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nitrite snails

8K views 20 replies 10 participants last post by  SEAWEED54 
#1 ·
i have a freshwater aquarium and was reading that these snails can be acclimated to fresh water. was wondering how much truth there is to this. in my state it is illegal to have fresh water species of snails. so i was going to be a good law biding citizen (even though it is completely stupid as i live in maine and it is no where NEAR tropical so there are types of snails that would be ok for an aquarium but wouldn't be able to live threw the 4 inch thick ice of the winters here) and get a salt water that i can acclimate to freshwater if that is possible. i have only read that it is, not talked to anyone who has done this first hand. if you have any experience or happen to know if this is true or false. please let me know
 
#2 ·
Nerite snails can and will survive the exchange from salt to fresh, you just need to take extreme caution when taking the drip acclimation procedure, and they should do well. They love to eat algae and are very interesting to own. I wouldn't advise them if they are illegal in your state
 
#3 ·
they sell them here. just as salt water. so they are legal to be possessed here. and they do not reproduce in freshwater so i am not to worried about any being flushed or exchanged if i should happen to be getting rid of plants or dead plant matter. would you happen to know how long i should do the drip acclimation procedure?
 
#5 ·
Thank you. i want to do this properally, and without causing harm to the snail. i will be very upset if the poor snail doesn't make it. i am going to try it with one first and then get more if it works. i have three tanks that i would like to add snails to. though i do have a question of how you sex them. i don't want a bunch of snail eggs in the tanks that don't have cory fish as they will be a pain to clean.
 
#6 ·
Before trying to change the snail from a full marine setup to a freshwater setup make sure to do your research first. I would look up the proper scientific name for both nerite snails sold for saltwater and also the scientific name for nerite snails sold for freshwater, make sure you a are dealing with the same snail. If so for acclimating the snail from a saltwater setup to a freshwater setup IMHO it is going to take more than a few hours. The chemistry of saltwater and freshwater is different and each react with the cells differently. 3 hours I think would still be to sudden of a change. I would imagine that a similar method that is used on some fish in which over a period of weeks you would change the salinity of the water. If you look in the threads for brackish fish and puffers this should give you some idea. Good luck
 
#21 · (Edited)
Buy some from mail order just be quiet about it, no ones going to call the snail police
for example drugs are illegal yet people still buy them , also fireworks , what more can I say
if you don't make a big deal about it you'll be fine
 
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