Nerite snail carpet surfing

so i just came backt o my apartment and found one of my snails carpet surfing. anyone know what you can do about this? I have not had any snails except for these nerites that keep climbing out/clustering at the top of my tank in a group and i dont know why.

 

your tank is either too small or not enough food.

 

haha. trust me there is plenty of different kinds of algae to keep them busy. they just keep crawling up and having an orgy on my glass.

 

They are coastal dwelling creatures so they are used to not always being submerged. That is a reason why they are gathering at the top of your tank. You need to have either a large lip on the top of your tank, or some kind of lid. Eggcrate is a good choice, as it can help to keep them in while still allowing oxygen exchange to occur at the water's surface.

 

Correct, they usually live in tidal areas, so they are often out of the water for periods of time. I've had some do this too. Put him back in the water, as they can survive outside of water for long periods of time.

 

where do you guys buy eggcrate, i cant find it anywhere????

 

Home Depot, Lowes, Ace Hardware... they all carry it. Most will call it "light diffuser".

 

As the previous poster said, it's actually called "light diffuser". I found it at my Home Depot right under the 4 foot long florescent light fixtures. Nobody who works there has any clue where it is or even what is it, so I had to just take my time and look for it myself.