Latin name | Nerita sp. |
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Local name | Nerite |
Family | Gastropods - Nerita |
Origin | |
Max length | cm (") |
Minimum volume | 50 l (13 gal) |
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Hardiness | Hardy |
Suitable for aquarium | Suitable for most aquarium |
Reef safe | Always reef safe |
Aggressiveness | Peaceful |
Mostly |
Microalgea (Eg. spirulina) |
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This species helps keeping the aquarium free from algea.
It will primary eat from liverock and algae covering the glass.
Several Nerita species live above the waterline in mangrove, therefore they might crawl out of the aquarium, while other species are excellent algae eaters for marine aquariums.
There are many different kinds of sea snails or marine gastropods, but their most common purpose is ridding aquaria of algae and leftover foods. A few species are also bought for decorative purposes.
Many of them can however be a nuisance in coral aquaria, but it is often difficult to identify which ones.
The information found on this page is primarily on the subject of snails found in the aquarium trade.
Pictures of many types of snails can be found here: Hardy's Internet Guide to Marine Gastropods.
Ronald M. Shimek. 2004. The Grazing Snails, Part I - Turbo, Trochus, Astraea, and Kin - Reefkeeping Magazine - (English)
Ronald M. Shimek. 2004. The Grazing Snails, Part II - Turbo, Trochus, Astraea, and Kin - Reefkeeping Magazine - (English)
Julian Sprung. 2003. Aquarium Invertebrates: Nerites: Bleeding Tooth, Zebras, Checkers And More - Advanced Aquarist - (English)
Dave Wolfenden. 2014. Keeping Turbo and friends - Practical Reefkeeping - (English)
Ronald L. Shimek. 2004. The Grazing Snails, Part I - Turbo, Trochus, Astraea, and Kin - Reefkeeping Magazine - (English)
Minimum volume
"Minimum volume" indicates the size of the tank needed to house this species under optimal conditions.
This is based on a medium size animal, which you want to keep for several years.
It might be possible to keep smaller specimens for a limited period in a smaller tank. A larger tank might be needed for fully-grown specimens.
Hardiness
"Hardiness" indicates how resistant this species is to disease and how well i tolerates bad conditions in general.
Some species doesn't handle transportation very well, but that doesn't mean that the species isn't hardy under the right conditions.
Suitable for aquarium
In this case, a "normal" aquarium is a reef aquarium with mixed corals or a fish only aquarium with an approximately salinity of 1.026 (sg) and a temperature close to 26°C.
Species requiring more than a 4000-liter tank are considered not suitable for home aquarium.
Special aquariums may cover tanks with low salinity, sub-tropical temperature, deep sand bed, sea grass etc.
Reef safe
Always reef safe: No sources indicate that this species will harm corals or other invertebrates.
Often reef safe: Only a few aquarists has reported problems keeping this species with corals and other invertebrates.
Reef safe with caution: This species may be a threat to some types of invertebrates.
Reef safe with luck: Most specimens will harm corals and/or other invertebrates, but you might be lucky.
Not reef safe: This species is a threat to most corals and/or other invertebrates.