The herbivore Mexican turbo snail feeds on algae, including hair algae, cyanobacteria and diatoms, and is therefore a popular addition to marine aquariums with algae problems since it will devour algae types shunned by many other algae-eaters.
The Mexican turbo snail will remove algae from various surfaces, including live rock, corals and aquarium glass. It will also sift through the substrate, which is beneficial since it helps to keep the substrate aerated.
The Mexican turbo eats using its radula; a type of tongue with a rasp like texture. As the snail proceeds over a surface, the raspy radula efficiently do away with even really hard-to-remove algae types. The Mexican turbo snail prefers to eat when the aquarium is dark.
The Mexican turbo snail is a veracious eater and even a severely algae infested aquarium can be cleaned in a fairly short period of time, especially if you get several snails. You should therefore be prepared to supplement the naturally occurring food sooner or later; otherwise your snails might starve. You can for instance serve your snail dried seaweed sheets.
Ken - BWA
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