Removing nerite eggs from driftwood?

[nic]

I got a new nerite that is quite the egg producing machine. I think all she does is lay eggs and not even sure she is cleaning anything.

Any tips on how to remove eggs especially from driftwood? If they're on a smooth surface I can scrape them off with tweezers though they still leave a 'residue'. But because the driftwood has grooves it's more difficult.

[JimOp]

Nerite snails need a partner to breed, and I believe they need brackish or salt water to breed in. So unless you meet those two things you should be fine leaving them.

It they where sold as Nerites but actually aren't you could end up with a snail issue.
 
 However fish love escargot. I have unwanted Ramshorn snails in my tank and a school of zebra danios that do nothing but eat, crap, eat, breed, eat, did I mention eat? I smash like 11 or 12 snails a day every day against the glass and the danios gobble them up. so I call them food. those the daimios don't get either the cories or the shrimp will. 

Edited July 3, 2023 by JimOp

[nic]

I just have a betta so nothing that will clean up the eggs. My previous nerite didn't lay eggs for the longest time so I thought it was a male. When she did start laying it was only on occasion. Easy enough to clean up. This new one is decorating my tank with bright white dots everywhere. I just don't like seeing them 🙂

[JimOp]

Yeah your only real options are to swap it for a male, remove the drift wood or get something that may or may not eat them. Zebra Danios will sometimes eat the eggs but that still leaves the residue for a while anyway.  Zebra's would likely be fine with a Betta but I am assuming your in a small Betta tank and the zebra danios are a fast moving schooling fish that need a bit of room. Not ideal for a small tank.  Anything else that would eat them would not be good in a beta tank either.

[Guppysnail]

If the driftwood can be lifted from the tank a dremel will remove them, nail file, sanding block. If the wood is well seasoned in a tank I can pick some off with my finger nail. 
I have a few over eager girls. I just leave the eggs they dissolve in a few months. I’ve come to look at the eggs as a way to know my nerites are very happy. 🤷‍♀️

[John Henry]

I believe I read somewhere that zebra nerites are the most notorious egg layers.  Presently, I have 2 olive nerites and egg sightings are now a rarity.

[Guppysnail]

On 7/4/2023 at 6:23 PM, John Henry said:

I believe I read somewhere that zebra nerites are the most notorious egg layers.  Presently, I have 2 olive nerites and egg sightings are now a rarity.

I rarely see most of my zebra tanks with to many eggs a few but not crazy. I say most because I have 1 girl who seems to just lay all day every day. My olives are insane. I have 1 olive in with roughly 20 piano snails and only the smallest babies escape getting bedazzled along with walls decor and heater. 
I have roughly 40 nerites or so. It just seems to depend on each girl’s personality as to how generous they are with eggs. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/3/2023 at 9:58 AM, nic said:

Any tips on how to remove eggs especially from driftwood? If they're on a smooth surface I can scrape them off with tweezers though they still leave a 'residue'. But because the driftwood has grooves it's more difficult.

They have metal (stainless steel usually) brushes you can use if they don't come off easily. I ended up using a small knife or my fingernail.  Something like a spackle knife would work too (metal kind).

[nic]

My 1st 2 snails were olives. 1 didn't last long but the other did well until recently. She was an algae eating champ too. Now I have 2 zebras. The one is constantly laying eggs and the other I found outside the tank yesterday. I haven't seen that one lay eggs, yet. Not sure if it's a male or female. Looks like I will be getting a screen. I cover the tank at night but have always left it open during the day and have just been lucky I guess.

On 7/5/2023 at 1:12 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

They have metal (stainless steel usually) brushes you can use if they don't come off easily. I ended up using a small knife or my fingernail.  Something like a spackle knife would work too (metal kind).

I will have to see what tools I can find. Thinking maybe something like dental tools. I can't remove the driftwood and didn't leave myself much room near the sides.

Edited July 5, 2023 by nic

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/5/2023 at 5:28 AM, nic said:

I will have to see what tools I can find. Thinking maybe something like dental tools. I can't remove the driftwood and didn't leave myself much room near the sides.

Try to find a spudger. It's a thing they use for electronics as a pick.

[John Henry]

 

On 7/4/2023 at 6:07 PM, Guppysnail said:

It just seems to depend on each girl’s personality as to how generous they are with eggs. 

The zebra I mentioned, who was the prolific egg layer, was banished to a 2 liter jar for 6 months.  She is now back in the tank for the last 4 weeks and thus far no eggs!  Makes me wonder if being a prolific egg layer is just a phase of their life cycle.

[Guppysnail]

On 7/5/2023 at 12:38 PM, John Henry said:

 

The zebra I mentioned, who was the prolific egg layer, was banished to a 2 liter jar for 6 months.  She is now back in the tank for the last 4 weeks and thus far no eggs!  Makes me wonder if being a prolific egg layer is just a phase of their life cycle.

That is very interesting. I sure hope so. My worst nerite is going on a year straight. I put her in a tank that had no nerites about 6 months ago. She is still going strong. She has even bedazzled 5 assasin snails. 

[JChristophersAdventures]

In regards to your issue with Nerite snail eggs... are there fish or other aquarium critters that will eat the snail eggs? Would assassin snails eat them? Thanks.

[Lennie]

On 7/5/2023 at 8:40 PM, JChristophersAdventures said:

In regards to your issue with Nerite snail eggs... are there fish or other aquarium critters that will eat the snail eggs? Would assassin snails eat them? Thanks.

Nope. they are super hardy. Nothing will eat them.

[JChristophersAdventures]

Thanks, Lennie. That's too bad. I will still be putting some in my community tank... guess I'll just keep a glass scraper handy... lol.

[Lennie]

On 7/5/2023 at 11:11 PM, JChristophersAdventures said:

Thanks, Lennie. That's too bad. I will still be putting some in my community tank... guess I'll just keep a glass scraper handy... lol.

If you don't have specifically green spot algae problem, you can keep other surface algae eaters instead. It takes me under a minute to clean the glasses myself.

I personally only keep nerites I have on hand, and when I they pass away due to old age, I don't plan to get any more. Potential egg laying doesn't make it worth for me. Also, I'm not a fan of their algae eating performance

Last time, when I took a tank down, I legit boild and scraped the wood to get rid of the eggs. And cleaning the eggs on the heater was also not fun. Scraped eggs everywhere on my hands. Not fun...

 

 

[JChristophersAdventures]

Again, thanks for the information. It does sound like a lot of trouble.

JChristopher'sAdventures