Faunus Ater

[Cinnebuns]

Anyone have experience with faunus ater (devils spike or cappuccino) snails?  I wanna pick your brain a little. I'm considering them for helping stir the substrate in my 29 heavily planted tank. Biggest questions are how big do they get and will I have to worry about them uprooting plants?  Also, how many would you recommend for a 29?

@Guppysnail @Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Guppysnail]

Sorry I have never kept those. I always thought the cappuccino were nice looking though. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Me neither @Cinnebuns

[PerceptivePesce]

@Cinnebuns

I have a sad truth to share.  First, everyone needs to know I'm an aquarium newbie.  My 90g tank is around 3 months old.  I use remineralized rodi water, and my parameters are within the seller's recommended parameters for Faunus Ater.  I have a couple of nerites that have been in my tank for over a month now.  I also ordered 10 (got 12) neocaridina shrimp with the FA snails.  I've lost 4 shrimp, that I know of, but the ones that made it seem to be doing well.

I received 4 black devil spikes in the mail on Jan 12th.  They were all alive when I put them in my tank, and they immediately raced to the top (in hindsight I assume they were trying to get out).  The next morning, they were all laying on top of my substrate where they stayed until I removed them yesterday on the 22nd.  They were all dead and smelled horrible, like feces.

I'm really sorry this happened, but I wanted to share my experience to add to the body of knowledge about these snails.

Lord, have mercy on me!

Edited January 23, 2023 by PerceptivePesce

[bryanisag]

Wow those snails were not too happy. What parameters is your water? Do you have a test kit? Are the other inhabitants looking normal? 

[jwcarlson]

On 12/2/2022 at 8:27 PM, Cinnebuns said:

Anyone have experience with faunus ater (devils spike or cappuccino) snails?  I wanna pick your brain a little. I'm considering them for helping stir the substrate in my 29 heavily planted tank. Biggest questions are how big do they get and will I have to worry about them uprooting plants?  Also, how many would you recommend for a 29?

@Guppysnail @Chick-In-Of-TheSea

I've got some of them.  Bought them thinking they were rabbit snails, but in hindsight... they don't look anything like them to a more educated eye. 🙂

In any event, they do burrow a bit.  Have had them in Fluval Stratum which they do dig around in.  In an aquarium with gravel, they didn't seem to dig much.  But overall, they don't dig nearly as much as MTS.  I haven't seen them uproot any plants, but occasionally a really small one like a small piece of guppy grass is floating.  But even a shrimp might be able to dislodge something like that occasionally.

[PerceptivePesce]

On 1/23/2023 at 12:38 PM, bryanisag said:

Wow those snails were not too happy. What parameters is your water? Do you have a test kit? Are the other inhabitants looking normal? 

Temp 77F

7dGH & 5dKH

pH swings from 7.5-8.2, lower when the lights are off & higher when they are on.

I've got digital pH & TDS meters.  API tube tests for GH & KH, and high pH.  Fluval tube tests for Ca & phosphates.  ACO strip tests.

Other than nerites and shrimp, I have guppies.  The guppies seem fine, I've had them for over 2 months and they make babies all the time.  However, I did cull a larger fry this morning that had a sway back and bloated chest.  I assume it's dropsy and I've never seen that in my guppy population until this morning.

[beastie]

I have many snails and have had faunus ater since October. The tank I have them in have no rooted plants, so cant comment on that one. I got the snail from someone who had them on gravel and it has massively eroded shell. In the 3 months I have had the snail, I have seen it 3 times give or take, more now since I added other snails in the tank. It has been burrowed in the substrate, sand, which is only like 2-3cm deep and it surprises me that I never see even a hint of the snail. The snail is smallish, 3-4cm tops. 

Given it ate all it could in the substrate I can catch it occasionally joining other snails on vegetables, but very rarely. They have small bodies (compared to brotia herculea or tylomelania), they are less active and you will never see it. However it works well in the substrate. Mine even has healthy shell growth since it joined my tank, so it must be doing well, despite me not knowing it is alive.

Best for substrate management are mts, but many consider them pests. I dont, despite having them in multiple tanks, they never overbreed, I mean they multiply but it is not like they are thousands of them and the sand is boiling with them. This just doesnt happen. 

 

I absolutely do not recommend tylomelania or the brotia herculea, they ate most of my rooted plants, except vallisneria. They find a lot of the plants tasty.

[Lennie]

I agree with @beastie on MTS being the number one substrate turner. 

I have MTS and rabbits, which are similar to faunus aters, and they are not comparable really when it comes to substrate turning behavior. Rabbits dont get buried fully, and they do that from time to time and whenever they want to just sleep. Also, mine have not been burying in sand substrate, and seemed to bury only on clay based substrate.

I'm trying to grow dwarf lily again from zero. I've seen nerites making it move around so many times and not letting it root well for the last week while trying to clean it. If you go for planting new cuts and your snail is around there, and if your substrate is a loose one, it maybe can uproot. Otherwise, I don't think so. Bigger bottom dwellers could cause more trouble with uprooting I believe. My pleco and sterbai cories cause more trouble for the new plants until they establish a good root system.

I am currently keeping 3 rabbits in my 29g heavily planted tank. Mine does not eat plants at all. I put small java ferns on the ground to tease them, which is the only plant that is well knows to be eaten, but still, nope. 

What I would advice is, only get them if you can find tank-bred, and if you like their look as a pet. I got two different versions of rabbits, some got shipped to me and got others from my lfs. Lfs ones are very likely tank bred cause almost perfect shells, 0 skittishness, very active. Other two, had no info on them whether they are tank-bred, skittish as hell, shell is not rly that good, and only one made it. And that one still is doing much worse than others.

Long story short, dont expect much for substrate turning, and get them if you like their look. I feel like even corydoras would do a better job at that than the snails except MTS. Also make sure to keep an eye on them from time to time, they can be kinda clumsy and easily get stuck somewhere:).

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by Lennie