# nerites



## Matt Holbrook-Bull (31 Jul 2008)

had an amazing bit of luck today..

went to my LFS, just to pop in to see what they had about.. managed to buy 6 ruby nerites for only Â£10!

think thats quite mad, theyre quite big as well.

Also managed to get 2 denison barbs for Â£14, which I recon isnt too bad either!

Who says the LFS is dead?


----------



## Steve Smith (31 Jul 2008)

Bargain 

I saw somewhere doing denisoni's for Â£8 the other day which I thought wasn't too bad.  I've never had nerites, are they particulalry good?  AE's description of them does make them appealing


----------



## Egmel (31 Jul 2008)

Matt Holbrook-Bull said:
			
		

> managed to buy 6 ruby nerites for only Â£10!


  No Fair, the snail shop are out of them at the moment and don't know when they'll be back in, don't suppose you'd fancy parting with one would you?    Not to worry really I've got some apple snails and a couple of bee staghorn nerites on their way, should be here on tuesday


----------



## Matt Holbrook-Bull (31 Jul 2008)

SteveUK said:
			
		

> Bargain
> 
> I saw somewhere doing denisoni's for Â£8 the other day which I thought wasn't too bad.  I've never had nerites, are they particulalry good?  AE's description of them does make them appealing



nerites are amazing snails.. they like to be in groups, where theyll munch mountains of algae together happily.



			
				Egmel said:
			
		

> Matt Holbrook-Bull said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



hehe if the nerite drought persists, I might well go into business!!! At that price I could make a fortune and still be cheaper then both the Snail Shop and AE


----------



## Egmel (31 Jul 2008)

What you want to do is work out how to breed them.... then you'd really make a fortune


----------



## Matt Holbrook-Bull (31 Jul 2008)

Egmel said:
			
		

> What you want to do is work out how to breed them.... then you'd really make a fortune



Theyre primarily a sea snail that has adapted to live in fresh water, so their eggs only hatch in a saline environment... which is a big pain, especially when they lay all over your rocks! 

one day I might try a brackish tank, and throw a few in to see what happens.


----------



## Egmel (31 Jul 2008)

Matt Holbrook-Bull said:
			
		

> Theyre primarily a sea snail that has adapted to live in fresh water, so their eggs only hatch in a saline environment... which is a big pain, especially when they lay all over your rocks!
> 
> one day I might try a brackish tank, and throw a few in to see what happens.


I did have a quick search on the net, I think it's more than just 'a saline environment' they seem to be near impossible to breed. 

As I say, if you can work out how to do it you could make a fortune!


----------



## Matt Holbrook-Bull (31 Jul 2008)

yepyep

Ive read them breading in brackish, but the definition of what brackish actually meant in that case was not to be found! As far as I know, brackish is anything between fresh and marine!

who knows


----------



## Themuleous (31 Jul 2008)

I think my fondness for nerite snails is well documented!!! 

Sam


----------



## Voo (31 Jul 2008)

I used to have a nerite snail, it laid eggs all over my wood. Moved it to my brackish tank and it stopped laying eggs!!


----------



## Matt Holbrook-Bull (31 Jul 2008)

just counted, they actually gave me 9 for a tenner!


----------



## thebullit (1 Aug 2008)

well done matt, been tempted for a while to geet some nerites but need to off load a few apples first.


----------



## Egmel (1 Aug 2008)

Matt Holbrook-Bull said:
			
		

> just counted, they actually gave me 9 for a tenner!


Wow, which store was this?  They're going to be miles from me but someone else might be nearby and want to get some (if you haven't bought them all by now!)


----------



## Matt Holbrook-Bull (1 Aug 2008)

southern aquatics in creekmore, Poole.

they had maybe 30 or so left.. they also have similarly cheap apple snails.

I recon they had a job lot, to see how they sold. Theyre pretty rubbish in supporting planted tanks, so stocking a planted tank snail probably resulted in no sales! Hense they gave me a few extra. I remember going in there some weeks ago and they were about Â£2.99 each, so seems about right to me.

Id offer to go in for you, but Im struggling for time at the moment with a mountain of teacher planning that Ive not done so far!


----------



## LondonDragon (1 Aug 2008)

Matt Holbrook-Bull said:
			
		

> Id offer to go in for you, but Im struggling for time at the moment with a mountain of teacher planning that Ive not done so far!


Leave that Sky HD alone for a while


----------



## Matt Holbrook-Bull (1 Aug 2008)

LondonDragon said:
			
		

> Matt Holbrook-Bull said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



lol yeah.. that and the new girlfriend.


----------



## LondonDragon (1 Aug 2008)

Matt Holbrook-Bull said:
			
		

> lol yeah.. that and the new girlfriend.


That is always a good sign  enjoy


----------



## Egmel (1 Aug 2008)

LondonDragon said:
			
		

> Matt Holbrook-Bull said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Agreed, enjoy  

Thanks for the psudeo offer but it really wouldn't be worth it, I've only got a small tank so would only be after a couple.  I might just have a quick look in the LFS' local to my parents whilst I'm at home-home this weekend


----------



## plantbrain (1 Aug 2008)

Nerites?
Why sheettit, we got them by the handful:

From plant Fest:






Regards, 
Tom Barr


----------



## Matt Holbrook-Bull (1 Aug 2008)

lol Tom 

for some reason there seems to be a real shortage in the UK.  Maybe you should ship some to Richard, I know he was struggling to get supplies.


----------



## thebullit (2 Aug 2008)

plantbrain said:
			
		

> Nerites?
> Why sheettit, we got them by the handful:
> 
> From plant Fest:
> ...



do you have any of these for sale mate??


----------



## beeky (21 Jan 2009)

I read at least one species of nerite (could be Olive?) is native to Florida. The Zebra nerite is from Africa.

I can't believe it's so difficult to find any information about certain inverts. All information about the zebra nerite (Neritina natalensis) is that it's got a complex lifecycle and is near impossible to breed...and that's it! There are people collecting them so they know the conditions they're found in. All information I can find (which isn't much) on the Zebra Nerite is that it's a freshwater snail. There are references to brackish or full marine, but these are just passing references in other forums from people who tend to lump Nerites under one roof.


----------



## mr. luke (21 Jan 2009)

i have a small trio in a almost full sw tank and have had 2 out of hundreds of babies survive until adulthood


----------



## Egmel (24 Jan 2009)

beeky said:
			
		

> I read at least one species of nerite (could be Olive?) is native to Florida. The Zebra nerite is from Africa.
> 
> I can't believe it's so difficult to find any information about certain inverts. All information about the zebra nerite (Neritina natalensis) is that it's got a complex lifecycle and is near impossible to breed...and that's it! There are people collecting them so they know the conditions they're found in. All information I can find (which isn't much) on the Zebra Nerite is that it's a freshwater snail. There are references to brackish or full marine, but these are just passing references in other forums from people who tend to lump Nerites under one roof.


http://www.applesnail.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=15071  again not a lot of information but sounds like they do need to be in saltwater to breed.  :?


----------



## hellohefalump (24 Jan 2009)

I've never kept these before - would two be alright in a 2.5gal nano, with cherry shrimp?

I've never kept snails (on purpose) ever - I have no idea about stocking.


----------



## thebullit (25 Jan 2009)

they will breed in freshwater, not just saltwater, but they need saltwater for the eggs to hatch into a larval stage, then gradually reducing the saltilinity (sp) as they mature. its like a tidal thing.

working off Apple snails 2gal per adult. not sure with the Nerites, but i cant see there being much difference if not worse poop machines.


----------



## Egmel (25 Jan 2009)

thebullit said:
			
		

> they will breed in freshwater, not just saltwater, but they need saltwater for the eggs to hatch into a larval stage, then gradually reducing the saltilinity (sp) as they mature. its like a tidal thing.


Where did you find that info?  Or have you bred them yourself?  

The link I posted was to someone who had bred them and that was in a marine tank... there is also anecdotal evidence that they stop laying eggs in marine conditions and prefer to lay in freshwater.  Someone even speculated that they needed daily tidal conditions for optimal breeding.  It still seems that there's an awful lot which is unknown and most of what people repeat on forums is from other people speculating.  I'm hoping that there will one day be a 'formula' for how to breed them that the lay-man can follow and then we wont have to collect them from the wild for our hobby.


----------



## thebullit (25 Jan 2009)

its just what i have read and heard.  no i havnt tried to breed them, looks like to much hard work  at the moment.


----------



## louis_last (25 Jan 2009)

hellohefalump said:
			
		

> I've never kept these before - would two be alright in a 2.5gal nano, with cherry shrimp?
> 
> I've never kept snails (on purpose) ever - I have no idea about stocking.



I have two in a 20 liter dennerle nano which I believe is equal to about 2.5 gallons. They're doing fine and there's four cherry shrimps in there too, you will find that they eat all the algae on the glass and run out pretty quickly though so you have to supplement their diet.


----------



## hellohefalump (26 Jan 2009)

Are nerites sensitive to ammonia?  My tank is still cycling (waiting for aquasoil spike to go away).  It's nearly there though, it has 0.1ml/litre according to my test kit.  I have a few pest snails that came with some of my plants, who are thriving despite ammonia, would nerites be the same?


----------



## Themuleous (26 Jan 2009)

I have to say, if it were me, I'd not risk it with the nerites.  At Â£2 a pop that an expensive experiment should they not be able to cope!

Sam


----------



## thebullit (26 Jan 2009)

i would most deffinatly say NO as they are sensitive snails like most are to water conditions.


----------



## hellohefalump (27 Jan 2009)

Ok, I'll wait until the cycle is complete.  Funny how the pest snails are doing so well...


----------



## Egmel (28 Jan 2009)

hellohefalump said:
			
		

> Ok, I'll wait until the cycle is complete.  Funny how the pest snails are doing so well...


Add a bit more ammonia and get rid of them while you can


----------



## hellohefalump (28 Jan 2009)

I actually don't mind them, it's a constant live food supply for my clown loach/humbugs in my big tank.  There are only a couple of them at the moment, but I'm hoping for a few more to use as food.


----------



## Egmel (28 Jan 2009)

hellohefalump said:
			
		

> I actually don't mind them, it's a constant live food supply for my clown loach/humbugs in my big tank.  There are only a couple of them at the moment, but I'm hoping for a few more to use as food.


In which case you're in luck!  If you want more just add a bit of food for them and you'll soon have a small army!


----------



## thebullit (28 Jan 2009)

agree there like rabbits, if you have 1 you will have an army in no time, well if thats what your after.


----------



## hellohefalump (28 Jan 2009)

I really don't mind.  Seriously - my 100gal was full of malasian trumpet snails.  It was totally infested - you never saw so many snails!!  I added two clown loaches and some humbug cats and they were gone within a couple of months.  There are now NO snails in my 100gal, at all.  Those fish really like snails!

Also, snails eat algae, and every little helps!


----------



## hellohefalump (20 Feb 2009)

My ammonia/nitrites are finally gone, and I've gone ahead and got a couple of nerites.  They both have slight damage to their shells, one more than the other.  Does this matter?  Apart from that they are fine - they are both now attached to my glass and eating algae.


----------



## Egmel (20 Feb 2009)

hellohefalump said:
			
		

> My ammonia/nitrites are finally gone, and I've gone ahead and got a couple of nerites.  They both have slight damage to their shells, one more than the other.  Does this matter?  Apart from that they are fine - they are both now attached to my glass and eating algae.


So long as you can't see snail through the shell it should be ok.  It's because they're all wild caught.  Mine have bit's which are a bit white in places too.


----------



## thebullit (20 Feb 2009)

they should be fine, and as long as they get plenty of health food to eat they will repair it from the inside out.


----------



## hellohefalump (21 Feb 2009)

what sort of food?  At the moment I'm not feeding them, and they're just eating the algae they find.  But when the algae is gone, I'll be feeding algae wafers.  Is that ok?


----------



## spikey4me (22 Feb 2009)

I found that nerites like blanched spinach leaves. Just tuck a little under the gravel and they find it. Remove uneaten after 48 hours or it will quickly pollute your tank


----------



## Themuleous (26 Feb 2009)

Mine just survive on whatever is in the tank.  I do feed the shrimp in some of the tanks algae wafers though so no doubt they get eaten by the nerites as well occasionally.

Sam


----------



## hellohefalump (26 Feb 2009)

thanks for the advice.  There is still algae on the glass, so I haven't fed them yet.  But if the algae runs out I will give them spinach.


----------

