View Full Version : Nerites in FW?
ChilDawg
09-13-2003, 1:05 PM
I was checking out an online store on eBay and they mentioned that Nerites do all right in FW...does anyone have experience with this? What do they need in order to survive in FW, food-wise and temp-wise?
(3800 posts, yay!)
Neritina reclivata is the only freshwater Nerite that I’m aware of. Believe it’s sold as the ‘Olive Nerite’.
Tom
ChilDawg
09-13-2003, 1:54 PM
And that would be the one that I've seen sold...do you have any info on their care?
valerie
09-13-2003, 2:13 PM
What is a nerite? I have never heard of them.
ChilDawg
09-13-2003, 2:18 PM
Nerites are a type of snail (usually Nerita spp.).
http://www.reefcorner.com/SpecimenSheets/neritesnail.htm tells about the ones suitable for SW setups. I'd never heard of FW ones before today...but I guess that they exist!
Sorry CD, I have no experience with that particular beast, just the locals. Did you read Dahlia’s post?
http://64.191.28.50/forums/showthread.php?threadid=15776
Tom
ChilDawg
09-13-2003, 3:24 PM
Thanks, Tom, for referring me to that post...I saw it, but never connected that with the Nerites which I saw on eBay! I suppose that I'd need to get an algal culture going if I wanted to keep some of them, eh?
Dahlia
09-13-2003, 4:37 PM
The ones I've had will eat algae wafers some, but they definitely prefer fresh algae over anything else. If you have an LFS you trust, they'll usually let you trade an aquarium rock you have for one covered in algae. I did this sometimes when I was out.
ChilDawg
09-13-2003, 4:38 PM
Do you find that you actually have to culture it for them, then?
Nerites do just fine in FW, even at times produce eggs per board reports, but no one I know of has raised any. You can figure that one out for us... ;)
Dahlia
09-13-2003, 6:07 PM
I did because I never really saw them eating anything else, and they're so good at cleaning up the tank they tend to starve themselves. They might eat that frozen algae food you can get for plecos, I didn't get a chance to try them on that. Next time I have them I may try it though. I tried feeding them all the things apple, pond, and other snails tend to like (veggies, pellets, etc.), but they skimmed right over it and headed for the algae. I even tried putting them on top of the algae wafers but they'd cut a small path through it then move on to the glass. My cichlids have gotten to the point they harass any snails I put in until they die, so I haven't bothered adding new ones. When the fish were smaller they left the nerites alone. The tank always looked like the decorations/glass were brand new until the cichlids killed the snails. I don't have major algae problems, but I do get a little (that annoying cemented kind you can't get off plastic plants no matter what you try).
I kept them for 3 years running and either they didn't lay eggs or their eggs got eaten before they hatched. If they do they are supposed to have bright orange eggs I think.
Dapple2
09-14-2003, 3:21 PM
I love my olive nerites. Mine won't touch the algae wafers either though. They do like some of the herbavore flake and sinking granual foods. Don't remember all the brands I've tried on them, but I know they like the Vibragro marine one their eating now. They are amazing glass and plant leaf cleaners. I also throw a rock in some dirty tankwater in my windowsill to give them a source of fresh algae as well. They are pretty tireless workers. I got mine from my grandparent's nursery, where they breed quite nicely in the damnbusia tank. Never noticed what the eggs looked like. They got them in as hitchhikers with a trapdoor snail order out of Florida originally.
ChilDawg
09-14-2003, 4:21 PM
I thought that trapdoor snails and olive nerites were the same thing? Am I confused?
Dahlia
09-14-2003, 7:32 PM
I've seen them sold as trapdoor snails, but who knows how many snails have that as a common name. Mystery snails are actually another species but it got applied to apple snails as well. The number of species called "pond" snails by someone somewhere are pretty endless, too.
Dapple2 - can you check the water parameters in the "damnbusia" holding vessels and let us know. The pH, KH, GH would be interesting. Temperature, also.
That would be super info- with anything else they do to the tank routinely...
TIA for any effort you make-
Dapple2
09-15-2003, 11:06 PM
Grrrrr....ratzinfratzin puter ate my post.... :mad:
Here ya go!
pH 7.2, gh 3, kh 2, temp is at 72 F
They are in a bare-bottomed 10g along with untold hordes of Gambusia affinis. The only thing "special" done to that tank is the addition of a coupla tsp of salt with the water changes. When the damnbusia overrun the tank she tosses them out into the water lily containers (200g pens) They are selling them for indoor use only at the moment since they haven't tried seeing if they are hardy up here, plus they were worried that if released into ponds, survivors might spread into the wild.
Mine scattered about in a couple tanks with varying temps (from 70 to 78 F) and a pH of 7 and gh and kh of 1 but aren't breeding. They would be neat to acclimate into a brackish tank if ever start one up again. I have noticed some white "scarring" on a few shells, possibly from the low hardness :confused: None of mine have bred, but I've only had them a month now.
I'll have to shoot some photos of the tank next time I bike up. Should be in a coupla weeks. It's not terribly interesting looking though :)
The snails they get as "trapdoors" don't look even romotely like the olive nerites. They look instead like a giant ramshorn snail. Darn common names.... I'll work on id'ing them
Many thanks! The salt may be part of the thing, even at that low level. These critters need an identified breeding scheme in captivity... I'm playing with shrimp right now, so my spare tanks are taken, but for the future it is nice to know. That hardness & pH is way below what I would have expected.
Of course, part of their popularity is that they do not breed in FW tanks, but it would be nice to have a way to turn them
on.
Someday, GWATCDR.
Dapple2
09-16-2003, 4:02 PM
The salt could be the key...wonder if such a tiny amount of salt would have adverse affects on my plants?
While digging for that "trapdoor" id I found a website that lists a few more fw and brackish nerites http://members.aol.com/mkohl2/Neritidae.html several of which I'd loooove to get my hot lil hands on! The other snails look a bit like Marisa cornuarietis (http://www.applesnail.net/) except black. I think I might need to go get one in hand to narrow it down some more.
Had to google that acronym RTR! Never heard that phrase before, lol
A former editor of a hobby publication with which I was associated (not fish), signed off his editorials with that and I feel in love with it and adopted it myself - things wish and hoped for, but impossible to firmly commit.
Dapple2
10-07-2003, 6:39 PM
*dredges thread up from the dust*
Went up to the nursery last weekend! Forgot my camera though grrrrr :mad: but I should be back up in coupla more weeks.
The eggs are clear and laid below the water. She just found some nerites in one of the hyacinth tubs in the hothouse too, probably hitchhiked in with the plants. Still don't know if they are hardy here since the hothouse is heated and she'd rather not spread them around. Don't know what will happen with that tub when spring rolls around and the plants in it start selling again... Dangit, where'd I put those test kit results? I'll hafta poke around and re-find the plant tag I wrote those on. This tub, unlike the damnbusia tank, recieves no salt, but has a much higher pH, kh and gh.
The only conclusion I can draw is that they seem to be rather highly adaptable...
That actually sounds very promising - high pH/GH/KH should be a better situation than a bit of salt for them. All that good calcium and magnesium (shells need this) and the carbonates/bicarbonates to match.
Dapple2
10-08-2003, 10:05 PM
Yep, I noticed that their shells don't have the scarring like mine do either. Maybe I'll throw all mine in my Endler tank and gradually bump the levels up.
My plant tag is offically AWOL, but I *think* the levels were about like this: pH 7.6, GH 16, KH 12 temp around 72-74
Hmmm - I had not thought that much about lower temperature paired with harder water. Now there is an easy to test idea. Perhaps part of the breeding block is just tropical temperatures. Excellent info Dapple2. I really appreciate it.
Things like breeding seasons in the wild are so easy to overlook in our highly stable heated/AC'd houses.
Why do I always want/need more tanks? It is definitely a disease or pathology or addiction.
My few "cool" tanks have Taiwanese and Japanese shrimps, for better breeding. It could well help for the Nerites. Grow/condition them a bit warmer, then drop the temp for a season. I have to note that where I won't lose or forget it. It is certainly worth a try.