I bought six nerite snails for my 55-gallon aquarium with the understanding that they won’t reporduce in fresh water. They’d better not!

I got two tigers, two horns, and two Zebras. They’re very small and none of them will get big. But each is supposed to be able to keep a ten-gallon aquarium algae-free, so I got just enough to handle my mine.

Now that all but one of the plecos are gone, I needed some other kind of critters that eats algae.

Tiger nerite snail and Horn nerite snail (hitching  a ride on the tiger)

 

Zebra nerite snail

They adapted to their new tank within hours.  The seller said they might hide inside their shells for a week before going anywhere. But within an hour of being turned loose, the horns (the smallest ones) were traipsing. And it didn’t take much longer for the others to start exploring their new habitat.

 

This morning three of them are nowhere to be seen, but the three you see in the images above are (duh!) evident. (The “missing” ones are likely on the back side of an ornament or driftwood.)

 

That little horn nerite (image above) hasn’t detached itself from the tiger in all the time it’s been in the tank (over 16 hours now) so it’s getting its algae off the tiger’s shell, I suppose…

 

COMMON AQUARIUM SNAILS

 

I experienced an infestation of common snails a couple years ago. Many of the common species are hermaphrodites, so they can reproduce without the opposite genders in the tank. I finally took them all to Aquarium Paradise for them to sell. I really enjoyed them and their languid  adventures, but they were horny little devils, and snails poop a lot, so they were causing water quality problems. They got really big, too.

 

NERITE SNAILS

 

I read up on nerites before getting these. The authors say it’s next to impossible to get them to breed or to keep the young ones alive after they’re born unless you have the perfect semi-salty or salty conditions for them. So, because I have  a freshwater tank, I felt secure enough that these won’t be presenting any babies in the forseeable future. If they do, I have enough fish in the tank to make short work of them while they’re minuscule, but I hope it won’t come to that!  I am counting on having ZERO nerite babies!

 

Nerite snails live up to three years. Some aquarists swear they live five years under ideal conditions. They aren’t expensive to replace.

 

They come in lots of different shapes and colors but rarely grow larger than an inch or an inch and a quarter across.

 

African Dwarf Frogs

 

I also got two more African dwarf frogs because I only had one and I figured it might be lonely. They do hang out pretty close together, so that’s heartwarming to see. I did a good thing for them!

 

Guess that’s all the news that’s fit to print for this time. Enjoy your day!

 

And if you are enjoying these blog posts, please consider dropping a few bucks into the tip jar. I have critter mouths to feed (chickens, cats, goats, fish) , and it’s getting more and more expensive to do that. Just two bales of hay cost $70+ the last time I got them! JEEZ!  I’m glad three goats don’t eat the amount of hay one horse does or I’d be bankrupt by now!