nerite snails and F8

patola_l · Post by **patola_l** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 1:49 am

Hey all, i have a 33 gal with 1 figure 8 in there and he is about 2.5 inches long. i feed him bloodworms, pond snails, red cherry shrimp, and recently he has been enjoying NLS cichlid pellets once a week(really excited he is enjoying them). My question is whether or not i could add nerite snails to the tank and have him leave them alone... the ones at my lfs are larger, perhaps 2-3 cm in size and I'm sure he will be curious with them but is it worth a try? thanks

sevenyearnight · Post by **sevenyearnight** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 2:03 am

Sounds like a nice, varied diet!
I don't know a definite answer, but it's very likely that your puffer will attempt to eat the nerites, and their shells are awfully hard. I would be concerned about them possible breaking a tooth. Either way, it's more than likely that they will kill the nerites.

Post by **Pufferpunk** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 11:40 am

They lasted a long time in my F8 tank. The adhere very strongly to the glass.

Post by **RTR** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 5:19 pm

I did not use a lot of nerites with my F-8s ). There was not much algae in most of the tanks for them. None of my F-8s could get a grip on the nerite shells. Mine were olive nerites.

Agree with PP, they do not expose much if any foot.

patola_l · Post by **patola_l** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 10:26 pm

Thanks guys, i picked up 3 today, and they are currently acclimatizing to the brackish water as the LFS had them in freshwater... i got 2 zebra nerites and 1 Tracked Nerite Snail which is a very vibrant orange. Ill keep you posted...and i am already noticing that they have almost no foot. The three i got are about the size of a nickel now.

JRC3 · Post by **JRC3** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 10:46 pm

I have 2 in my peaceful 55g tank and they are cleaning machines. Please keep us informed of your F8 activity with them. Also expect sesame seed sized eggs...I'm curious if they'll hatch in BW.

Good luck.

sevenyearnight · Post by **sevenyearnight** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 7:01 am

This is really good to know, I have some nerites I thought would get murdered in with puffers. I'll have to acclimate some over.

Iliveinazoo · Post by **Iliveinazoo** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 9:41 am

sevenyearnight wrote:This is really good to know, I have some nerites I thought would get murdered in with puffers. I'll have to acclimate some over.

It didn't work in my tank, be prepared to take them straight out again

Post by **RTR** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 10:21 am

We all neglected to tell you that well-nourished Nerites deposit white individual eggs randomly on the glass or other hard surfaces. They only survive in SW, so are not an issue in BW or FW.

sevenyearnight · Post by **sevenyearnight** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 2:00 pm

Iliveinazoo wrote:
sevenyearnight wrote:This is really good to know, I have some nerites I thought would get murdered in with puffers. I'll have to acclimate some over.
It didn't work in my tank, be prepared to take them straight out again

I'm probably not going to try this then, they look too much like the snails I feed him.

patola_l · Post by **patola_l** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 8:33 pm

i ended up getting 6 total... they were sold in freshwater so i acclimatized them to my brackish water over the span of 6 hours or so.. is that long enough? they all look like they are alive and well. They move a lot with the lights off, but much less when the lights are on. My figure 8 never went after them, but definitely took a few sniffs. The snails i feed him are the size of his eye...they guys are much much bigger, at least the size of a nickel so thats probably why he isn't trying to eat them

Post by **RTR** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 11:49 am

No F-8 can get a grip on an olive nerite shell. The shell curvature is just too large for them. These are mid-sized snails, far smaller than the apple snails, but also far larger than any common pond snail or Ramshorn snail. The Ramshorns are close in maximum diameter, but the coiled shell of the Ramshorn has a much smaller cross-section at the opening. Full sized Ramshorns would not be easy for F-8s, they would likely bite and slurp them rater than crush the shell. Full grown Ramshorns are too big for F-8s anyway. Nerite shells are sever times the thickness of adult Ramshorns.

patola_l · Post by **patola_l** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 1:30 pm

i agree with RTR... the puffer has definitely circled them a couple times but is clearly unsure what to do... he has yet to take a nip at them and i see no chance he could get through their shell. By the way, i have 2 varieties of nerties, zebra and something that had "orange" in the name, but after research, they look quite similar to the tracked nerites

Iliveinazoo · Post by **Iliveinazoo** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 3:50 pm

The problem is that the nerites' foot extends beyond the shell and on top of this nerites can, and will fall off objects and land on their back.

xrayjeeper83 · Post by **xrayjeeper83** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 3:53 pm

RTR wrote: Agree with PP, they do not expose much if any foot.

RTR and PP say other wise about the foot being exposed

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