How to prevent snail loss

Fishko · Jun 13, 2020

Whenever i buy some snails, i usually end up with maybe 20 percent if what i started. The astrea snails top over and my cleaner shrimp eat them. So frustrating. I added a cuc from reef cleaners. Next morning half of the florida cerith snails have empty shells. I even saw a nassarius snail eating another snail. I was thinking is it better to keep the snails in a simple observation tank before adding? Honestly the cleaner shrimp is well fed, and still has the audacity to steal from all my corals

andrewey · Jun 13, 2020

Snail populations are pretty sensitive to the carrying capacity of the tank. This can include predation from other animals, most commonly hermit crabs seeking out snails for their shells, or via starvation due to lack of food. However, both of these issues present over time- if you are losing that many snails overnight, I would assume the problem is either with your acclimation or the condition of the snails upon their arrival.

RobertTheNurse · Jun 13, 2020

Fishko said:
Whenever i buy some snails, i usually end up with maybe 20 percent if what i started. The astrea snails top over and my cleaner shrimp eat them. So frustrating. I added a cuc from reef cleaners. Next morning half of the florida cerith snails have empty shells. I even saw a nassarius snail eating another snail. I was thinking is it better to keep the snails in a simple observation tank before adding? Honestly the cleaner shrimp is well fed, and still has the audacity to steal from all my corals

Lol...i think it just comes down to "survival of the fittest" i cant tell you how many time I have to help a fallen snail that has flipped over im assuming after falling off the rocks -- using my coral feeder. I was actually going to create a "Poll" on here "How many of you have come to your Snails Rescue" when you see them in trouble. Im sure its also that your hermits may be greedy as well. Nature of the Beast i guess.

Rob

AcroNem · Jun 13, 2020

I find that 1-when I have hermit crabs in my system new snails get demolished and others get preyed on. And 2-mortality rate depends who I order from. Some are a lot worse than others. If you have a lot being eaten or not turning over/ moving overnight they were likely just about dead when you got them.

andrewey · Jun 13, 2020

Rob,

In case you were wondering, not all snails can or can't right themselves- it depends on the species. The "survival of the fittest" isn't at play- only the fact that we've taken species that don't live near sandbeds where they need to right themselves and placed them there (as opposed to residing on rock rubble where there is always a surface to leverage against).

Fishko · Jun 13, 2020

It was the florida ceriths, which i saw they were alive in the shell, but take a few days to become active, i bought from john on reef cleaners. Everything came in alive, its just a little frustrating when you buy 10 astrea snails and only have 4 survive from your lfs

Fishko · Jun 13, 2020

Should i have added the snails to the rock, i placed them near the sandbed? All are active except the florida ceriths

New&no clue · Jun 13, 2020

I’ve always had a hard time with snails that are shipped.

PicassoClown04 · Jun 13, 2020

I’ve never had an issue with snails except for margarita snails. The most productive ones for me are the stomatella snails, which appear more like slugs. I have a 20 gallon tank that they are very successfully cleaning and reproducing in with no help from me. I often see them on the glass, glass bottom, and the rock work and they have no issue righting themselves as their shell is very tiny. They seem to be very resilient, as I had one get stuck on my overflow and I thought it was dead so I pulled it off but accidentally ripped the butt off.... whoops. Turns out, he was alive and went straight back to eating after his butt-ectomy. I have about 15 hermits and I’ve never seen any issues between these two species.

Fishko · Jun 13, 2020

footgal said:
I’ve never had an issue with snails except for margarita snails. The most productive ones for me are the stomatella snails, which appear more like slugs. I have a 20 gallon tank that they are very successfully cleaning and reproducing in with no help from me. I often see them on the glass, glass bottom, and the rock work and they have no issue righting themselves as their shell is very tiny. They seem to be very resilient, as I had one get stuck on my overflow and I thought it was dead so I pulled it off but accidentally ripped the butt off.... whoops. Turns out, he was alive and went straight back to eating after his butt-ectomy. I have about 15 hermits and I’ve never seen any issues between these two species.

I personally really like the astrea snails, but its a really big hit or miss with the, i have a few that never fall over and will destroy certain types of algae. Thanks!

TriggerFinger · Jun 13, 2020

I only have a few astrea snails bc they can’t right themselves. I like turbo, trochus and cerith snails, all right themselves if they fall. I’ve gotten all from reef cleaners and have had no issues. The dwarf ceriths did take about 4 or more days to “wake up”. I have maybe 5-7 empty shells out of the 40ish critters I ordered.

Fishko · Jun 13, 2020

TriggerFinger said:
I only have a few astrea snails bc they can’t right themselves. I like turbo, trochus and cerith snails, all right themselves if they fall. I’ve gotten all from reef cleaners and have had no issues. The dwarf ceriths did take about 4 or more days to “wake up”. I have maybe 5-7 empty shells out of the 40ish critters I ordered.

For me the drawf ceriths were the first to move, the florida ceriths are the slow ones for me