hey guys does anyone have any snails that they want to sell or give away? I can't seem to be able to get any from the shops here in auckland and I don't have any in my tank at the moment.

Warick.

If you want snails for cleaning, head to your local beach, such as browns bay and grab some cats eyes. They love the temp and everything else about a marine tank and they clean up lots.

And they are free!

My ones have coralline algae growing on their shells!

local cats eyes wont die in a tropical marine system??I live in herne bay... the beach 200 metres away.....

No, my ones love it!

No other type of snail handles very well. They die fairly quick.

You should still climatise before putting in the tank though.

They are used to higher tempeartures whilst bathing in rock pools.

Just remember they are in winter at the moment, so it will be easy to shock them, climatise slowly. They clean the rocks up a treat!

local snails will only live for a short time and then die. have tried a few times and i run my water cooler then most on this forum. longest survivor was 6 months at best. also some need tidal activity and seem to leave the water and then wait for the tide to return. which doesn't happen very often in closed systems :-?

thanx.

can you post a description of catseyes so i get the right ones, thanks.

Ive been getting longer than 6 months from mine.

dont know what type they are but i have heaps of snails.......

will take photo

Warick, I have heaps of baby snails in my refugium. You're more than welcome to a dozen or so. They grow reasonably quickly. All the catseyes I got from the beach only lasted about 3-6 months then died.

my tank must be better!!

Same here, 3-6 months for the snails, 3-6 months for starfish. Glass shrimp though seem tohandle the temp just fine as long as the survive the first week or two.

my tank must be better!!

...or you're running it at 20 degrees