Snails for Very Shallow Sand Bed

[jock]

Hi

My sand bed is only an inch deep in 50G tank. What are best snails to keep the sand bed in good order. Have some mex turbos, ceriths & had 2 nassarius snails. The nassarius snails were orange spot which I think might have been poor choice (they looked good though :spin1:). Say had as one died & not seen other in days, which is ominous.
I hear a fighting conch is good but cant find anywhere that sell them (am in Scotland, UK). Any snails do similar job that will survive in very shallow bed.

Also, while on subject, what sort of life expectancy do snails have? I started with 25 originally (10 turbo, 13cerith, 2 nass) about 8 weeks ago & have lost at least 7 in that time. Fish & shrimp are fine (apart from one mishap on my part :( ) so am just assuming that snails die fairly regularly. Also think 10 turbos was bit overkill which hasn't helped :( Or should I be worrying about some underlying issue....

Cheers

John

[johnc99]

Hi John,

How mature is your tank? What are your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate readings? Are you using RO/DI water? If not, have you checked your source water for copper? How much is your salinity changing due to evaporation/top offs?

I do think 10 turbos might have been overkill. But I'm surprised at the nassarius snails. I have around 1 inch of sand in my 30g and have 5 nassarius vibex in there and they do fine (I actually don't think that's enough for my tank).

I certainly have had my issues with snails dying - I can't keep astereas, trochus, or turbos. But have no problem with ceriths (both dwarf and large), nassarius, or nerites.

Where in Scotland are you located? You might be able to get a list of local and mail order places from the practical fishkeeping directory. If you are in Glasgow there's a bunch of places on Paisley Road West that I used to go and apparently still there (not sure how good they are now - it's been 14 years since I lived there).

[cloak]

For a 1" sandbed, your best bet is to use your finger IMO. Just stir things up right before you do a water change. (once a month at least) GL.