Trochus Snails are a valued member of your reefs clean up crew. They are good algae eaters and will help combat undesirable algae within your aquarium. They are commonly referred to as Trochus Snails, Turban Snails and they are sometimes miss-labeled as Turbo Snails.
Trochus Snails posses the ability to be able to put themselves right after a fall from your glass or rocks, an ability that is not always found in other marine snails. This ability means you won’t have to keep putting them right manually, saving you from putting your hands in the tank for no other reason than to put right your snails.
Tank Requirements
- These snails are reef safe
- Clean and stable water
- Stable magnesium & calcium levels
- Algae, if there is no algae in your tanks their diet can be supplemented with Nori (dried seaweed)
- Secure rock work – they have been known to knock rocks over
- They will not tolerate a high nitrate level
- Recommended stocking level is 1 – 5 snails per 20 gallons (90L) of water.
Feeding
- These are predominantly herbivores
- Algae (diatoms, cyano, macro, and film, they are not big fans of hair algae)
- Their diet can be supplemented with nori (dried seaweed)
- Some aquarists have reported seeing these snails eating leftover flaked food
Acclimatisation
These snails take quite a long time to acclimate. They should be drip acclimatised slowly, for roughly double the amount of time you would do for a fish, about an hour and a half.
When placing it in the tank, it is best to place it on sturdy rock work rather than the sand as they prefer to be on the rock work.
Snails do not acclimate particularly well, so if after a couple of days you notice your snail is not moving you should place it somewhere that you can keep an eye on it, and if after another couple of days it still hasn’t moved, you should consider removing it from the tank.
The Difference Between The Trochus Snail & The Astrea Turbo Snail
Though these snails have a similar appearance there is one key visual difference in these snails and that is that the Trochus Snail has a black body and head, whereas the Turbo Snail’s body and head are white.
Their shells are slightly different, but they can easily be confused once the snail has established Coraline algae growth on its shell.
Turbo Snails also do not possess the ability to put themselves right after a fall, they can’t flip themselves back over. Turbo Snails also do not grow to be as large as Trochus Snails.
Astrea Turbo Snails also prefer to eat hair algae, something that the Trochus in not keen on.
Personal Review
I like the Trochus Snail. I think they are good all-round algae eaters, and I like that they can flip themselves over. I’m not a fan of sticking my hand in my tank unnecessarily. Their ability to flip themselves over also means they are a bit less likely to become victims of either more predatory fish or your hermit crabs.
One thing to consider with them is that they will eventually run out of food in your tank if your water parameters are right, so it’s best to not stock to heavily with these otherwise you will find yourself going through lots of nori!
They seem to be active throughout both the day and the night, but mine don’t seem too keen on crossing my sand bed, they like to stay on their rocks. I would guess once they have eaten everything available on the rocks, they will eventually move over to the glass.
