Turbo snail

Care at a glance

The turbo snail is the heavyweight algae eater among reef snails: a large, lumbering animal that ploughs through a field of hair algae at speed and grazes glass and rock bare where smaller snails give up. For a tank with an algae problem it is often the quickest fix.

That same power is its downside: it is clumsy and shoves loose frags, coral discs and badly stacked rock aside without ceremony. So glue your corals down properly. And keep an eye on numbers — once the algae film is gone there is barely anything left for a large snail to eat, and it will quietly starve. Supplementing with nori keeps it going.

Best not combined with

• Valentini pufferCanthigaster valentini
• Picasso triggerfishRhinecanthus aculeatus
• Clown triggerfishBalistoides conspicillum
• Porcupine pufferDiodon holocanthus
• Dogface pufferArothron nigropunctatus
• Peacock mantis shrimpOdontodactylus scyllarus

Related species

• Fire shrimpLysmata debelius
• Hermit crab (red leg)Clibanarius sp.
• Cleaner shrimpLysmata amboinensis
• Peppermint shrimpLysmata wurdemanni
• Sexy shrimpThor amboinensis
• Coral banded shrimpStenopus hispidus