Astrea snail ID? And CUC suggestions.

[Petrichor]

Looking to pick up some more snails/crabs for my CUC, but first I want to confirm what these two fellows I bought are. Both were listed as Astrea snails, but the shells look a big longer than the pictures I can Google, so now I'm not sure what I got. The flesh is white with black stripes/bars (you can see the top of its mouth at the bottom of the shell near the sand) and they have multiple side tentacle/antennae bits that stick out from under the shell (as seen on the right of the shell).

I got two to combat some hair algae, and both annihilated it in days, but now I'm getting regular green algae on my glass that I'd like something to deal with. I've seen these two on the glass only twice, and I can see their tracks on the glass, but both prefer to stick to the live rock. Any snail recommendations for helping keep the glass tidy?


24g AIO Cardiff reef tank
~28 lbs live rock

Current CUC:
2x whatever these snails are
1x hermit crab (planning to get more)
1x Nassarius snail

I'd love to get cerith or nerite snails, but nowhere in my area seems to have any in stock for the past month.

 

[Bret Brinkmann]

Trochus have those tentacles all around but I only ever saw the red banded variety in person. It could be a turban snail, which is in the trochus family. They look to be a white shelled version of the more popular red banded trochus.

If your current stock of snails have already eaten your algae, then you'll need to supplement their diet so they don't starve to death. If your algae is now just limited to the glass, then they will find it. The best glass grazers I have found are nerites. Mine spend nearly all their time on my glass with occasional ventures onto the rocks. If you want nerites for your glass, they are worth holding out for. They come in a variety of colors including grey, yellow, blue, white, and red.

Other good algae eaters that seem to go all over instead of focusing on one type of area are ceriths, gold ring cowries, and astreas. Ceriths in particular because they dig through the sand as well. Cerith means seeking or restless. Appropriate for a snail that wanders everywhere.

I personally do not get hermits of any kind because they will at some point kill snails. If not for food then for their shell. Even if you have a million extra shells, they can and do decide that they want THAT shell currently occupied by your snail.

 

[Petrichor]

Thanks for the feedback, Bret Brinkmann! I originally wanted trochus/turban snails, so if these guys were mislabeled then it worked in my favor! The cowrie is likely a no-go, as I have some hitchhiker sponges I've grown fond of and would hate to see them eaten. Beautiful snails though.

I think I'll do a run of all the LFSs this weekend to see if any have restocked ceriths. I've never seen nerites for sale in person, so fingers crossed for those, but if my cerith search comes up empty I'll start looking online for both. Thanks again for the advice.