Stocky cerith snail (Cerithium litteratum) care guide
- Group
- Snails
- Other names
- Stocky cerith, Lettered horn snail, Cerith snail, Murex litteratus, Cerithium semiferrugineum
- Family
- Cerithiidae
- Origin
- Western Atlantic: South Carolina and Florida through the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean to Brazil; shallow reefs to 88 m
- Water
- saltwater
- Maximum size
- 3.4 cm
- Temperature
- 22–26°C
- pH
- 8.1–8.4
- Hardness
- SG 1.023–1.025, dKH 8–12
- Minimum tank
- 40 litres
- Care level
- beginner
- Reef safe
- yes
Care
The stocky cerith is a small Caribbean horn snail with a sturdy, pointed shell up to about 3.4 cm, usually patterned in black, white and green-grey. Ceriths sold in the hobby (often just labelled Cerithium sp.) come from the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific off Mexico and may include more than one species. Clean-up crew: one of the most useful reef clean-up snails because it works both the rock and the sand. It grazes film algae, diatoms and hair algae from rock and glass, and burrows into the sand at night, eating detritus and stirring the top layer, which helps keep the sand bed oxygenated. In the wild ceriths help coral larvae settle by keeping algae down. Many keepers also see them eat cyanobacteria films and leftover food. A common guide is about one per 10–20 litres (general guidance, not from a source). Set-up: a mature reef with live rock and a sand bed; it does best in established systems with deeper sand. It is sensitive to high nitrate and to copper. Acclimatise slowly with a drip. Copper: copper-based medicines and some plant fertilisers are toxic to shrimp, snails and most invertebrates. Never dose copper in a tank holding this animal, and check fertiliser and medicine labels before use. Sources: LiveAquaria (liveaquaria.com/products/cerith-snail); Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerithiumlitteratum). Checked October 2026.
Diet
Herbivore and detritivore: film and hair algae, diatoms and organic matter in the sand. Supplement with algae wafers or dried seaweed in a very clean tank.
Breeding
Sexes are separate and hard to tell apart. Breeding pairs lay stringy, wavy lines of eggs on the aquarium glass after dark. The eggs rarely hatch into surviving snails because tankmates eat them or filters remove the larvae; captive breeding is very difficult.
Compatibility and tank mates
Peaceful and reef safe; ignores corals, fish and other invertebrates. Hermit crabs often kill ceriths for their shells (small hermits in the wild use its empty shells). Hogfish, wrasses, triggers and puffers eat it.
Last updated 8 October 2026. Community-edited care guide on Aquatic-Auctions.