[Sueet]

I bought a small snail, which I, and the lfs guy both thought was a conch of some sort. Well, I was browsing around wetwebmedia.com, and came across pictures that are exactly the same as the creature I have, and they say it is an Oyster Drill ... Problem is, when I enter Oyster drill into a search engine, I find many pictures, however, the pictures are either of live things that do not resemble my creature, or shells which really don't say much about the creature that once inhabited it. I am going to post the pics off wetwebmedia here, cuz I still don't have a working card reader for my camera, but these pics are identical to the thing I have, up to, and including, the little hair-like extensions on the outer shell. I will attempt to post my pics of my critter if they're needed whenever my new cardreader shows up.



Ok, having said all that, my question is : IF it is indeed an "Oyster Drill", do I need to buy oysters to feed it, and if so, do they have to be live? If not, what other foods might be acceptable to it? IF they have to be live, where the heck can I get them? I like the lil guy, he is really kewl looking with the spots and furry shell, so I don't want him to starve to death. Any input is VERY welcome here!

[Ninong]

I really don't know much about them, so I went to Wet Web Media and found the same reference you found, pictures and all.

I think Bob Fenner answered your question when he wrote:

<You have an Oyster Drill, Cymatium aquatile (drills holes in oyster et al. bivalve shells for feeding), family Cymathidae... which includes the Triton Snail, Charonia... oh, and the family is now Ranellidae. Bob Fenner>

That doesn't sound reef-safe to me unless you never intend keeping Tridacna clams. And I don't know if I would be interested in keeping anything in the same family (Cymathidae) as Charonia -- they eat crown of thorns seastars!!! I'm not saying this little guy is a threat to the crown of thorns, but his giant cousins surely are and the crown of thorns is one nasty looking hombre.

Anything that can drill into an oyster's shell can also drill into clams. I don't know if it is interested in molluscs other than bivalves, but if it is, it should have no trouble drilling into them, too.

[zhenya]

You can browse entire Cymatiacea superfamily here.

I agree with Ninong that none of this would be reef aquarium safe.

[Sueet]

Thanks to you both for your replies, but unfortunately, neither of you really answered my questions, ie. how to care for this thing. It is already in the tank, I will not kill it. There is, as far as I know, nothing in the tank even remotely like a bivalve.
I went to that page you linked, Ninong, and it just lists the fact that it exists, no info, no pic, no further links.

I dunno, guess I will try to find something for it to eat, and play trial and error or something. I have only two fish, a bunch of very small frags, a bunch of snails, a few starfish, and 4 anemones in this tank. So far, I have seen this thing climbing around on the rocks, the glass, even the sandbed, and I've seen no damage, so I am not going to worry about it. In fact, most of the frags will be moved from this tank very soon, the starfish can all move much faster than this lil guy does, and if it happens to catch a snail or something, well... I have baby snails all over so I guess that wouldn't be such a tragedy either.

I just wish I could be positive that it IS an Oyster Drill. Wetwebmedia is the ONLY place where I found a pic like the one I have. All other links for Oyster drill show a different appearing creature (no fuzzy shell, no spotted body).
If anyone can actually confirm Bob Fenner's statement, I would appreciate it.
(Yes, I know, it's ridiculous to doubt him, but... I like confirmation on everything.. even experts aren't always perfect!)

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Sueet

Thanks to you both for your replies, but unfortunately, neither of you really answered my questions, ie. how to care for this thing. It is already in the tank, I will not kill it. There is, as far as I know, nothing in the tank even remotely like a bivalve.

Sorry about that. I just assumed that Bob Fenner's answer was all anyone would need to know to reach a decision on this creature. I don't think it would be possible to offer it live bivalves at mealtime because it would be difficult to keep them alive very long if they were being eaten alive. I don't know if feeding chopped up bivalve meat would work either, especially considering that the animal you think you have may not recognize it as food. Obviously it has a highly developed, genetically imprinted feeding routine.

As far as bivalves are concerned, most people eventually consider including Tridacna clams in their reeftanks and clams are a prey item for the animal in question. All of this assumes, of course, that you actually have what you think you have. If it is something else, then none of this applies.

[Sueet]

Originally Posted by Ninong

As far as bivalves are concerned, most people eventually consider including Tridacna clams in their reeftanks and clams are a prey item for the animal in question. All of this assumes, of course, that you actually have what you think you have. If it is something else, then none of this applies.

Well, eventually I will have clams... but not in this tank, and obviously certainly not with this animal. If I need to, I can remove it ever-so-often to a small tank or jar with an oyster, let it feed, and then return it to the tank. Not sure where I can find live oysters tho, or whether or not they would be too costly to use in such a manner. I suppose in the same manner I could try dead ones and see if that worked. Also, as you said, it is completely dependent upon the creature actually BEING what Bob Fenner says it is. I DO have what is in those 3 pictures, I just don't know for sure that he is correct about what it is... yet.

Oh, and please don't apologize, I completely understand where you guys are coming from, and for a full blown reef, I agree, I wouldn't have bought the lil guy in the first place, but I really don't see what he could hurt in this tank, since most of what IS in there, won't be for much longer. I WILL be adding my true perc. pair when the anemones have had a chance to get comfy, and the sailfin will be removed. Not sure yet about the blind cinnamon... she is actually hosting in the condy I just bought, so ... maybe the percs won't mind that she's there. Guess I will wait and see on that.