How important are snails?

[asylumdown]

I've got like 6 of those big sand sifting snails. I can't remember their names, but they have smooth shells with leopard spots on them (bigger than all the other sand sifting snails). I also now have a copper band butterfly, which is a good eater, but not that quick so rather than polluting my tank by feeding too much so it gets enough, I've been trying to supplement it's diet with clams on the half shell, which it appears to love. However, within seconds of the shell hitting the sand, those big snails pop up out of the sand, and they basically smother the clam in a couple of minutes. This blocks any other fish from getting at the meat, and they don't leave until there's not a shred of clam meat left.

I'm tempted to catch them all and put them in the sump, but I don't know if that's a good idea, how important are they really?

[Enigma]

I don't have any of the Big guys you've got . . . I forget what they're called right now. I think six might be overkill. I'm not sure what they eat.

I have Mexican Turbos, Spiny Astrea, Nassarius, and Ceriths. They're all very useful to me, and I need more.

I figure that if what you've got isn't doing the job you want them to do, it is probably time to pass them on to someone else or return them to the store. If they're the big guys I'm thinking of, I skeptical that they'd be appropriate for your sump.


Edit: are cowries what you've got?

[chandigz]

Babalonian snails, often called orange spotted nassarius snails. They are preditors as well as scavengers. They will eat other snails, tridacna clams, scallops, and other inverts. They are not what I would call totally reefsafe.

[Starry]

Tonga narcs or conches. narcs are carnivors, but only eat dead stuff.. to the OP..tried putting the clams up on the rock work?

[Proteus]

I have one of the same snails. Sold to me as a peanut snail.
Verocias eaters. Watched mine strip a mussle in 5 minutes

I never had issues with being predatory. And if I feed and the snails and hermits explode with activity I take this as a sign to feed a little more

Try tossing two small half shells in

[asylumdown]

I've never seen them behaving in a predatory manner, just voracious. They never seen to get full, and their little mouth tube can stretch to pretty unbelievable lengths if they're trying to get at something in a hard to reach spot. When I was trying to catch my tang, I kept thinking the fish were eating the food in the trap and I was just missing it, until I realized the snails would climb up on the outside, and stick their mouth bits in through the breathing holes on the trap. I think one of them extended his feeding tube like 3 inches in to the trap to get at the mysis...

I'm going to reduce the number and see if one or two snails still causes me grief