rm
Passport
- Family
- Snails
- Grows to
- 2.5 cm (1")
- Lives
- 1–3 years
- Temperament
- Peaceful
- Care
- Beginner
- SwimsSuggested
- Everywhere
- Keep
- One is fine
- Water
- 20–30 °C (68–86 °F)
Care requirements
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On record for Nerite Snail: adult size, lifespan, minimum tank, temperature, ph, hardness, carbonate hardness, minimum group, diet, care level, swim level.
Not on record for Nerite Snail: tank length.
A figure that is not on record is left out rather than guessed. One marked Suggested comes from keeping knowledge rather than a page.
- Minimum tank 19 L / 5.0 US gal
- pH 7–8
- Hardness 7–15 dGH
- Carbonate hardness 5–12 dKH
- Diet algae eater/omnivore
Care notes written from general aquarium knowledge, not from the cited sources.
About
The best algae eater in the hobby, and the only one that can't overrun your tank. Nerites eat algae properly — including the hard green spot algae on the glass that most so-called algae eaters ignore — and they can't breed in fresh water, so the population never becomes your problem.
That last point is the trade-off. They will lay eggs: hard white sesame-seed specks cemented onto wood, rocks and glass. Those eggs need brackish water to hatch, so they never will, but they don't come off easily either. Nothing is wrong with your tank — it's simply what a nerite does.
They're escape artists too, and they'll walk out of an open tank and dry out on the floor.
Tank setup
Give them surfaces rather than volume. They graze glass, hardscape and broad leaves, so a tank with plenty of hard surface suits them better than a big empty one.
Cover the tank, or at least leave no easy route out at the waterline. Finding a nerite on the carpet is the most common way keepers lose them.
Put them in a mature tank. A new one has no algae, and a nerite added to sterile glass starves slowly while looking perfectly healthy.
Feeding
Algae comes first, and they're genuinely good at it — but a clean tank is a starving one. Once the visible growth has gone, supplement with algae wafers and blanched vegetables, courgette and spinach especially.
A nerite that starts sitting out on the glass in plain view instead of working surfaces has usually run out of food.
Avoid: copper, in medications and in some fertilisers, which kills invertebrates at doses fish shrug off. And don't count on the tank to feed them indefinitely.
Filtration and flow
They're undemanding, but they want oxygen and they want stability. Moderate flow is fine and they'll work directly in it.
Hardness matters more than most people expect. A snail builds its shell from minerals in the water, and soft water gives you pitting and thinning at the spire that no amount of feeding will reverse.
With plants
Completely safe. They graze algae off leaves without damaging the plant, which makes them one of the very few cleanup animals you can put in a delicate planted tank.
The eggs are the only complaint. White specks turn up on hardscape and slower-growing leaves, and they're effectively permanent.
Health
Shell erosion from soft or acidic water is the main long-term problem — the spire goes chalky and thin. Correct the hardness rather than treating the animal.
A nerite that's fallen and landed upside down can't always right itself, especially on sand. Turn it over, because a snail left inverted will die.
Check for movement before you decide one is dead. A closed operculum with no smell is usually a resting snail, and throwing out a live one is a common mistake.
Breeding
This won't happen in fresh water, which is the entire appeal. The larvae need brackish conditions and there's no accidental route to that from a home aquarium.
The eggs still turn up, and there's no way to stop them. You can scrape them off glass; off wood it's effectively impossible.
Tank mates
Avoid9
- Clown Loach Clown Loach is not safe with Nerite Snail: loaches and botia and snails are a bad pairing.
- Demasoni Cichlid Demasoni Cichlid is not safe with Nerite Snail: african cichlids and snails are a bad pairing.
- Dwarf Chain Loach Dwarf Chain Loach is not safe with Nerite Snail: loaches and botia and snails are a bad pairing.
- Electric Yellow Lab Electric Yellow Lab is not safe with Nerite Snail: african cichlids and snails are a bad pairing.
- Hillstream Loach Hillstream Loach is not safe with Nerite Snail: loaches and botia and snails are a bad pairing.
Only with care13
- Chinese Algae Eater Chinese Algae Eater is aggressive and Nerite Snail is peaceful.
- Convict Cichlid Convict Cichlid is aggressive and Nerite Snail is peaceful.
- Jewel Cichlid Jewel Cichlid is aggressive and Nerite Snail is peaceful.
- Bristlenose Pleco Bristlenose Pleco is a risk to Nerite Snail: bristlenose catfish and snails are a pairing to watch.
- Clown Pleco Clown Pleco is a risk to Nerite Snail: bristlenose catfish and snails are a pairing to watch.
No conflict is recorded with the other 82 species in the database, so nothing to flag. 4 species are not covered at all, so they could not be judged either way.