Hi Kris,
I am by no means an expert, but I did do a lot of research on snails a few months back for my tank. I will share what I found with you and hopefully help
Okay.. I discarded the "package" you can get from a lot of sources because they included a ton of hermits. Now, I do believe that hermits get a bad rap, but I don't want a ton of them anyway. I have about a dozen total in my 120 gallon. 6 scarlets and 6 blue legs. If they snack on the occasional snail, fine. The reef is not a safe place afterall.. and I view snails as I do any other cleaning media, re-cyclable. If a few die off, get eaten, thats fine. Just not wholesale slaughter
That being said.. you have a wide variety to choose from. As Brooke said, the trochus are by far the best munchers out there. I have the tiger/zebra variety and love them. They are attractive too. They run between 2 and 3 bucks a pop at Indo Pacific or at
www.paragonsales.com. I got mine from paragon and had a good experience with them. In a 55, you can look at 12-18 of them to start.
Depending on your substrate, you might want to look at nassarius as well. Nassarius burrow into the sand and eat the protien/detrius left overs. They need sand though, at least an inch. They run about 1 buck a pop and are small so in a 55, look at getting 2 dozen.
Astras/Turbos - These are very common and cheap but also tip over and can be easily preyed upon. Also, if they tip over and you don't right them, they will die and could pollute the tank a bit. Several people here, including me, got a nasty little spike by a rotting turbo. Messy!!! I have had up to 3 turbos in my tank because I needed snails so picked a few up. I am down to 1 now and will not buy anymore. In a reef, they would also run the risk of knocking things over as they are clumbsy. Astreas are not as clumbsy and will spawn too... but they are not as active consuming about 1/5 as much as a trochus.
Margaritas and Mexican Trochus - I have a few mexicans in my tank and they seem to do well. They don't eat as much as the Tiger/Zebra's but they can flip over on their own so they are fine in my opinion too. I have heard good things about margaritas, being productive and attractive. No personal experience though.
Ceriths - No personal experience, but have heard good things about them too.
So bottom line here.. go with a mix.. Tiger/Zebras, Nassarius, Ceriths, Margartias and you should have a great crew going. Throw in a few Hermits for variety and activity and amusement. They can be fun to watch. A few of mine do nose dives off the rocks to get to the sandbed on occasion. Its pretty funny to see. Expect them to snack on your snails from time to time though. I feel that they are less likely to go after the trochus since they move fast and can get away from them. No idea how ceriths and margartas do with them though. Again.. expect a few snacks and you won't get pissed.
As far as the bumble bees.. I have seen them and heard a few comments about them. As Brooke mentioned they are not reef safe, but should be okay in a FOWLR, but I would do more research on it if i were you. They are cute though. Might want to ask Dr. Ron about them to see.
Stocking tactic - Buy the minimum you think you will need, maybe 24 max of
algae eaters and 12 or more of the detrius eaters and then work up from there. You don't want to starve them.. but want to get a good balance.
Almost forgot.. acclimation. Snails are very sensitive to salinity changes. Make sure you acclimate them slowly over a few hours before dropping them in your tank, especially if you mail order. Also, if you handle them, watch how you do it. You can harm them by yanking them off the glass or rocks. Someone once told me that if you pull them off too hard, stretching them, you can damage their internal organs and kill them. Simply grab the shell and twist gently back and forth until they release their foot. If they don't, just wait until they are on the sand or something.
[ 08-02-2001: Message edited by: DaveJ ]
There's a lot of meat in those snails!
