Reef Discussion

[Agent M]

How is everyone going with their Strombs? I bought one 4 weeks ago and it cleaned up about 1/4 of my sand bed and promptly died. I have no idea why and I'm not sure if I should try again or not. My other inverts - eg. brittle stars, turbos, whelks, sponges, fan worms, limpets etc are all breeding and thriving. I floated it in the tank for 15 mins and drip acclimatised it over an hour before releasing it in the tank. Thoughts?

 

[Agent M]

I should add, it was trundling around the tank around 11pm when I went to bed, found it at 6am the next morning semi-wedged under my Acan lordhowensis and very much dead. :(

 

[MagicJ]

Are you sure it is dead - mine often bury's itself in the sandbed for days at a time.

 

[Joshwaaaa]

I just dumped mine in the tank and he started eating straight away and never stopped, only had him for 3 months or so though. I am getting a little worried however as my sand bed and rocks are extremely clean and there doesnt seem to be much algae growing at all. Dont want to starve him. He has gone from being out all day to burying himself most of the day and coming out at night

 

[daveH]

My strom (Garry - from Spongebob Squarepants) is a pain in the arse. He climbs over every coral and knocks things over. Lost count of how many times I've been tempted to throw him on the highway. I'd never do it - he's a good cleaner :)

 

[daveH]

yes, they do breed in captivity, however, to my knowledge, the larvae have not been sucessfully raised through metamorphosis (the larvae are pelagic and must metamorphose prior to settling to the bottom). The sex the strombs, look at the anterior portion of the foot (on the front right hand side). If there is a distinct grove that runs to the front of the foot, you have a female, if not, then you have a male. During oviposition, the eggs are transported down this grove and place into the substrate. Eggs are often laid during the act of fertilisation (the male mounts the female from behind, and pins her down by attaching the front of his foot to her shell).

Can you repeat that last bit in slow low tones? :D

 

[ifishnow]

Are you sure it is dead - mine often bury's itself in the sandbed for days at a time.

Mine does the same thing..I always wonder if they sleep or have their snout out cleaning around under the sand and bottom of glass. Yes and sometimes you would think it was dead when you first picked it up till it started waking out of its slumber. Not only does mine bury itself but my decorated goby buries it even more. :rolleyes
I got mine on 31/07/2011, one of my first critters.

 

[Agent M]

Are you sure it is dead - mine often bury's itself in the sandbed for days at a time.

Totally certain - its body was completely eaten by the CUC at the end of that day.

 

[gcebiker]

If you are running low on food in your tank for them...as i am , just add some sinking algae pellets for them to munch on.

Or put some nori under a rock (so it wont float away), the love the stuff.
I find going from a 4x2x2 to my 2x2x2 my two strombs are running a bit short of food, so i need to supplement it.

 

[ifishnow]

Here's my Snuffy doing what he does second best next to sleeping.

 

[Buddy]

My sandbed is very clean too so I add a clip of nori every week or two and the Stromb munches it up in no time.

 

[DavidS]

Mine was going fine until my two hermits decided to pluck him out of his shell. It's not like they needed bigger shells I might add - there were larger shells empty in the tank that they rotated between. I caught them with him barrelled up in a corner being dragged out still alive.. though not for long.
He was an awesome snail too. Would do laps around the edges of the tank and clean everything up. Those hermits have been in the sump since.

 

[Josh M]

2 on the bed of a 2-2-2 doable ? I feed heavily as I like my fish fat ;) just gotta buy some algae pellets to top them up once a week ?

 

[gcebiker]

I have a pretty sparse sand bed and still they need supplemental feeding, just grab some of those sinking algae pellets.

Here are my two getting jiggy

Close up of the eggs..

Normal pic of the eggs..

...yes i do need to vac my sand bed :rolleyes

 

[MTG]

more like a rockbed! whats the flyscreen for?

 

[gcebiker]

The fly screen covers the plenum grid that protects the glass from rock falls.
The holes are for the inverts/fish to get in/out.
Those rocks are 2mm in size.

Strombs laid again today, i think they need a TV...

 

[gcebiker]

The snails continue to lay but still no sign of any babies...i thought i saw some a few weeks ago...i think it was a mirage.

 

[gcebiker]

Is anyone having success with breeding these snails ? any tips on a more suitable substrate for them ?

I am thinking that if there are any little snails there then they might be getting stuck in between the coral rubble on the bottom :confused:

 

[MagicJ]

Is anyone having success with breeding these snails ? any tips on a more suitable substrate for them ?

Look at this earlier post from Dr Schell

yes, they do breed in captivity, however, to my knowledge, the larvae have not been sucessfully raised through metamorphosis (the larvae are pelagic and must metamorphose prior to settling to the bottom).

 

[Dr. Schell]

As far as I am aware, the snails breed without issue, mine are always laying eggs in the substrate, but they do not metamorphose into the adult form in our aquariums.