Limpets. Hidden secret!!!!????

[Bitcoin Reefer]

I had randomly ordered like 30 different types of clean up crew: snails, limpets, conches etc hoping some would help with dirty sand. Think I order 150 total specimens lol.

I ordered just 2 limpets, I didn’t know much about them and never hear about them.

2 months later I have a ton in my tank, eating algae off both glass and rocks. They’re breeding pretty quickly and some are already like 1/2 inch. They seem to have same anatomy and diet as snails, simply with flatter shell. They seem to breed faster than any of my species of snail, which seems like great investment since I’m tired of buying snails and my snails don’t seem to breed fast enough for me to stop buying over time.

I bought them on https://www.reefcleaners.org/aquarium-store/tank-cleaners

I paid $1.20 each for 2 and now I have them breeding good amount in my tank!


Anyone else have experience with these? Pros ? And cons?

 

[Lavey29]

The more biodiversity and microfauna in the tank the better in my opinion. Limpets are just another tool in the arsenal to help the tank.

 

[ReefingDreams]

They have been prolific for me and very welcome. I enjoy them. Especially because they are snail eating wrasse resistant, in my experience.

 

[Bitcoin Reefer]

They have been prolific for me and very welcome. I enjoy them. Especially because they are snail eating wrasse resistant, in my experience.

Good to know thanks!

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

One of my favorite hitchhickers. They also keep coralline algae in check.

 

[Bitcoin Reefer]

One of my favorite hitchhickers. They also keep coralline algae in check.

Wait what? Limpets eat coralline algae? I have a 360g, and have struggled to get strong coralline growth for a while. 2.5 years into tank, very biodiverse, coral growing well (some issues though over the first couple years. I kind of blame my 2 sea urchins, but wonder if these are effecting it? I have hundreds of these Limpets now. I love them!

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Wait what? Limpets eat coralline algae? I have a 360g, and have struggled to get strong coralline growth for a while. 2.5 years into tank, very biodiverse, coral growing well (some issues though over the first couple years. I kind of blame my 2 sea urchins, but wonder if these are effecting it? I have hundreds of these Limpets now. I love them!

Limpers and urchins both will wreck shop on coralline

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Try ordering a few more (for genetic diversity)

 

[jda]

Not all limpet species can eat coralline.

As long as you keep the water quality good, they can continue to breed. If you let the waste product levels get too high, this can mess with them. They usually climb to the top of a rock and you can see them release cloudy liquid.

They can be hard to remove and give away, so don't pry them off of the glass or rocks or anything. They are super strong.

 

[juarec0201]

They keep clogging my Clarisea every other month and it’s starting to annoy me.