# Nerite snail alternative



## mnno (Dec 7, 2010)

You can't have both no eggs and no babies that will eat algae


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

You can get japanese trapdoor snails, which reproduce very slowly through LIVE birth, and do not leave any eggs anywhere


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## blacksheep998 (Jan 16, 2011)

Malaysian trumpet snails do the live birth thing too, but they reproduce rather quickly. Not quite as fast as ramshorn or pond snails, but still pretty fast.


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## Franco (Jun 13, 2010)

My olive nerites have always laid eggs but my tiger nerites never have and they do just as good of a job eating algae. Olive nerites are the least attractive nerites anyways so the tigers are definitely an improvement.


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## mnno (Dec 7, 2010)

My tigers and zebra and horned nerites all lay eggs. Sometimes if you have just one they won't, but two or more in a tank and you're bound to get eggs.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

if you get only males, it's no problem... the problem is finding only males, lol


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## ExtraInvertEd (Jan 28, 2011)

Hi jotape,
I asked the person running this web sight that same egg related question; http://www.bobstropicalplants.com/store/catalog/index.php?cPath=25_27
she told me the smaller the nerite adult, the less likely it would lay eggs, or that the few eggs it layed would dissolve faster or be easier to remove manually. the smallest ones being the "clithons" and the "horned", so if you limit yourself to those nerites types, you should find their eggs less annoying than typical olive nerites. when you order, mention your egg laying bias and she will be sure to only give you the variety of nerites with that feature in mind. I prefer ramshorn because their ability to become neutrally boyuant makes them more amusing to watch, but only if your tank has a lot of fine leaf plants, moss or floaters. the trick with ramshorn is to have some small mouth fish (like Danios) in your tank that will reliably eat Ramshorn 1mm offspring, to keep the snail population in check. I have seen dwarf crayfish eating the soft shell 3mm juvenile Ramshorn, but they do not eat them whole like fish do, so you may find half eaten snails left in their shells discolored and rotting away, as some new annoyance.
good luck, Ed


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## jotape65 (Sep 14, 2010)

I currently have olive nerites in my tank. From what I have read the japanese trapdoor snails seem to get rather large. I think I may give the "smaller" type nerites a try. 

Many thanks for all for the great information provided!


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

some trapdoor snails get large, some stay smaller


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## 4f1hmi (Apr 22, 2009)

The good thing about nerite snails is that their eggs will not hatch unless you have them in brackish water. They may be unsightly but their population do not explode unlike other snails in the hobby. So I think nerites benefits outweighs its cons.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

I think the eggs are more annoying than baby snails!


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## Franco (Jun 13, 2010)

I've got at least a dozen tiger and o-ring nerites spread over a few tanks and none of them have laid eggs. I'd be surprised if I had all males out of the 15 I bought originally. Could just be a difference in water params that makes them lay or something. My water is liquid rock and I use at least 1/2 tspn of salt per gallon in all of my tanks so you'd think that would trigger egg laying more than a neutral tank without salt like mostly people with planted tanks have.


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## sampster5000 (Oct 30, 2010)

I have some tylomelania rabbit snails. I am pretty sure they only have 1 egg at a time. On top of that they grow incredibly slow. The downside would be that they "require" high pH (around 8) and heat (around 80).

My nerites have never laid eggs but even if they did it wont matter. I do not have them in brackish water. My horned nerites have done the best. My black horned nerite and green horned nerite have lived longer than any I've had so far.

A single mystery snail should not be a problem. I had 1 mystery snail for 3 years and did not see a single egg.


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## farmhand (Jun 25, 2009)

I acquired a mystery snail one month ago for my 1 Gal. It is amazing to watch. So far, no eggs or mess. Would like to know more about which snails would do the same??? Don't really want snail eggs everywhere:frown:.


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## Betta Maniac (Dec 3, 2010)

mordalphus said:


> I think the eggs are more annoying than baby snails!


As someone with a seemingly endless supply of ramshorns, I have to disagree.


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## boringname (Nov 11, 2010)

farmhand said:


> I acquired a mystery snail one month ago for my 1 Gal. It is amazing to watch. So far, no eggs or mess. Would like to know more about which snails would do the same??? Don't really want snail eggs everywhere:frown:.


Mysteries and Nerites need a partner to reproduce so if you only have just one they won't lay eggs unless its a female whose already pregnant before you got it. Same for every snail species that needs a partner.

Rams horns are hermaphrodites. Some of the other are too.


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## farmhand (Jun 25, 2009)

boringname said:


> Mysteries and Nerites need a partner to reproduce so if you only have just one they won't lay eggs unless its a female whose already pregnant before you got it. Same for every snail species that needs a partner.
> 
> Rams horns are hermaphrodites. Some of the other are too.


If you only keep one of each different type of Nerite in the same tank, would that keep them from laying eggs?


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