Algae eating snail or shrimp

[Lupin]

Freshwater? I'm trying to remember why I didn't get any when I looked into them long ago.

A lot of nerite species can move freely around FW and SW such as Vitta usnea. The downside is they don't breed readily in FW unless you are lucky enough to find the European species which do breed in FW. A lot of species from Philippines and Indonesia require varying salinity in order to breed. The bigger challenge is raising the larva to snail stage. The larva called vellifers thrive on phytoplanktons and microalgae. Failing this, they won't be able to survive to the snail stage.

 

[Lupin]

ok, thanks for all the info guys it helps a lot, I have on quick question though, are the snails from chain stores , I think mystery snails what I'm looking for?

Yes, they are available in most chain stores however please be careful with what you buy. Snail abuse is very common. A lot of people think snails do not need to be supplemented with other foods and leave them to forage for leftovers. Most of them are simply dying or are already dead as they were beyond starvation. Your best bet is contact the snail enthusiasts in Aquariacentral.com. Msjinkzd, Kim_TMA, Fordtrannyman and several others breed them in large numbers and offer them for sale. They should be easy to obtain from breeders now as permits from USDA are no longer in effect this year.

 

[dthomasi]

A lot of nerite species can move freely around FW and SW such as Vitta usnea. The downside is they don't breed readily in FW unless you are lucky enough to find the European species which do breed in FW. A lot of species from Philippines and Indonesia require varying salinity in order to breed. The bigger challenge is raising the larva to snail stage. The larva called vellifers thrive on phytoplanktons and microalgae. Failing this, they won't be able to survive to the snail stage.

Ahh, it must have been the breeding thing. I remember there being something that kept me away but I couldn't put my finger on it. Although I will look into Vitta usnea because for some reason I remember most of my research saying Nerites were mostly marine but I am still interested.

Thanks.

 

[Lupin]

They're mostly brackish water actually but estuarines and tidal pools have varying salinity so they can tolerate FW, BW and SW. They also happen to be one of those with very long lifespan. Average would be 4-5 years.