Nerita

Nerita tesselata
Gmelin, 1791

Checkered Nerite

Likely Reef Tank Suitable

Likely Fish-Only Tank Suitable

More

There are many different genera in this 'Nerita' family and various species and subspecies can be found worldwide in tropical and temperate waters, and in both freshwater and marine waters. Therefore many slightly different colored species exist in the trade.

Many of these small rounded herbivorous snails often crawl out of the aquarium, as they are more an intertidal species than a reef species. And if forced to live submerged all the time, they probably won't last a year.

Even though they are fairly good at trimming algae, which includes diatoms, microalgae, filamentous, and cyanobacteria, they should only be considered supplementary consumers, as they really don't compare to what Astraea snails can accomplish.

An excellent identification source for the wide variety of these snails is the following website: www.capricornica.com.