Best Snails for the Saltwater Tank
Four Snails Species for the Marine Aquarium Clean-Up Crew
Jan 5, 2008
While it used to be common to cycle a new saltwater tank with a hearty, inexpensive species like damsels, today such an approach is considered bad form amounting to little more than torture. Cycling a tank with live rock is far more common (not to mention humane), but it does necessitate the addition of an effective clean-up crew upon completion of the cycle.
The primary purpose of the clean-up crew is to 1) clean up non-living particulate organic matter (aka detritus) resulting principally from die-off during the shipping and acclimatization of live rock, 2) take care of algae blooms commonly associated with a newly cycled tank, and 3) keep nuisance algae and detritus in check as the tank continues to mature. This article discusses four snail species that can be added to every newly cycled saltwater system to control nuisance algae.
Four snails that are generally accepted as the foundation in any saltwater aquarium clean-up crew package include Asterea, Trochus, Cerith, and Nerite snails. In addition, Turbo snails are commonly available and utilized as part of a clean-up crew, however, their large size (and penchant for knocking over rockwork) make some aquarists leery of introducing them into their systems. Margarita, Nassarius and Bumble Bee snails are also commonly available and frequently included in clean-up crew packages, but may not be the best choices for all set-ups.
Asterea snails (Astraea tectum), also called Astrea, are particularly useful herbivores for clearing algae (both green and brown) from the walls of the tank. They will also clean the substrate and live rock and will not grow in excess of about one inch. Despite their excellent algae-eating ability, slow-moving Asterea snails have one major downside—they are unable to right themselves if they flip over. For this reason, it is generally recommended to add only a few Asterea snails—perhaps one snail for every six or seven gallons of water.
Trochus snails (Trochus sp.), like Asterea snails, are fantastic algae-eaters and are adept at controlling a wide range of algae in the saltwater aquarium. Like Asterea snails, Trochus snails generally remain small in size and are fully able to self-rescue upon flipping upside down. Some aquarists include as many as one Trochus snail for every gallon of water in the tank. It is, however, a better idea to begin with perhaps one Trochus snail for every three gallons of water in a newly cycled tank.
Cerith snails (Cerithium sp.) will also aggressively target nuisance algae in the newly cycled tank. In addition, they are extremely useful for agitating a sand bed. As such, this relatively small snail (rarely larger than an inch) is an excellent candidate for any tank with a sand bed. One Cerith snail for every five gallons of water is a reasonable number to add to the newly cycled tank.
Nerite snails (Nerita sp.) are yet another small snail (to one inch) adept at eating film algae from the aquarium sides. These snails will come completely out of the water from time-to-time. In addition to their effectiveness in combating nuisance algae on the tank walls, they also do an excellent job tending marine plants (including macroalgae) and are well suited for the refugium. Many marine aquarists populate their tanks with one Nerite snail for every gallon of water.
In addition to these four species of snails, there are many other snails and organisms that should be considered as part of a comprehensive clean-up crew, especially as the tank matures. The four snails discussed here, however, are a good starting point for the newly cycled tank.
