Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => Fish Identification => Topic started by: Helen on February 13, 2015, 10:23:17 PM
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Hopefully this is the right place to ask this question.
Does anyone know how long a nerite snail usually lives? I googled it and several places seemed to suggest 1-2 years. I'm pretty sure my 2 zebra nerites lived about 4 years, and I thought I'd killed them with my bad tank maintenance. If that's possibly not the case, I might get some more.
I've realised that my tank was easier to maintain with cities and snails.
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Checking my notebook -
I currently have 1 zebra and 2 red nerites bought 13 Jul 2011. I did have another zebra but returned it to the tank I'd treated for camallanus worms too soon :-[
I bought 2 bee nerites (the small black and yellow type) on 8 May 2008; one died in June 2011, the other on 7 Feb 2013.
A zebra nerite bought 29 Sept 2008 died 28 Aug 2012.
Your nerite that lived for 4 years probably died of old age if my records are anything to go by.
My next-to-nearest Maidenhead Aquatics now stocks nerites, everything from zebras and red ones down to bee nerites and some rather interesting mottled grey ones. I bought a couple of the grey ones in December, so I don't know yet how big they grow.
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Thanks Sue. That makes me feel better about replacing them. My two were zebra nerites.
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I've been toying with the idea of a couple of snails and/or shrimp for when the tank is more mature. Do the snails attempt to get out?
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I think my snails only attempted to escape if my water conditions weren't as good as normal. So there was a pretty easy solution. But I also have a ridge around the top of my tank, so they never succeeded in escaping, they just end up on their backs on the floor of the tank, and need turning over.
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I have had nerites for several years and only one pair have ever attempted to leave my tanks. For some reason, for a few months after I got them the red nerites in the 50 litre tank would climb out at night. I had to be very careful crossing the kitchen to draw the curtains in the morning. I plugged the cut-outs for cables in the lid with filter wool and that stopped them. I stopped using it after a few months and they haven't climbed out since then.
Apple snails, on the other hand, are well known for leaving a tank. They lay eggs above the water line so climbing up the tank wall is natural for them and they can go too far and fall out.