Nerites: The Stylin’ Cleanup Crew

Nerite snails are freshwater mollusks originating from the East Coast of Africa, commonly found in rivers and streams. With various colors and patterns like Batik, Horned, Helmet, and Onion, they're popular in aquariums for their algae-cleaning abilities. Besides their practical role, their beautiful shells and grazing behavior make them enjoyable to observe. We house them on pool-filtered sand or bare-bottom tanks with Matten filters, supplementing their diet and enhancing their environment with Indian Almond Leaves and LED lighting for natural algae growth. Nerite snails are one of the best-eating animals you can find for an aquarium, but what makes them even cool are all the varieties, here are a few of my personal favorites. 

Red Racer Nerite |Vittina waigiensis

Lets start strong with everyone's favorite, the Red Racer Nerite! These snails have unique shells with stunning colors on their shells. Their colors range from reds to oranges and yellows with unique striping on their shells. 

Zebra Nerite | Neritina Natalensis

The Zebra Nerite although you would expect them all to look very similar, their shells are all still so unique. Their stripes can range from large to super small. 

Horned Nerite | Clithon corona/diadema

The Horned Nerites have such unique shells. Not only do they have a mix of colors and patterns including beautiful black and yellow spiral patterns but they also have what looks like little horns on their shells!

The most common concern with Nerites:

Do Nerites lay a lot of eggs?