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Share Your Nerite Snail Experiences! 🐌


Lennie
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Hey guys,

I just wanted to create this topic to hear about experiences regarding Nerite Snails. I have been keeping  3 zebra nerites and 3 olive horned ones, and to me, their behavior changes actually! I could not come across anything like this topic online. So I wanted to hear from you all here 🙂 

My experiences regarding both are as follows:

  • Both are great at eating algae, as expected. 
  • Zebras lay WAY MORE eggs compared to olive horned ones.
  • Interesting enough, my zebras loves spending more time on woods and rocks, meanwhile horned ones enjoy being on glass and big leaf plants like anubias more. 
  • None of them ever touched any snellos, wafers, blanched veggies, cuttlebone or fishfood from my experience.
  • Only one zebra tried to "escape" but all he did was climbing the inside the HOB. So not really sure to what extend it can be called an escape. Otherwise, I've never experienced them attempting to escape, considering I never use lid.

Would love to hear about which ones you have experience with and whether you have observed any difference!

If you have any other snails, can you compare their algae eating capability with mysteries, ramshorns or any others based on your experience? People seem to have varying opinions on this one, while most people say nerite are better, Prime Time Aquatics actually uses mysteries in their tanks for algae clean up crew it seems. Meanwhile, MD, seems to go for ramshorns most of the times.

 

Would love to hear from you all!

 

A pic from internet:

image.jpeg.b7ffa4d33652651d0ae4f1798b67ff62.jpeg

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On 2/12/2023 at 9:35 PM, Monkeypoint said:

Funny, I was just about to post a Nerite question because although I think I know what's going on here, I don't want to assume anything.

Besides snex, it may also indicate either cleaning each others shells, which snails usually do, or they may also nib each others shells for calcium.

Can you see how the one on top has a perfect shell while the bottom one has erosion marks? The top one might be nibbing on the shell of the bottom one for calcium.

You may want to ensure you provide enough calcium for them!

 

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On 2/12/2023 at 1:45 PM, Lennie said:

Besides snex, it may also indicate either cleaning each others shells, which snails usually do, or they may also nib each others shells for calcium.

Can you see how the one on top has a perfect shell while the bottom one has erosion marks? The top one might be nibbing on the shell of the bottom one for calcium.

You may want to ensure you provide enough calcium for them!

 

I add Wonder Shell regularly (when one's dissolved completely, I add another). I also add Calcium Carbonate powder to the snello, which they're not all that interested in, although every other tank inhabitant it. The one snail came with that erosion mark. I've been keeping a close eye on it. It's not getting better or worse - just staying the same. Any suggestions for increasing calcium other than using the Wonder Shell?

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On 2/12/2023 at 9:55 PM, Monkeypoint said:

I've been keeping a close eye on it. It's not getting better or worse

True, they can come with shell erosions pretty commonly! As long as you don't test for it, I think this is the best idea to keep an eye on their shell structure and new growth, if they look healthy and no further developments on the old erosions, I think what you have must be enough. If you add wonder shell, that must help I believe. I personally dose Equilibrium due to having my tap water being super soft, so it helps to both shrimps and snails besides plants, and I have never observed any erosions on any of my nerites, MTS, mysteries and rabbits. I also keep a small piece of cuttlebone, but it never dissolves due to my 8.0-8.2 ph and 20 kh. It stays there in case anyone wants to nib.

We don't have wonder shells here so I haven't tried them before! But it must be helpful to maintain hardness and mineral/calcium levels for snails from what it seems.

I personally would not worry much in your case. I pointed it out just in case the top one caused any damage! Mine also go on top of each other from time to time but I also don't see any erosions so I don't worry. But I've even seen zebras leaving eggs on horned ones lol. 

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I love my olive nerites, or "army helmets" as I call them. Same experience as you - they like the glass, and I find them on my dragon stone from time to time. Sometimes I have no idea where they are for days, then they show up on the glass. I find with my water I need to add calcium for their shells - a bit of cuttlebone in the tank does the trick. 

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On 2/12/2023 at 2:11 PM, MattyM said:

I love my olive nerites, or "army helmets" as I call them. Same experience as you - they like the glass, and I find them on my dragon stone from time to time. Sometimes I have no idea where they are for days, then they show up on the glass. I find with my water I need to add calcium for their shells - a bit of cuttlebone in the tank does the trick. 

Same here! I have olives in my other tank. Days go by without a sighting. They do seem to come out when the lights dim, and then they're always on the glass. I haven't had them for very long - a few weeks and their shells are not in great shape. I've been taking pictures so I can keep track. Sounds like I should add cuttlebone.

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On 2/12/2023 at 10:11 PM, MattyM said:

a bit of cuttlebone in the tank does the trick. 

I'm not sure to what extend it would make any difference if your ph is above high 7s! I've never seen mind dissolving. I guess they dissolve in acidic waters or low 7s maybe. They always sit like day 1 in my 8.0 ph water :') But just in case if they wanna nib, which I've never seen personally, sure! Ofcourse I can't know what they do when I'm not around, but the only snails I've seen to nib on cuttlebone is MTS, and rarely, even then. I bet they also do that for any algae growing on them just like any other surface tho

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On 2/12/2023 at 1:44 PM, Lennie said:

I'm not sure to what extend it would make any difference if your ph is above high 7s

My PH is 7.5-8.2 - but my snails were all dying early before I added the cuttlebone, now I have super healthy snails, like my ramshorns can get as big as my nerites w/o any visible shell deterioration.

Testing showed that my water might be hard but was lacking calcium. My plants do better as well. The cuttlebone is meant to slowing dissolve in water over weeks/months - depending on acidity, as you say. I feed Crab Cuisine to get calcium into their diet. This has also helped my Amanos. 

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I have all sorts of nerite snails. Zebras, red racers, king koopas, sun thorns, olive horned, black, three-color horned. 

The smaller ones (sun thorn, three-color horned) seem to be the most active. They are always moving and munching on algae. Red racers and maybe zebras seem the most active of the larger ones. Black and king Koopa seem to be inactive most of the time. I don't have an opinion on the olive horned one yet. 

I haven't seen nerite snails go after algae wafers or other fish food, they mostly seem to graze on glass and maybe plants. I think the more active species are the 2nd best algae cleaners after mystery snails. Mystery snails are bigger, hardier and more active, so they eat more. I think nerite snails are better than rabbit snails and devil spike snails and about the same as pagoda snails and Japanese trapdoor snails in my experience. 

I'm 0% confident in my analysis. 

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I have two nerite snails at the moment, a tiger and a zebra named Kiki and Jiji respectively. I've had Kiki the longest, probably around a year and half now and I admit she's my favorite, I'm very fond of her! She's definitely the most active of the two, she really zips around and always seems to be on the move, and she's active on every possible surface. I haven't noticed if Jiji prefers one surface over any other, but she is much less active and tends to disappear for a couple days before reappearing again. I had two other zebras in the past who sadly died - their behavior was similar in how they would disappear and then reappear - and one other tiger that escaped the tank and thus also died. I know Kiki is female because I've seen her lay eggs before, I don't actually know if Jiji is or not 🤷‍♀️

I've tried feeding them algae wafers in the past but they completely ignored it, but my tank produces more than enough algae for them. I also have a rabbit snail in a different tank and when comparing algae-eating capabilities Bunny is very bad at it because he's just not the most agile with his big ol' shell. He very happily eats algae wafers and cucumber though, unlike the nerites!IMG_8364.jpeg.d59f897f37cf3fbfcd17e4076563d1c9.jpegIMG_8428.jpeg.ba1b286714922d025d07efb1f97c3ed3.jpeg

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  • 1 month later...

Well, my lfs got so many new nerites in stock.

They got the following snails. I'm planning to get horned ones, as they were my fav but o-rings and onion look pretty cool too. I already have zebras. Any experience with all these, or black helmets? They are all super cool. I can't decide which ones to get!

O-ring nerites

Ring Nerite Snail Salyangoz 3 Adet Straforlu Gönderim

This horned ones:

Sarı Siyah Boynuzlu Nerite Salyangoz 3 Adet Straforlu Gönderim

Military helmet:

Black Military Helmet Nerite Snail Salyangoz 3 Adet Straforlu Gönderim

Spotted tiger:

Spotted Nerite Salyangoz 5 Adet Straforlu Gönderim

Zebras:

Zebra Nerite Salyangoz 5 Adet Straforlu Gönderim

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On 3/21/2023 at 3:27 PM, Lennie said:

Well, my lfs got so many new nerites in stock.

They got the following snails. I'm planning to get horned ones, as they were my fav but o-rings and onion look pretty cool too. I already have zebras. Any experience with all these, or black helmets? They are all super cool. I can't decide which ones to get!

O-ring nerites

Ring Nerite Snail Salyangoz 3 Adet Straforlu Gönderim

This horned ones:

Sarı Siyah Boynuzlu Nerite Salyangoz 3 Adet Straforlu Gönderim

Military helmet:

Black Military Helmet Nerite Snail Salyangoz 3 Adet Straforlu Gönderim

Spotted tiger:

Spotted Nerite Salyangoz 5 Adet Straforlu Gönderim

Zebras:

Zebra Nerite Salyangoz 5 Adet Straforlu Gönderim

fun!

 

my LFS had 2kinds in stock when i went there.

My nerite snail is a great algae eater, but is nocturnal, so i dont see it a lot.

i recommend getting 2-3 so that you will see them more often, they do fine alone, but are less shy with friends.

 

Edited by Theplatymaster
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On 3/21/2023 at 2:27 PM, Lennie said:

Military helmet:

I have three of this type and I almost never see them. They spend a ton of time in the substrate and I think they may be mostly nocturnal as well.

 

On 3/21/2023 at 2:27 PM, Lennie said:

Spotted tiger:

I have on that I think may be this type and it is almost always on one algae covered piece of decor. I've only seen it in a different part of the tank once.

 

I also have 2 brown horned ones and they make it all over the tank all day long.

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On 3/21/2023 at 10:56 PM, Katherine said:

I also have 2 brown horned ones and they make it all over the tank all day long.

I had 3 of those before and they were great!

I currenly have zebras only.

On 3/21/2023 at 10:56 PM, Katherine said:

I have three of this type and I almost never see them. They spend a ton of time in the substrate and I think they may be mostly nocturnal as well.

Good info. Thanks for sharing.

 

On 3/21/2023 at 10:56 PM, Katherine said:

I have on that I think may be this type and it is almost always on one algae covered piece of decor. I've only seen it in a different part of the tank once.

So it does not really eat algae anywhere else? 😄

 

Btw, have u seen any difference between laying eggs? My horned ones were laying much less compared to zebras

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On 3/21/2023 at 11:18 PM, jwcarlson said:

I have two egg laying machines... opps, I mean zebra nerite snails.  They seem pretty active, I don't know that they eat much algae, but I don't know that they DON'T eat much either.  

I wish they could reproduce in freshwater.

We have nerites that are endemic to Turkey which can reproduce in freshwater! They are called "Theodoxus anatolicus". But they also don't accept food like other nerites, so giving them enough to graze on can be tough. Also seems like they live in nature around the 15C temps, which is far from my tank temps. My tanks are 25 and 27-28Cs. So I don't keep them.

There is something going one with this zebra egglaying issue maybe? 😄

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On 3/21/2023 at 11:44 PM, The endler guy said:

go one, didn't acclimate it well enough and 😬

which one was it? 

I feel like horned ones are more fragile compared to others. But that is a very limited experience of mine between zebras and horned ones. Zebras seem to be much hardier

Edited by Lennie
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When I first got mine, I would see them all over the place.  One hour they'd be on the rocks, next they're on the glass, then they're on the driftwood.  Nowadays, I occasionally see them, and they're usually on the driftwood.  I have to actively look for them and make sure they're OK.  I have a few white dots sprinkled on the driftwood now, but that's about it.

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On 3/21/2023 at 3:13 PM, Lennie said:

So it does not really eat algae anywhere else? 😄

Not that I can tell. Lol. This is the area with the most algae for sure. 

On 3/21/2023 at 3:13 PM, Lennie said:

Btw, have u seen any difference between laying eggs? My horned ones were laying much less compared to zebras

I have somehow ended up with no eggs. Maybe I lucked into all males? Seems unlikely since I've had 8 nerites, including 6 currently. 

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On 3/22/2023 at 2:17 AM, Katherine said:

I have somehow ended up with no eggs. Maybe I lucked into all males? Seems unlikely since I've had 8 nerites, including 6 currently. 

And there you used the luck of your life! 😁

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