhikers, but there is a place that sells them - I can’t vouch for them being reputable as I haven’t purchased anything from them and don’t know anyone who has, but they say they offer them*). If you’re willing to spend a bit more, you could try raising Nassarius reticulatus using SHG’s “Snow Reef” suspension feed or Cerith spp. using Oocystis spp. phyto. If you’re up for a bit more effort you could try Florida Fighting Conch, Strombus alatus, too.

Fair warning, however, to my knowledge, all of these species (except the stomatella snails) produce pelagic/planktonic larvae, so you need to make sure your setup is pelagic larvae safe, or these guys will all die off.

* The stomatella shop:
https://shop.terrareef.com/products/stomatella-snails-3-pack?_pos=1&_sid=70a8ebc41&_ss=rSome relevant links:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/b...ns-mediterrane-rock-pool-shrimp-guide.937215/https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/culturing-marine-grass-ghost-shrimp.915793/https://www.reef2reef.com/posts/10632521/https://www.reef2reef.com/posts/10309651/https://www.reef2reef.com/posts/10604072/https://www.reef2reef.com/posts/10655175/https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/38... Catillo Villa Fighting Conch WA Mag 2019.pdfhttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2109.2004.01143.x