Zebra Nerite Snail - Neritina natalensis

Zebra Nerites snails' shells have a truly striking and beautiful pattern, featuring gold and black zebra-like stripes running all the way down. These attractive snails definitely draw your eyes directly to them, but they also serve some very useful purposes, as all Nerite Snails do. They clean algae off of glass, plants, and decorations, they eat hair algae, and they keep your substrate clean and the correct color.

Nerite Snails are widely believed to be the single best snail in the aquarium hobby for eating algae. They are totally safe with any fish, shrimp, or plants, and are completely peaceful. Nerite Snails require salt water to reproduce, so they will never overpopulate your aquarium (as some freshwater snails are known to do).

Zebra Nerite Snails range from 1/2 to 1 inch in diameter. They usually will remain around 1 inch throughout their lifespan, but the occasional snail will reach 1 1/2 inches! They do not eat plants (only algae), so they are perfectly suitable for planted tanks.

When keeping any type of Nerite Snails, it's a good idea to make sure the water line in your aquarium isn't too high, as these snails tend to climb up beyond the water line. Additionally, Nerite Snails do not tolerate water with high nitrate levels. All freshwater snails are very sensitive to copper, so watch out for copper if you use tap water in your tank.

What We Like About These Snails:

Among the most voracious algae-eating snails

Do not reproduce in freshwater

Safe with plants

Completely peaceful

RECOMMENDED TANK PARAMETERS: 

Temperature: 65° - 85° F (18° - 29° C)

pH: 6.5 - 8.0

KH: 5 - 12 dKH

Minimum tank size: 2 gallons per snail