Snails are extremely intriguing creatures that can be kept at home and really focus on as a pet. Due to the way snails are not the most famous pets, you may be wondering how to think of a pet snail.
People have been busy with snail farming for a long time. It is known by the name of heliciculture. Snails are viewed as appetizing creature, which has been eaten since Roman times. They were grown from there and were further attributed to specific therapeutic properties.
These days, snails have become a family pet. They are taken really focused on their own terrariums. Some families even add sea snails to their family aquariums. It’s a great open door for kids to find out about the biological system. They often appreciate noticing these little creatures and accommodating them.
It’s not difficult to really focus on pet snails, as they have extremely fundamental needs.
Pet snails make amazing pets.
Generally, there are many types of snails that fall into three basic categories; land snails, freshwater snails, and saltwater snails.
Land snails can be found in any landfill and shady place, such as in your garden under some plants, or sometimes in pots. They can be found in deserts and in the river or on the seashore.
Freshwater snails are mainly found in rivers, ponds, and lakes. Like land snails, freshwater snails also have lungs and breathe oxygen.
Saltwater snails are the largest category of snails in the world. They are mainly found in salty waters such as seawater, the oceans, and sometimes on the seashore.
Here is a list of 10 types of reef-safe saltwater snails you can keep as pets:
1. Bumblebee Snail
- Scientific nickname: Engina mendicaria
- Root: Indian Ocean
- Size: 1/2 inch
- Reef Safe: Yes
Like most of the snails on this list, bumblebee snails are a carnivorous variety of salty liquid snails. They are also quite small, reaching only 1/2 inch in proportions in the fully developed period.
Bumblebee snails are sand sieves and eagerly burrow through the substrate in search of fleshy elements, as well as food scraps and polychaete worms.
Their constant search for decaying food and burrows helps turn the substrate over and prevents dead spots from forming. Sandy substrates can often harbor anoxic pockets that can remove deadly hydrogen sulfide.
While carnivorous bumblebee snails are considered reef safe. However, so far all the non-hard food that will go after the reef polychaetes is being consumed, few of which are considered beneficial.
They will also hunt pesky Vermetidos snails, still in the specifically hungry period. Bumblebee snails are nocturnal and specifically slow, in fact for snails, and they bend over to stay in one area until they are forced to hunt.
2. Turban Snail
- Scientific nickname: Tectus fenestratus
- Root: Indo-Pacific
- Size: 21/2 inch
- Reef Safe: Yes
Turban snails are vegetarians that constantly graze in fish tanks growing algae or aquarium glass and live rock. Considering that they are not active burrowers, pairing them with substrate stirring snails is key to a good cleaning crew.
As little vegetarian snails, they are a gentle variety of liquid salt snails with an intriguing shell design reminiscent of a sultan’s turban, hence the nickname.
Turban snails are highly variable in color, ranging from white, brown, and every earth tone in between.
Unless there are a few different varieties of liquid salty snail, turban snails will easily breed in captivity if kept in mature fish tanks or aquariums that continually raise algae to graze. They release eggs and sperm directly into the fluid column, frequently clouding the fluid for a short time.
The young, in fact, sink into the water, feeding on biofilms and algae until they are large enough to be visible. Turban snails will also gladly accept blanched vegetable and algae supplements if they consume all the algae in a fish tank or aquarium.
3. Cerith Snail
- Scientific nickname: Cerithium sp.
- Root: Caribbean Sea
- Size: 1 inch
- Reef Safe: Yes
Cerith snails are regular hitchhikers on newly purchased live rock and are welcome in most fish tanks or reef aquariums.
As miniature as they are, rarely growing more than an inch in length, they can chase algae, biofilms, and debris into the smallest rock crevices. In fact, they will consume cyanobacteria and other more harmful developments.
Cerith snails are also consummate burrowers and tunnel through the fine substrate, helping to treat aerated sand free of rotten gas pockets and food debris.
A deep sand bed of more than 2 inches creates many of the Cerith snail habitats and can be treated with different vegetarian burrowing snails beyond trouble.
Occasionally, Cerith snails breed in established fish tanks or aquariums, leaving long rows of jelly-like eggs. but nevertheless, These eggs are highly visible and tend to be eaten by the container’s co-inhabitants long before development.
4. Donkey-eared Abalone Snail
- Scientific nickname: Haliotis asinina
- Root: Indo-Pacific
- Size: 2 to 4 inches
- Reef Safe: Yes
Donkey-eared abalone is one of the common snails in the fish tank or aquarium trade. Most abalones not only rise up to a foot in length but also choose the coldest liquids in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Although small for abalone, the donkey-eared abalone is one of the largest varieties of liquid salt snails and is capable of effortlessly knocking over loose decorations and disturbing corals and various sessile invertebrates in their search for food.
Abalones are specifically fond of diatoms, the soft brown development that mysteriously covers everything in the period when the demand for liquid changes rapidly. They will also consume algae, debris, and algae that they find.
In the period on the move, a frilly mantle covers its shell identical to the cowrie snail that retracts into the threatened period.
While most abalones are nocturnal, they willingly go outdoors to feed themselves in the period when they smell the food. Vegetables or seaweed, including human meal and nori, clipped to a nearby rock will attract them.
5. Fighting Conch Snail
- Scientific nickname: Strombus pugilis, S. alatus
- Root: tropical western Atlantic
- Size: 3 to 5 inches
- Reef Safe: Yes
Two types share the nickname of Fighting Conch, IndoPacific Fighting or Tiger Conch, and Florida Fighting Conch (Strombus alatus).
One and the other types average 3 inches in proportions, however, Florida Fighting Conchs can reach up to 5 inches.
Conch snails are impressively large varieties of salty liquid snails, however, fighting snails are still small and not difficult to handle. During the day they bend down to sit on the substrate or to bury themselves, sometimes disappearing for weeks.
At night they prowl for crops, diatoms, debris, fish food scraps and algae to consume under the safety of darkness.
Fighting Conchs gets its nickname from the wrestling matches that male snails occasionally perform.
However, they are peaceful at the time treated with different varieties of liquid salt snails. Conch snails in general are widely distributed due to the shape of their shells; the larger types are used to form conch trumpets.
Fighting snails should be treated away from medium to large hermit crabs. Due to the proportions of their shells, conch snails provide excellent homes and can be attacked by hermit crabs looking to move.
6. Money Cowrie Snail
- Scientific nickname: Monetaria annulus
- Root: Indian and the Pacific Ocean
- Size: up to 11/2 inches
- Reef Safe: Yes
Money cowrie snails are generally reef safe and can be troublesome. Few kinds rise up to 5 inches and will knock over loose decorations as they prowl. While money cowries are vegetarians, many types will taste corals on occasion, specifically if they have eaten all the seaweed available.
Money cowrie snails are also a minor variety of liquid salt snails. They can reach up to 11/2 inches and are generally smaller.
Money cowries were one of the most widely used mediums of exchange for centuries. From North America to China, people used Money Cowries to pay taxes, buy cattle, slaves, and actually assess national income.
While they are no longer accepted as a legal medium of exchange, Money Cowries are still large extensions of the reef tank or aquarium and they hunt algae and diatom films with enthusiasm.
Like all cowries, they can nibble on corals if they starve and should be given greens and seaweed if no more algae are present.
7. Banded Trochus Snail
- Scientific nickname: Trochus sp.
- Root: Indo-Pacific
- Size: 1 inch
- Reef Safe: Yes
Despite being voracious algae eaters, the Trochus snails shells are frequently covered due to their slow movement and daytime feeding habits.
In the period not obscured by algae, they often display a beautiful maroon stripe pattern that contrasts nicely with their jet-black bodies and feet. However, certain snails are sold as Trochus snails, many of which are plain in color.
Banded Trochus snails choose established containers and happily graze on films of algae, diatoms, and cyanobacteria, and detritus. However, they are not excessively effective against hair algae and other types of problems.
Some snails (such as turban snails) have trouble straightening up if flipped, however, Trochus snails are quite adept at turning upward. Trochus snails will also breed in fish tanks or aquariums, releasing clouds of eggs and sperm found in the fluid column. In fact, the free-swimming young settle in the substrate and become tireless eaters of algae.
8. Nerite Snail
- Scientific nickname: Nerita sp.
- Root: Pacific and Caribbean
- Size: up to 1 inch
- Reef Safe: Yes
Peaceful, small, strong, and inexpensive, Nerite snails are some of the most widespread varieties of liquid salt snails.
During the day, Nerite snails often choose a corner or hole to snuggle up in groups. At night they actively prowl, grazing on diatoms, algae and biofilms, hair algae, cyanobacteria, and different developments and leftovers.
Nerite snails are amphibious and occasional escape artists. Carrying breathing fluid under their shells, they sometimes end up in sinks and indeed on the floor by the time they decide to leave the fluid behind.
A tight cap is essential for these active snails.
Found in two oceans, Caribbean Nerite snails frequently display a zebra-striped pattern while Pacific snails are pale orange and white striped.
Nerite snails are also found in fresh liquid and brackish habitats around the world.
9. Turbo Snail
- Scientific nickname: Turbo sp.
- Root: Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean
- Size: 2 inch
- Reef Safe: Yes
There are certain varieties of Turbo Snail, including Mexican (Turbo fluctuosa) and Astraea Turbo Snails (Astraea tecta).
While the colder Pacific liquid types are occasionally found in the trade, most are collected from the warmer liquids in the Gulf of California, along the Mexican coast, and are true tropical types.
Turbo snails are one of the most common varieties of liquid salt snail for a marine cleaning crew invertebrate pack. They are voracious, medium-sized eaters of capillary algae, diatoms, and detritus.
Once they wash up most or all of the available algae supplementing their diet with blanched vegetables and seaweed is a good idea. And given their proportions, the decorations must be well secured to prevent them from falling off.
10. Nassarius Snail
- Scientific nickname: Nassarius sp.
- Root: worldwide
- Size: 1/2 to 1 inch
- Reef Safe: Yes
Nassarius snails are small burrowing snails that spend most of their period completely hidden under the sand. The visible part is the breathing siphon that they leave out of place to not only take in oxygen but also the aroma of “fresh” food.
Being burrowers, Nassarius snails choose a deep sandy substrate. While you can rarely identify them until the feeding period, they actively burrow, treating the substrate aerated and free of dead pockets.
Nassarius snails are scavengers, not algae eaters. Until now they smell dead animals, dig themselves up and move in groups towards the food source. While dead fish should be rare in fish tanks or aquariums, they will also accept prepared meals, including meaty frozen items, flakes, and sinking wafers.