The nerite snails are tidal snails they are known to bury themselves in the substrate and will even leave the water. Mine will sit an inches out of the water for a good portion of the day some days. Something eatable must be growing under the filter where they are staying. They should eventually spread and eat the algae in the tank. I had 3 in a 30 gallon tank pick it clean. If 3 cant keep up in your tank you may want to reduce the amount of time the light is on to reduce algae growth.
Nerite Snails And Ghost Shrimp???
What we have:
5 gallon Marineland Eclipse 5 Hexagon tank that is complete cycled
1 male Veil Tail Beta & 3 Mixed Nerite Snails (don't know what the "mixed" means)
Carbon Cartridge & Bio-Wheel filtration
5 live plants (2 Java Ferns & 3 Anubius Congensis).......no artificial ones anymore.
1 Moss Ball
Aqueon Mini Heater (on sometimes at night, but off during the day now)
Thermometer inside tank
1 swim thru small décor
Now, for my Thread:
Had 3 Ghost Shrimp. Two died (eaten?). Had to medicate our tank a few weeks ago and that might have killed two. Basically, our beta left the shrimp alone. Unfortunately, this past Wednesday, our beta's "fasting" day, I gave a fish flake to the one shrimp we had left. I walked away from the tank, came back a few minutes later and found half of the shrimp laying in the gravel. Our beta either got hungry or mad (he wasn't eating and the shrimp was) and........bye, bye ghost shrimp!
Now, for the Nerite Snails......decided to get one Nerite a week ago, but found it attached more to the underside of the filtration system than eating ANY algae! We have some, but not a lot, of algae on the plexiglass of the tank and some black algae on plant leaves. Since the one Nerite didn't seem to be doing much, if anything, for the algae, decided to get 2 more Nerite Snails yesterday. NOW, this AM, found all three stuck to the underside of the filtration system. Took them off and back into the gravel and watched each go up the sides of the tank and back to where they were. What the heck is going on here???? Got a little algae on the tank sides and on plant leaves and these critters are hanging out under the filtration system!
BTW, our tank water temp is 80.
Giving is some serious thought about getting a couple more ghost shrimp, since they were at least going up and down the plexiglass and running around on the gravel. I just wouldn't feed them on beta "fasting" day.
Can anyone here tell me what the heck is going on with these snails?? If I have to give the snails away, will do. I want something that will take care of the algae........now, not years from now!!
5 gallon Marineland Eclipse 5 Hexagon tank that is complete cycled
1 male Veil Tail Beta & 3 Mixed Nerite Snails (don't know what the "mixed" means)
Carbon Cartridge & Bio-Wheel filtration
5 live plants (2 Java Ferns & 3 Anubius Congensis).......no artificial ones anymore.
1 Moss Ball
Aqueon Mini Heater (on sometimes at night, but off during the day now)
Thermometer inside tank
1 swim thru small décor
Now, for my Thread:
Had 3 Ghost Shrimp. Two died (eaten?). Had to medicate our tank a few weeks ago and that might have killed two. Basically, our beta left the shrimp alone. Unfortunately, this past Wednesday, our beta's "fasting" day, I gave a fish flake to the one shrimp we had left. I walked away from the tank, came back a few minutes later and found half of the shrimp laying in the gravel. Our beta either got hungry or mad (he wasn't eating and the shrimp was) and........bye, bye ghost shrimp!
Now, for the Nerite Snails......decided to get one Nerite a week ago, but found it attached more to the underside of the filtration system than eating ANY algae! We have some, but not a lot, of algae on the plexiglass of the tank and some black algae on plant leaves. Since the one Nerite didn't seem to be doing much, if anything, for the algae, decided to get 2 more Nerite Snails yesterday. NOW, this AM, found all three stuck to the underside of the filtration system. Took them off and back into the gravel and watched each go up the sides of the tank and back to where they were. What the heck is going on here???? Got a little algae on the tank sides and on plant leaves and these critters are hanging out under the filtration system!
BTW, our tank water temp is 80.
Giving is some serious thought about getting a couple more ghost shrimp, since they were at least going up and down the plexiglass and running around on the gravel. I just wouldn't feed them on beta "fasting" day.
Can anyone here tell me what the heck is going on with these snails?? If I have to give the snails away, will do. I want something that will take care of the algae........now, not years from now!!
1 - 5 of 5 Posts
Nerites are not very smart,nor do they have very good eyesight.when they feed,they just go aimlessly around the tank.it may take a bit,but they will get around to it.mine spend a bit of time out of the water. They also crawl inside of my filter and eat scrum all day. I think that two would be better in a small tank. Do you need to run carbon?it is better if you don't. I think you have the same tank as my mom. They have little cartridges and a biowheel. Since all of the bacteria is in the wheel,you can replace the cartridge with either filter floss or a cut to fit sponge. Please correct me if I am wrong though. She has had the tank for a long time. The company may have changed the filter since.
Funny, yesterday morning I found one of the snails attached to underneath the feeding door. I opened it to feed our beta and there it was. I took it off and let it float to the bottom. Next thing I know, it was crawling up the side of the tank. Didn't see the other two.
This AM, didn't seen any of the three snails, so took off the light hood and cover for the filters, shut off the filtration system and lifted it out. One was attached to the bottom of it and the other two attached to the side of the tank at the very top. Pulled all three off and let them float to the bottom. One went to the Moss Ball for awhile, other headed up the side of tank and other just laid on the gravel for a bit before heading up the side of the tank also. Don't know what I'm going to do w/these snails, b/c sooner or later I'm going to get tired of pulling them off both the top/side of the tank, and under the filtration system, and letting them float to the gravel, just to have them go back to where I got them from.
We are seeing orange "poop", from our beta, on the gravel now. Didn't have any of that when we had the ghost shrimp! People say ghost shrimp don't eat beta "poop", well they ate ours. Will get two more shrimp in a few days. Did use a baster and take most of the poop out.
I'm also reducing the number of hours our tank light is on.......down to 4 or 5 (from 8 and 9) and hopefully that will stop the algae growth on the live plant leaves. If the algae growth on the leaves doesn't go away, may have to get new live plants to replace the ones in the tank right now.
As far as the carbon cartridge filter goes, guess we will leave it in til it's looks pretty bad. We have 3 brand new ones. The bio-wheel does handle most of the bb, but there has to be some bb on the carbon cartridge as well.
This AM, didn't seen any of the three snails, so took off the light hood and cover for the filters, shut off the filtration system and lifted it out. One was attached to the bottom of it and the other two attached to the side of the tank at the very top. Pulled all three off and let them float to the bottom. One went to the Moss Ball for awhile, other headed up the side of tank and other just laid on the gravel for a bit before heading up the side of the tank also. Don't know what I'm going to do w/these snails, b/c sooner or later I'm going to get tired of pulling them off both the top/side of the tank, and under the filtration system, and letting them float to the gravel, just to have them go back to where I got them from.
We are seeing orange "poop", from our beta, on the gravel now. Didn't have any of that when we had the ghost shrimp! People say ghost shrimp don't eat beta "poop", well they ate ours. Will get two more shrimp in a few days. Did use a baster and take most of the poop out.
I'm also reducing the number of hours our tank light is on.......down to 4 or 5 (from 8 and 9) and hopefully that will stop the algae growth on the live plant leaves. If the algae growth on the leaves doesn't go away, may have to get new live plants to replace the ones in the tank right now.
As far as the carbon cartridge filter goes, guess we will leave it in til it's looks pretty bad. We have 3 brand new ones. The bio-wheel does handle most of the bb, but there has to be some bb on the carbon cartridge as well.
sorry the snails are driving you mad. just leave them.as long as they are still in the tank,there is no need to put them back in the water.sometimes they like to be out of the water.they can survive it for days.
1 - 5 of 5 Posts
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