Stupid Collonista Snails

tizapolgar

Zymurgist
I have about a billion collonista snails in my 25.

collonista_comparison.jpg


I know, they're harmless...but I'm sick of looking at them all the time - they're literally EVERYdamnWHERE.

So...are there any natural predators, perhaps some relatively small, friendly fish (since I want a third one in the tank, anyhow) that would eat some of these guys?
 
sixline wrasses are sometimes known to eat small juvenile snails. but only the very small ones. I have some nerite snails that breed like rabbits. I have witnessed my sixline keeping the population of them in check.
 
Some of the larger species of wrasse will eat snails, like the lunare wrasse. Unfortunately, anything I can think of that eats snails will probably eat shrimp, crabs, and starfish too :(.
 
Thanks for the replies, guys!


Some of the larger species of wrasse will eat snails, like the lunare wrasse. Unfortunately, anything I can think of that eats snails will probably eat shrimp, crabs, and starfish too :(.

That's kind of what I was afraid of...I guess I'll just have to start picking them out (one...by...one...by...one...by...one...) by hand and sacrificing them to my wife's leopard puffer...
 
tiza is right a puffer would be great to take care of them.i feed my fw puffer ramhorn snails because they multiply like crazy
 
got this from reef central

Collonista are "mini-Turbo snails." They are seldom purchased by hobbyists, but are relatively common in reef tanks anyway, because they appear to hitchhike in on live rock or in some live sand. When hobbyists first see them, they presume them to be "baby" grazers of some sort. Instead, they have some of these animals. They reach a maximum adult size of about 1/4th inch (6 mm) in height and diameter. They are often tan to white and have mottled brown color patterns on the shell. They can be distinguished from all other Trochoideans by their small size and the presence of a small pit or hole in the center of the calcareous operculum that plugs the aperture. They reproduce well in aquaria, and are quite good grazers. If present in large numbers, they may effectively replace all other grazers in our systems.
 
I'll ship 'em if you tell me how!

Seriously...when I say I have a lot...I mean A LOT! I'll try to get a picture, but it's tough to get a real idea because they mostly come out at night. It's like crazy.

I know that they're probably good for the reef all things considered, but there are so many that they are a bit distracting. Probably just to me though :D
 
i bought some snails online before that were in a zip lock back with really wet newspaper and very little water and it was in a couple other zip lock backs so did open and there wasn't really any standing water in bags just wet paper and 100 nassarus snails in a small box and actually live just fine in shipping.
 
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