Hitchhiker ID

reefkeeperdrew · Mar 25, 2026

Hi,

I just noticed this hitchhiker that has been living on my cerith snail's shell. Does anyone know what it is and what I should do?
Thanks.

Photo for reference:

rayadog · Mar 25, 2026

Hoof snail? Try looking up Hipponix or Sabia. Idk much about their exact range and I guess it depends where your snails came from, housed with. Idk. Should be harmless though. Not sure I’m jealous of the lifestyle, hoping another being moves close enough to food for me. Probably pretty safe of a life til your uber dies.

Edit: I had one on a snail and once the snail died it also died, was kind of sadder that way. I wonder if I could have moved the shell to a different spot every day, like a peasant and kept it alive. But then I got a turbo with another one on it!

ISpeakForTheSeas · Apr 1, 2026

Definitely a hoof snail - neat and harmless:

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
Hoof Snail (taxonomic family Hipponicidae) - both are harmless; slipper snails are filter feeders, and hoof snails feed by extending a long proboscis (think like an elephant's trunk) to eat either their host snail's waste or any food it can reach from its host's back.

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
So, I know at least some species of hoof snails can move (and some of them do so slightly even while on their host over time), so there's a good chance it'll move on its own to a new host. That said, if it doesn't, reading up a little on what they eat, it seems they may eat snail mucus, mantle tissue, and feces; microalgae on their host's shell; detritus; and coralline algae. So, I'd personally try offering them small sinking pellets (I'd recommend Otohime pellets and NLS pellets - the Otohime brand is higher is protein while the NLS pellets contain a good variety of algae), though you may need to isolate the snail for it to get them/not be outcompeted for the food by the other inhabitants of the tank.

There's no guarantee it'll take these feeds, but it seems to me like it would a good place to start trying at least.

*Sources:
https://academic.oup.com/mollus/article/79/1/1/1027456 https://inverts.wallawalla.edu/Moll...by extending,of detritus and coralline algae.