snails/hermits how many

[emilsanto]

how many snails or hermit crabs do i need for my 125. also which
kind of snails and hermits are the best to get also are sand sifting stars any good
thanks

 

[sytnom]

I have heard a few different "rules", but I go with 100% snails and 50% hermits (So about 125 snails to 63 hermits). I like the blue leg reef hermits myself, and I found a great seller on ebay that will sell you 150 snails for about $20 including shipping. Never tried a sand sifting star. HTH

 

[Blazer88]

I use Astrea snails and small blue-leg hermits. The blue-legs seem to stay on the smaller size and don't kill my Astreas for their shells. Which ebayer sells the snails for that cheap?

 

[steve-s]

What kind of a tank will you be developing? FO, FOWLR or reef?

NO hermits $^@*&%*@%& !!! :evil:

Snails....
Nassarius>> Detritus/Carion primarily in/on the sand bed.
Cerith>> Film/slime Algae primarily the sandbed and glass
Strombus>> All forms of non macro algae, sandbed only
Nerite>> Film algae, glass and rock
Margarita>> Film algae and sometimes macro algae, glass and rock
Turban>> Film and macro algae, glass and rock.

Quantity will depend on need. Do not simpley aquire a mass of snails unless they have a specific purpose. Especially in newer tanks, there simpley is not enough renewable food resources. Take your time and add what you need a few at a time. It's easier to add more snails later than decorating your tank with soon to be empty shells.

Cheers
Steve

 

[emilsanto]

i am going to add a few corals after the tanks is going for a few months or more mostly the easy to care for corals becuse i only have 525 wats of power compacts. if you could tell me whats the best type of snails /crabs to have and the amount i should stat out with i would apprecate it
thanks

 

[emilsanto]

whay no hermits
thanks

 

[steve-s]

whay no hermits
thanks

They have claws and are opportunistic omnivors. They can and will eat anything they can get their mitts on. The "reef" safe species commonly sold in the hobby are what I would call lazy feeders. It's not that they won't eat what in your tank, simpley there's something much easier to get ahold of for the time being. Should the food supply change to their disadvantage, your entire invertebrate (and fish if small enough) population is on the menu. Not to mention the snails you will be purchasing, you don't honestly think the snails grow out of those shells?

i am going to add a few corals after the tanks is going for a few months or more mostly the easy to care for corals becuse i only have 525 wats of power compacts. if you could tell me whats the best type of snails /crabs to have and the amount i should stat out with i would apprecate it
thanks

Crabs = 0

Snails, as I said above it will depend on why. Look at each one I posted above and what they will consume on a normal basis and where they are more commonly found to inhabit in the tank. Then decide which areas of your tank need their attention that cannot be addressed more easily with increased water flow/changes. Start off with no more than 5 of each at most and only if you feel the food supply is there in the first place. With the nassarius in particular, make sure you do not get too many of those unless you have a good fish/waste population. They are not algae grazers.

Snails to avoid...

Olive, Conus, Bumblebee, most cowries, Ilyanassa obsoleta (black dog whelk). Murex and snails masquerading as Strombus 'cause the LFS didn't know what else to call them.

Cheers
Steve

 

[sytnom]

Snails to avoid...

Olive, Conus, Bumblebee, most cowries, Ilyanassa obsoleta (black dog whelk). Murex and snails masquerading as Strombus 'cause the LFS didn't know what else to call them.

Why the Ilyanassa obsoleta? Is there a problem with them?

 

[steve-s]

Is there a problem with them?

They're Whelks, that in and of itself is problem enough. Whelks are predatory snails which these are absolutely no different. This species is definately buyer beware and know what your buying before you buy it animal.

If that isn't enough to put you off, this might be.... :shock:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...t_uids=8885896&query_hl=6&itool=pubmed_DocSum
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...t_uids=9379280&query_hl=6&itool=pubmed_DocSum
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/..._uids=12435125&query_hl=6&itool=pubmed_docsum

Cheers
Steve

 

[sytnom]

So, what is the problem with the other snails you listed? Just curious...

 

[LakeEd]

Steve,

Since you are talkin snails... I seem to be missing from your list of "Do's & Don'ts" the Astrea snail? Aren't these good algae/film grazers as well? I believe I purposfully went out and purchased a few (okay... like a dozen) of these back a couple years ago... and can't for the life of me now remember why.

 

[Ed Hahn]

I like to use the one snail per gallon method. I have used a lot of Golden Astreas. That is what has worked for me. Beware of them bull dozing your frags or corals.
I do not like to use Crabs. Most crabs will kill snails and use the snail shell. Thats my Two cents.

 

[steve-s]

Steve,

Since you are talkin snails... I seem to be missing from your list of "Do's & Don'ts" the Astrea snail? Aren't these good algae/film grazers as well? I believe I purposfully went out and purchased a few (okay... like a dozen) of these back a couple years ago... and can't for the life of me now remember why.

Excellent grazers but lousy reef snails. Astraea tecta are the worst when it comes to being self sufficient. They are miserable at righting themselves and often perish if not helped. As long as they stay on the glass they're fine but in the rock work they often die. If you want something similar that is much better at righting itself, go with a banded Trochus radiatus. In a phrase, they rock.

Cheers
Steve

 

[steve-s]

So, what is the problem with the other snails you listed? Just curious...

Olive snail.... feeds on worms, bivalves and crustaceans

Conus snail... feeds on worms, mollusks in general and fish.

Bumblebee snails.... carionivor, will become predaceous of other snails with insufficent food available.

cowries... will eat soft corals and anemone/anemone like animals

Ilyanassa obsoleta (black dog whelk).... predaceous to other mollusks, eats about anything it can catch within the sandbed.

Murex snails.. predaceous to mollusks in general.

Cheers
Steve

 

[sytnom]

Ilyanassa obsoleta (black dog whelk).... predaceous to other mollusks, eats about anything it can catch within the sandbed.

So, are you saying that this guy will destroy my sandbed? That's great (not).

 

[steve-s]

Depends on how long they live/prolific they become in your system but they offer nothing truely possitive or beneficial to your system. They detract from it, how quickly will depend on how many you have.

Cheers
Steve

 

[jrzymuscle21]

I like to use the one snail per gallon method. I have used a lot of Golden Astreas. That is what has worked for me. Beware of them bull dozing your frags or corals.
I do not like to use Crabs. Most crabs will kill snails and use the snail shell. Thats my Two cents.

I'll second this- since I got my tank - I had 12 snails and down to 9 now in the last 3 weeks cuz of the crabs yanking the snails out and making lunch out of them, and I can't count how many times i've knocked a crab off of my snails since he was trying to grab it to eat it....

I need to figure out what to do with the crabs or what to replace them with... evil crabs :evil: