I'm currently trying to raise some veliger larvae from Nerite snails in small tank with live rock. However, the adults keep stirring up the bottom and the rocks are getting covered with silt. I try to get the silt off in the morning before I leave, but it's back by the end of the day.
Main question: will this be a problem for the algaes growing on the live rock? I presumed it would probably be depriving them of light, but I don't know if it's a common situation or not.
If it is a problem, is there a small shrimp or something out there that doesn't eat snails that would help clean the rock off? I'm worried about damaging the fragile stuff attached to the rocks with the large pipet I'm using to try to blow the silt off.
I appologise if these are really stupid newbie questions, but I am mainly a freshwater invertebrate person so a lot of this stuff is new to me even after extensive reading and talking to other people. I have not done saltwater snails before, and wasn't intending on it until the Nerites I got (Neritina reclivata) turned out to really hate freshwater and were onlyto be happy once I had them over 1.016sg. They are in 1.020sg right now for the veligers, with calcium, iodine, and other supliments as well as filter food. The adults also seem to prefer the saltwater salinity and have finally started eating something other than spirulina.
If anyone out there could recommend a book on non-reef inverts I would be very greatful...I'm looking at mainly tidal and estuary environments since those are Nerite habitats.
