So I haven't added anything to my CUC since I started my tank. I have noticed what I thought was a fighting conch hitching a ride on my jumbo turbo snail. After he has been on him for a couple days. Today I noticed the jumbo turbo fell off the glass so I figured it was the added weight. Of the hitch hiker. So I pulled the conch off of the turbo to find a hole burrowed into the turbos shell. Could the conch have done that? Is it eating the turbo from behind? Should I toss the conch in the sump down stairs or possibly the street? I am guessing it's bot a fighting conch and was just mis identified when I got my CUC.
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Killer snail? Help please.
- Thread starter PaulM
- Start date
that's not a fighting conch - no doubt a predatory snail eating conch.
Horse conchs and possibly the crown conchs eat other snails for sure. Do you have a pic?
crown conch: Melongena corona, there's a google pic of one with a crab claw being eaten. so definite not an algae eating species.
The shell shape looks like a Melongena corona. It is completely covered in coraline algae so I cant tell by color. It looks like the jumbo turbo did not make it. 
So now the question is what do I do with it? All this time I was blaming the hermits for my dead snails. Not going to say where I got it from but people should use caution when purchasing snails.
So now the question is what do I do with it? All this time I was blaming the hermits for my dead snails. Not going to say where I got it from but people should use caution when purchasing snails.
We once bought a whelk that was a identified as a fighting conch. We had the same problems you are having now. The salesperson did know what they were selling us, and we did not realize it was a whelk until after it began eating our If Iit is a whelk, you will have to feed it snails if you want to keep it alive, ours did not eat mysis or other frozen foods.
We eventually returned it to the lfs that misidentified it, they acknowledged the mistake and apologized.
Can you take a photo?
We eventually returned it to the lfs that misidentified it, they acknowledged the mistake and apologized.
Can you take a photo?
From Wetwebmedia:
<From what I can see, your little snail looks very much like a predatory Whelk known as Gemophos tinctus, aka the Tinted or Painted Cantharus. Information can also be found on the ‘net/elsewhere under several obsolete names, including Pollia tincta and Cantharus tinctus. These snails prey mostly on fellow Gastropods and Bivalves, but also scavenge and can get up to about 1.25” in length. You did the right thing in getting that little guy out of there! For more information/photos for comparison, please see the following links:
http://www.jaxshells.org/gtinc.htm
http://www.gastropods.com/8/Shell_3228.shtml >
<From what I can see, your little snail looks very much like a predatory Whelk known as Gemophos tinctus, aka the Tinted or Painted Cantharus. Information can also be found on the ‘net/elsewhere under several obsolete names, including Pollia tincta and Cantharus tinctus. These snails prey mostly on fellow Gastropods and Bivalves, but also scavenge and can get up to about 1.25” in length. You did the right thing in getting that little guy out of there! For more information/photos for comparison, please see the following links:
http://www.jaxshells.org/gtinc.htm
http://www.gastropods.com/8/Shell_3228.shtml >
it's very hard to tell what is good and what is a bad snail besides presuming the people supplying them to us know what they are talking about.
When I purchased aquacultured/harvested live rock i had to almost get a dictionary understanding what critters could be good vs bad. Back then I was told that snails with siphons should be red flagged. The common nassarius vibex is one snail that is the exception. Nassarius vibex is a snail. Nassarius obseleta is a whelk. google both- it's very hard to tell the difference.
Anyways - for this particular hunter you have paul - in that pic - the "siphon" is something that helps is smell out other snails and eats them. A fighting conch does not have a "siphon" per se, but has an elongated mouth (aka similar to an elephant is the best analogy I can think of).
Here's a pic of one of my strombus fighting conches.
When I purchased aquacultured/harvested live rock i had to almost get a dictionary understanding what critters could be good vs bad. Back then I was told that snails with siphons should be red flagged. The common nassarius vibex is one snail that is the exception. Nassarius vibex is a snail. Nassarius obseleta is a whelk. google both- it's very hard to tell the difference.
Anyways - for this particular hunter you have paul - in that pic - the "siphon" is something that helps is smell out other snails and eats them. A fighting conch does not have a "siphon" per se, but has an elongated mouth (aka similar to an elephant is the best analogy I can think of).
Here's a pic of one of my strombus fighting conches.