New critters

[zhenya]

Added couple of new inhabitants today,a Strombus alatus aka fighting conch and a unidentified(as yet) sea cucumber. Figured I'd share couple of pics of the critters. Conch is about 2.5 inches long.

[Reefland]

Love those closeup!

[zhenya]

Love those closeup!

Thanks,Scott I have a clearer shot,I think.Not as close though. Sand bed and glass interface is always covered with some algae and I can't get a clear shot there

[Poseidon]

Cool pics and COOL critters!!!

[SteveP]

Cool pics and COOL critters!!!

Wish I could get pics that good !

Awesome

Steve

[Minh Nguyen]

My Fighting conch disappeared for several months. I though that he died. One day last week, he pop-up, about 1/2 inch longer. They are nice little animal but hide a lot. I also have a Queen conch in my tank. He is aobut 3+ inches now, grew form 1.5 inch in 11/03.
I also ahve about 5 of the same Sea cucumber.
Gene, I guess you are not in a hurry to take your tank down.
BTW, I got a Rose BTA (trade some Xenia with the LFS for it)
Minh

[zhenya]

My Fighting conch disappeared for several months. I though that he died. One day last week, he pop-up, about 1/2 inch longer. They are nice little animal but hide a lot. I also have a Queen conch in my tank. He is aobut 3+ inches now, grew form 1.5 inch in 11/03.
I also ahve about 5 of the same Sea cucumber.
Gene, I guess you are not in a hurry to take your tank down.
BTW, I got a Rose BTA (trade some Xenia with the LFS for it)
Minh

Hi Minh,

Breaking tank down is such a big task for me so I'm taking my time The 110g will be torn down as soon as friend of mine goes on vacation and can give me couple of days to help out.The 75g tank will run for a bit longer untill I can empty out a space where I can fit a 200+ gallon tank.After talking with family I decided that being without reeftank won't be the same in the house but 200-240g tank is the largest I can possibly fit in my small house. It will go most likely in the same room where 75 now is so I'll set the larger one up first and then transfer everything over into it when it is ready.I plan on cycling/running it empty with just live rock for at least three-four month.

Now that you got a rose bta I suppose you don't want one of mine Mine had cloned again,by the way :eek3: so I'm stuck with the three of them.

I'll be sending one to Kevinpo probably by next week or the week after, the other two I'll see if someone wants locally.

On the sea cucumber, do you know what species it might be?

[Ninong]

My Fighting conch disappeared for several months. I though that he died. One day last week, he pop-up, about 1/2 inch longer. They are nice little animal but hide a lot.

The same thing happened to me. I have two of them that I got eight months ago. One of them used to spend most of its time in the front part of the tank and the other one spent most of its time in the rear part of the tank. Occasionally both would be visible together in the front of the tank.

Then about three or four months ago I stopped seeing the "beige" one. That was the one that spent most of its time in the front of the tank. That left me with just the "green" one and it still spends three-fourths of its time in the rear of the tank. Then about three weeks ago I noticed a strombid eye poking up out of the sand bed in the front of the tank. I was really surprised because the "green" one was in plain sight at the other side of the tank at the time. It was definitely a strombid eye and it was moving, so it had to be the "beige" fighting conch. Then a couple of days later I saw it cruising the sand bed. It did that for perhaps two or three days before disappearing again.

The first few months that I had them they never stayed buried for more than a few days at a time, usually only a few hours at a time. Now it seems that I am experiencing what others have reported, namely "hibernation" for weeks/months at a time. It would be interesting to know what triggers this behavior. Is it part of a regular cycle or is it a response to the environment, possibly a response to a lack of available algal sources? That would assume that its metabolism is lowered during periods of "rest" under the sand bed. Your observation that yours grew during its "disappearance" would not lend support to this hypothesis.

[Minh Nguyen]

Gene,
I think with the price of the Rose so inexpensive these days, it make better sense for me to get thme locally. I hope mine will reproduce like your's.
I am glad that you have decide not to give up your reef tank. I do think setting one up with good planning will help a lot in term of time and ease of maintainance.
With rock fully cured, it does not take a long for a tank to be stable. My tank is only 6 month old now, and it is doing very well. However, take as long as you wish to get your tank start. Good planning will help a lot in ease of maitainance. My tank is full of little frags. All the corals in my tank now are captive grown. Only a few LPS that survide the crash are wild corals.
I am tanking my time to see they grow.
One bad point about my tank is that I got flatworm in my tank now. I really tried hard to prevent it but one must slip past me some how.

Ninong
I don't think my Conch was ever hibernate. He was just behind the tank. My tank was so big, that I just cannot find him.
Minh
Minh

[zhenya]

Gene,
I think with the price of the Rose so inexpensive these days, it make better sense for me to get thme locally. I hope mine will reproduce like your's.
I am glad that you have decide not to give up your reef tank. I do think setting one up with good planning will help a lot in term of time and ease of maintainance.
With rock fully cured, it does not take a long for a tank to be stable. My tank is only 6 month old now, and it is doing very well. However, take as long as you wish to get your tank start. Good planning will help a lot in ease of maitainance. My tank is full of little frags. All the corals in my tank now are captive grown. Only a few LPS that survide the crash are wild corals.
I am tanking my time to see they grow.
One bad point about my tank is that I got flatworm in my tank now. I really tried hard to prevent it but one must slip past me some how.

Minh

Minh,

I agree on the rose bta's becoming inexpensive and if you got one locally it is probably the best way to get one. I personally think that anemones don't ship well and require a bit of time to recover after shipping.They do recover nicely if the new home is stable and their needs are met,however.

Sorry to hear about the flatworm slipping by you, will you be using some type of nudibranch to control them or just leave them be?
I never had flatworms and don't really recall seen one in person and I'm hoping that I never will ;)

Then about three weeks ago I noticed a strombid eye poking up out of the sand bed in the front of the tank.

LOL,George. You mean one of this?

[Penguin]

I also had my fighting conch bury itself for an extended period--couldn't find it for a couple of months. In my case I assumed that it got spooked by a hermit that got a little too close shortly after introducing the conch. The conch did that funny jumping motion to get away, then the next day it had vanished. I didn't notice any obvious growth when it re-emerged, but it's hard to say for sure.

[JB NY]

Gene,

I didn't notice the conch the other day, you'll like them. They do bury themselves for extended periods but do a great job of cleaning up the sand.

[zhenya]

Gene,

I didn't notice the conch the other day, you'll like them. They do bury themselves for extended periods but do a great job of cleaning up the sand.

Joe,

I think we were too busy talking corals and tanks and I forgot to show him off
I just hope that he can survive untill I upgrade, he'll surely have more sand to roam then.As it stands now, he doesn't really have the space that he needs to live comfortably. I guess I better hurry ;)

[Leddy]

Gene,

They do bury themselves for extended periods but do a great job of cleaning up the sand.

I have 2 Strombus conch (name?), and one has been missing for about a week or so. Is this amount of time common? I keep wondering if its dead, or in the rocks hiding, maybe buried. Everyday I check to see if its roaming the sand bed like the other one, but no luck. I put a few small pellets in once a day or every other, and the nassarius crawl out, but no conch. Let me know what you think, any help would be appreciated. thanks.


Leddy

[Ninong]

I have 2 Strombus conch (name?),

The two that are commonly available in the hobby are Strombus gigas (Queen Conch) and S. alatus (Fighting Conch). S. alatus is a better choice for most tanks because its adult size is only 3"-4" whereas S. gigas has an adult size of 8"-12".

and one has been missing for about a week or so. Is this amount of time common?

Mine used to go missing for only a few days at a time but lately that has stretched to weeks or months.

I keep wondering if its dead, or in the rocks hiding, maybe buried.

Usually when they bury themselves in the sand they leave at least one eye stalk above the sand bed. So you can usually find the eye looking up at you even though the entire shell is under the sand. However, I don't think they keep an eye out when they bury themselves for weeks/months at a time. At least I haven't found that to be the case.

Everyday I check to see if its roaming the sand bed like the other one, but no luck. I put a few small pellets in once a day or every other, and the nassarius crawl out, but no conch.

Nassarius spp. snails do not eat algae, conchs do. I occasionally feed Formula One pellets (carnivore recipe) for my Nassarius vibex but these would not be appropriate for my S. alatus. When my tank was fairly new and I had diatoms and even some cyanobacteria on the sand bed they went to town on that. They will also eat film algae off the front glass by propping themselves up against the glass so that their proboscis can reach as high as possible. That lets them eat film algae from the bottom 3" or so of the glass. They are unable to climb the glass. If you want to feed something specifically for the conchs, you might try either Formula Two pellets or sinking algae wafers. They might go for those.