For me the best is Stomatella snails. Just because they multiply way better than any other snail and stay smaller. Second favorite would be turbo as well
i would have loved to see the Stomatella in the study. neat snails. Trocus snails would have been good to study as well as they freely spawn in my tank.
i also like to have a mix. although i find that the mexican turbos don't last as long in my tank, but the dwarf turbos tested in the paper tend to last a long time for me like they did in the study.
Mexican Turbos definitely don’t last quite as long, but worth replacing for me just because they are the only ones that keep my refugium completely clean of hair algae and turf algae. Trochus don’t do that for me.
They are great because most of the time they can Right themselves. Astrea Snails, can’t, and I’ve had many stupidly climb on Coral and die. Not sure if they got stung to death. Most Turbo Snails are cold water snails, from Mexico anything over 74-75F they get cooked to death. There are African Turbo Snails, that are warm water snails, but the Hobbyist can’t tell the difference.
I've had three turbo snail (all purchased at different stores at different times) die on me. The one who lived longest lasted 2 months. All of them were doing a great job grazing on algae when they are alive. I have hair algae mainly. I've read that filamentous algae can be toxic to Turbo argyrostomus (a species native to Indo-Pacific). Don't know if that stands true for their cousins in Mexico.
Thanks for sharing. I have also had issues with Mexican turbo snails not living long in my tank, but the species they tested in the paper - the dwarf turban snail - is not the same as the ‘Mexican turbos’. Cheers!
I find it so weird my Mexican turbos have been in the tank for 5 months I have 3 of them in my biocube they are around the size of Golf balls. They are algae bulldozers. Everyone that says they die too soon is guaranteed a lack of food they have a serious appetite .
