So many of us put little thought into our snail selection and end up restocking frequently. I often read about people losing snails with little to know answer. We just take what the seller says as gospel and don't do any research of our own. I have been in this hobby over 5yrs and never read this article. Most of the snails sold are from cooler waters and have little to no chance of long term survival. Below are a few cut outs of the article to hopefully peak your interest. Please read it entirely as it will only take a few minutes of your time. It will save numerous critters and keep $$ in your wallet. If someone has other links to help further push this please post them.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rs/
" If the snails are drip acclimated, the acclimation time may need to be on the order of five to ten hours for maximal survival"
".Given that they also are not warm water animals, they tend to die young and leave a good-looking corpse in the aquarium. Purchase them if you wish. I would spend my money on tropical species, however." Astrea Snails
"In other words, there are no snails of the genus Margarites that are found in warm tropical waters. One finds examples of the common North Pacific species, Margarites pupillus (Figure 13), offered for sale and this invariably leads to a quick death for this species if kept in reef aquaria. As with the species of Tegula, with which they share the common name "margarite" snail, they have no place in reef tanks. Still vendors persist in selling them. Go figure..."
" Although one often sees advice to add "x number" of these snails per gallon, such advice generally results in the death of most or all of the snails, as they generally exhaust their food source and starve to death. It is better to add them to a tank a few at a time until there are sufficient grazers in the tank so that at the end of the day there is a barely visible film of diatoms on the rocks or aquarium walls. "
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rs/
" If the snails are drip acclimated, the acclimation time may need to be on the order of five to ten hours for maximal survival"
".Given that they also are not warm water animals, they tend to die young and leave a good-looking corpse in the aquarium. Purchase them if you wish. I would spend my money on tropical species, however." Astrea Snails
"In other words, there are no snails of the genus Margarites that are found in warm tropical waters. One finds examples of the common North Pacific species, Margarites pupillus (Figure 13), offered for sale and this invariably leads to a quick death for this species if kept in reef aquaria. As with the species of Tegula, with which they share the common name "margarite" snail, they have no place in reef tanks. Still vendors persist in selling them. Go figure..."
" Although one often sees advice to add "x number" of these snails per gallon, such advice generally results in the death of most or all of the snails, as they generally exhaust their food source and starve to death. It is better to add them to a tank a few at a time until there are sufficient grazers in the tank so that at the end of the day there is a barely visible film of diatoms on the rocks or aquarium walls. "
