Nerite Snails

[Worshiper]

Hullo UKAP folks,

I have ordered some nerite snails online. I wanted to know how do I introduce them into the tank?

Do I just drop them in or do I need to acclimatise them like fish?

Many thanks

 

[Aqua360]

Hullo UKAP folks,

I have ordered some nerite snails online. I wanted to know how do I introduce them into the tank?

Do I just drop them in or do I need to acclimatise them like fish?

Many thanks

Acclimate them, I've had some die where they were dropped into the tank; if introduced suddenly

 

[DavidW]

I've got a few in my tank, as mentioned by Aqua360 introduce them as you would a fish or shrimp. One thing to not is they lay little white eggs everywhere, they don't hatch they just cover everything. See my tank in the planted tank gallery section and you'll see there all over the wood and 3d background.

I'm not sure if you can stop them doing this, if someone knows how to stop them please let me know 🙂

 

[alto]

if someone knows how to stop them please let me know 🙂

take'em aside for a good chat & then move to another tank ...
haven't seen an egg since

I've no idea why they stopped, some people seem to get loads of eggs from them, others not at all

If you do some searches on Nerites & eggs, I found an excellent website (which I neglected to bookmark 😳 ) with detailed information on sexing Nerites, seems these are not hermaphroditic & only females do the egg thing & it happens much more with both sexes in the tank, there's some nice video as well.
I was intending to try to separate males/females but have just been placing a single snail in each tank

Current group is Clithon Diadema (horned nerite) & they seem far better behaved than Tracked/Leopard Nerite Snail (Neritina natalensis sp - these went back to the shop & I stripped the tank down to remove all the brilliant white eggs, most were on wood but also on glass just at the substrate line, a few on some plant leafs)
The horned nerites come in much smaller & seem slow growing compared to the tracked or zebra or olive nerites (which seem to all be N natalensis sp)

While it's never a bad idea to do some sort of acclimation, like most snails, these (trans)ship damp rather than in any water, healthy snails arrive well stuck to the plastic etc ,so bag is just placed in receiving tank & snails slowly make their way out.
You should never forcibly pry any snails free as you can damage their body - this they don't recover well from 🙁 - also avoid dropping them into tank, instead placing them gently on bottom or secure in plants/rock area etc, also watch for fish paying a bit too much attention to newly arrived snails (which can be weak & stressed).

I suspect overheating during transport impacts snail survival - try to choose active individuals from shop tanks rather than any that are lying "loose" at tank bottom (a gentle nudge nudge usually convinces them to let go from tank wall)

 

[Worshiper]

take'em aside for a good chat & then move to another tank ...
haven't seen an egg since

 

[Worshiper]

So i finally put the snails in.
My amano seems to be possessive about his rock.. has refused to move his spot and seems like he/she is not happy with the snails on it