Nerite Snail not eating

Tortski

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I bought a black racer nerite a week or so ago and I don't think he's eating. He tries to eat the "algae" on the glass, but it's new tank so there is nothing there. I got him to clean up my fry tank, but of course he wasn't my 1st choice because of the lack of algae. I've given him 2 different brands of algae tablets, seaweed, and blanched cucumber, but I never see him eating any of it. If I put him on top of the food he just walks off. It is quite possible that I don't see him eating it, because he's been acting nocturnal for the past few days. The food never seems to go missing or have chunks taken off, even with fry that love anything I give him.
What should I do?
 

Tortski

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Sorry to hear about snail's food strike. Any update?
Huh. I completly forgot I posted this. Whoops. He passed about a month ago, from what I'm guessing is old age. He didn't get around much, and towards the end he had trouble sticking to stuff.

He still refused to eat anything I gave him, but I bought a tiger nerite, and she does the same, so I'm guessing that they are just picky.

I have the window closest to the tank open at all times, so I guess that that's good enough for them.
 

LoonyLovegood

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Huh. I completly forgot I posted this. Whoops. He passed about a month ago, from what I'm guessing is old age. He didn't get around much, and towards the end he had trouble sticking to stuff.

He still refused to eat anything I gave him, but I bought a tiger nerite, and she does the same, so I'm guessing that they are just picky.

I have the window closest to the tank open at all times, so I guess that that's good enough for them.
That's a bummer! I have a golden inca snail in my aquarium and he's a fabulous eater. Always on the move and so fun to watch! No idea how long their life spans are but I've had him for a couple months now.
 

Tortski

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That's a bummer! I have a golden inca snail in my aquarium and he's a fabulous eater. Always on the move and so fun to watch! No idea how long their life spans are but I've had him for a couple months now.
Yeah. I've been thinking about getting a mystery snail, (I doubt I will find any that's not classified as "mystery snail"), but for some reason I decided not to, I don't remember why. Maybe because my only tanks are a 3, 10, and crowded 20-gal, and I know apples get pretty big.

My black racer would stay in the same spot all night, and my tiger never stays still, and all of the randomly placed eggs confirm that. Before I got the snails, I was sceptical of how good of algae eaters they are, but boy was I wrong!

I'm currently trying to hatch some eggs that she laid while the black racer was still alive, but they've been in brackish (I think) water for awhile with no change (not that I know what that change would look like), so I really doubt they are fertile.
 
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lilly_sand99

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Yeah. I've been thinking about getting a mystery snail, (I doubt I will find any that's not classified as "mystery snail"), but for some reason I decided not to, I don't remember why. Maybe because my only tanks are a 3, 10, and crowded 20-gal, and I know apples get pretty big.

My black racer would stay in the same spot all night, and my tiger never stays still, and all of the randomly placed eggs confirm that. Before I got the snails, I was sceptical of how good of algae eaters they are, but boy was I wrong!

I'm currently trying to hatch some eggs that she laid while the black racer was still alive, but they've been in brackish (I think) water for awhile with no change (not that I know what that change would look like), so I really doubt they are fertile.
I do not know how other snails are, but I got 2 mystery snails for my 5 gallon tank and made things more of a mess, and I had to change the water 3 times a week. I only had them and a Betta fish, so it wasn't like I was overstocking anything.
 

LoonyLovegood

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Yeah. I've been thinking about getting a mystery snail, (I doubt I will find any that's not classified as "mystery snail"), but for some reason I decided not to, I don't remember why. Maybe because my only tanks are a 3, 10, and crowded 20-gal, and I know apples get pretty big.

My black racer would stay in the same spot all night, and my tiger never stays still, and all of the randomly placed eggs confirm that. Before I got the snails, I was sceptical of how good of algae eaters they are, but boy was I wrong!

I'm currently trying to hatch some eggs that she laid while the black racer was still alive, but they've been in brackish (I think) water for awhile with no change (not that I know what that change would look like), so I really doubt they are fertile.
I never thought of them laying eggs! I'll have to look in my tank now. I had some pest snails completely overrun my old tank. It was so bad, there were hundreds. I don't fancy the thought of more snails haha.
 

Tortski

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I do not know how other snails are, but I got 2 mystery snails for my 5 gallon tank and made things more of a mess, and I had to change the water 3 times a week. I only had them and a Betta fish, so it wasn't like I was overstocking anything.
Jeez. Good thing I didn't get any, I'm horrible at keeping up on weekly water changes
 

Tortski

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I never thought of them laying eggs! I'll have to look in my tank now. I had some pest snails completely overrun my old tank. It was so bad, there were hundreds. I don't fancy the thought of more snails haha.
Nerites are notorious for laying eggs. People say that you need a glass scraper in order to get them off. I've been able to scrape them off with just my fingernail, but I guess the glass scraper is for the glue on the eggs.

I've had some bad experiences with bladder snails, they would always find a way into my tanks and overun them. I intentionally added MTS to my 10 to get the areas that my nerite can't reach, but I've started moving them to the 3, which is currently being a plant grow out tank.

You might want to try getting an assassin snail, if you have issues with pest snails. Just keep your wanted snails in another tank or something while it is on the prowl. Or do what I was going to do before my assassin died: have the assassin in another tank, and add the pests when you see them. I found out about these guys when I was looking up snails, and a lot of people buy them for the purpose of getting rid of pests. They are carnivorous, and will eat any snail that is smaller than them, they will eat any snail eggs that aren't nerite eggs (too tough) or other assassin eggs. They do breed as much as pest snails, but they limit themselves, unlike pests.
 

Tortski

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If you want to get something, I would suggest an alge eater from Wal-Mart (not the pleco)
I saw those guys when looking for an algae eater, but for some reason, never gave them much thought. I grew up owning only plecos and bladder snails as algae eaters, so I got bored of plecos (never interested in bladder snails). Before I got my first nerite, I tried Oto cats, and ghost shrimp (wanted cherry shrimp, but never saw any), neither of which stayed alive for very long. I will try to see if I can find them next time I go to a pet store. I'm sorry, but Wal-Mart never has any tank without dead fish, I would never buy fish from there.

Are they slow moving, or fast? I have some glass cats, and I want to keep them as stress free as possible, which means that fast fish are a no-no.
 

lilly_sand99

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I saw those guys when looking for an algae eater, but for some reason, never gave them much thought. I grew up owning only plecos and bladder snails as algae eaters, so I got bored of plecos (never interested in bladder snails). Before I got my first nerite, I tried Oto cats, and ghost shrimp (wanted cherry shrimp, but never saw any), neither of which stayed alive for very long. I will try to see if I can find them next time I go to a pet store. I'm sorry, but Wal-Mart never has any tank without dead fish, I would never buy fish from there.

Are they slow moving, or fast? I have some glass cats, and I want to keep them as stress free as possible, which means that fast fish are a no-no.
Oh then this isn't the fish for you, he loves to bounce across the tank and all over! But if you ever need a clean tank, he keeps his home nice and sparkly. I habe had him for about 6mo now without any problems.
 

Tortski

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Oh then this isn't the fish for you, he loves to bounce across the tank and all over! But if you ever need a clean tank, he keeps his home nice and sparkly. I habe had him for about 6mo now without any problems.
Ah, okay, thank you. I will try to keep that fish in mind, for when my 20 will need something other than bladder snails.

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Tortski

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Of course, the day after I buy an otocinclus to help out, I find little miss nerite asleep on a leaf
 
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