Snail
Tiger Nerite Snails
Neritina semiconicaNeritidaeSnails
Price: $13.99 USD
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Tiger Nerite Snails (Neritina semiconica) are small freshwater snails with distinctive black-striped amber shells, prized as some of the best algae eaters for planted tanks. They feed entirely on algae, diatoms, and biofilm, leave plant leaves untouched, and thrive in 72-82F water with a pH of 7-8.2.
Quick facts
Identity
- Also known as
- Black-Striped Nerite Snail
- Synonyms
- Vittina semiconica
- Environment
- Freshwater
- Native to
- Southeast Asia, East Africa
- Habitat
- Estuarine and coastal freshwater streams and rivers where fresh water meets brackish water; adults graze rocks, wood, and reed stems in flowing fresh water upstream
- Sourcing
- Both
- Conservation
- Not Evaluated
Care
- Care level
- Easy
- Temperament
- Peaceful
- Adult size
- 0.5 – 1 in (1.3 – 2.5 cm)
- Lifespan
- 1 – 2 yrs
- Min tank
- 5 gal (19 L)
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Placement
- Bottom, Rock & glass
Water
- Temperature
- 72 – 80 °F (22 – 27 °C)
- pH
- 7.0 – 8.2
- GH
- 6 – 12 dGH
- dKH
- 3 – 10 dKH
- Flow
- Low-Moderate
Behavior & compatibility
- Social
- Solitary
- Aggression to own kind
- Low
- Active
- Night
- Invert safe
- Yes
- Plant safe
- Yes
- Shrimp safe
- Yes
- Clean-up role
- Algae, Biofilm
- Population boom risk
- Low
Feeding & breeding
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Foods
- Algae, Biofilm, Vegetables, Wafers
- Breeding type
- Egg scatterer
- Breeding difficulty
- Not bred in captivity
- Sexing
- No reliable external sexing characteristics; sexes are separate but visually indistinguishable
- Target feeding
- Beneficial
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Care guide
Overview
Tiger Nerite Snails carry amber-brown shells banded with dark, tiger-like stripes, growing to about an inch. They graze glass, rock, and wood around the clock for algae and biofilm, leaving live plants untouched, making them a reliable cleanup crew for planted and community tanks. Stable hardness is essential to keep the shell from eroding over its one to two year lifespan.
Care
Tiger nerites are undemanding once water hardness and pH are kept in the right range, since their calcium carbonate shell dissolves in soft, acidic water. Provide plenty of mature hard surfaces such as rocks, driftwood, and glass for grazing, and keep a tight-fitting lid since they climb readily and will wander out of an open top. A cuttlebone or crushed coral in the filter helps buffer softer tap water and supply the calcium the shell needs for maintenance.
Feeding
In an established tank with algae and biofilm on the glass and decor, no supplemental feeding is usually necessary. In newer tanks or ones kept very clean, offer blanched zucchini or spinach, or algae wafers, a couple of times a week to prevent starvation. They ignore live plant tissue entirely, focusing instead on film algae, diatoms, and surface biofilm.
Tank mates
Completely peaceful, tiger nerites will not bother fish, shrimp, or live plants and make good additions to community and planted tanks. They are solitary and do not need conspecifics for company, though multiple individuals can be kept together without issue. Avoid copper-based medications in the tank, as nerites are highly sensitive to copper and can be killed by trace amounts.
Breeding
Females lay small white, hard egg capsules on glass, wood, and decor, but these will never hatch in a freshwater aquarium. The larvae are amphidromous and require brackish or marine water to develop into juvenile snails, a stage no home aquarium replicates. This makes the species effectively impossible to overpopulate a tank, unlike many other freshwater snails.
Health
Shell erosion is the most common problem, showing first as chalky white patches near the spire, then pitting, and eventually a thin, cracking shell if hardness and pH are not corrected. This is a mineral deficiency in the water rather than a feeding issue, so raising GH and KH is the fix rather than adding more food. A snail found stuck upside down on the substrate should be righted promptly, since nerites cannot always turn themselves over.
Sources
More Snails
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In the community
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