Trochus snail

Care at a glance

The trochus snail is the workhorse choice for the clean-up crew: a conical shell, a steady grazing path across glass and rock, and unlike most reef snails it can right itself when it falls on its back. In practice that saves a lot of dead snails.

It is smaller and more careful than a turbo snail and therefore does not knock your frags over, but it does work more slowly through a thick field of algae. In a stable reef tank it will sometimes reproduce, something that virtually never happens with turbos. Keep numbers in proportion to the amount of film: too many snails means too little food.

Related species

• Astraea snailAstraea tecta
• Nassarius snailNassarius sp.
• Cerith snailCerithium sp.
• Maxima clamTridacna maxima
• Bumble bee snailEngina mendicaria
• Feather duster wormSabellastarte spectabilis