Mexican Turbo Snails

[georgeortiz]

I am thinking about purchasing some Mexican Turbo Snails (aka Turbo Grazers).

Can anyone tell me how many I need per gallon?

I have read various recommendations from 1 per gallon all the way to 1 per twenty galllons. Can anyone please clarify this and tell me where the best place to buy these would be?

[Salty]

I have several dozen in my 135 and get all of my clean up crews from Reeftopia.

[btacker]

Just remember that they are going to die. I would order more than I thought I needed.

Sorry snails can't turn themselves over. If you have hermits, they will have a snail snack :-D .

[georgeortiz]

I have seen the snail fall and can't get up syndrome occur. If I can see one I usually flip it back over, but for the most part the few hermits I have surely get the rest.
Anyway, Reeftopia only carries Turbo's which are Astraes.

I noticed that AW has 4 for 10 bucks. I am sure I can get a better deal than that.

Anyone know the per gallon requirement?

[Salty]

I have also found that they can be difficult to acclimate which may be why they are pricey at the LFS. You could try fishsupply.com, they are cheaper but you will have shipping charges.

I have heard 1 per 20gal, but I think that it depends more on the condition and contents of your your tank rather than a magic number per gallon.

[Brett Wilson]

I originally ordered 2 per gallon (30 gallon) and now have the goal of one per gallon and little to no algae (at least the kind they eat).
If you dont have a fish eating the baby snails they will breed as well.
My recently acquired royal gramma eats the baby snails anytime it sees one. I've seen it do this many times. it spits the shell out afterwards and it's pretty much clean of any snail remains. quite interesting.....

HTH
-Brett

[pilot_bell777]

What if you have a 75 gallon....how do you get 3/4 of a snail??? JJ :-) My hemits have killed one of mine but mine have never had problems turning themselves back over. I have found them on their backs before and then a few minutes later they are up the glass again. Never seen them turn themselves back over but must be happening.

[Brett Wilson]

If you have enough of them in a small space they will grab on to any passer-bys. It's pretty funny to see multiple snails stacked onto eachother. I think the most I have seen is 4, one on top of the other.
Personally, as much as I love hermits, I don't keep hermits and snails together in the same tank unless they are drastically different in size (large snail, tiny hermit) and the hermits are well fed. This won't eliminate it, but will generally cut down on the blood bath.

-Brett

[georgeortiz]

I have baby snails as well. They pop up once in a while. What types of algae will the Turbo Grazers eat? Somebody at the meeting told me that Turbo Grazers Aka Margarita snails will devour hair algae.

[brewercm]

If you get the Mexican turbos they can turn themselves back over. They do it by extending their foot until they pull themselves back over. CB pets used to carry them for about $2 a piece.

[Yano]

yea, mine fall over all the time, mostly from me when I clean the glass and don't see them (even though they are all huge, im just that blind) I have never had a problem acclimating them though, I don't know why so many people say they are.

[pilot_bell777]

I had trouble acclimating them at first (would loose one or two out of 4 purchased). Then I started drip acclimating them slowly for two hours and havn't lost any snails sense.