Tell me about Nerite and Mystery snails....

[laritheloud]

So the snails I have in my four tanks so far are:

Mystery Snails
Nerite Snails and Thorny Nerite Snails
Golden Rabbit Snails
Japanese Trapdoor Snails
Colombian Giant Ramshorn Snail
Bladder Snails
Ramshorn Snails
Malaysian Trumpet Snails

My favorite snail by far is the Colombian Giant Ramshorn, followed by my rabbit snails and mysteries (but I do love them all). I'm going to say this with a caveat: It is not always legal to purchase the Giant Ramshorn online, and you must source them locally if you find them at all. I also can't recommend you get more than one, as they're voracious eaters, will nibble on plants (though he doesn't nibble enough to make a dent in mine), and slurp bladder snails out of their shells. They are extremely cool, though, and just as graceful as Mystery Snails.

Rabbit Snails are pricier and a bit clumsier. as they move around the tank they might jostle some plants that aren't well-rooted. They like to nibble on my salvinia, and they do a great job trimming/eating dying leaves off of my plants. As a bonus, they have some of the cutest snail faces ever.

Mystery Snails are just as fun to watch as giant ramshorns, but in my tanks I haven't gotten one that's lived very long yet. The original 3 I bought lived for only 3 months. I have two more (ivory and black) that I'm hoping will last longer, because they're adorable and fun little critters.

Nerites are invaluable as algae clean-up, so if you want something to eat algae, they're great.

I hope you love your snail keeping! I think they add so much to the character of any community tank.

[Torrey]

On 10/4/2021 at 10:58 AM, Guppysnail said:

I’m envious my snails ate all my frogbit repeatedly 

Frogbit might need more calcium. 

I noticed that my frogbit is getting transparent leaves (looks like a honeycomb effect) and the only deficiency I found was calcium. 

I am reducing the ratio of non-tap water in the tank, see if that fixes it.