Queen Conch

[Iron Crab]

Got an order Friday from PA which included 3 queen conches. They have been in the tank for three days and I'm getting very little movement from them. The frisky one goes about three inches a day. The other two sort of burrowed into the sand and sits there. they do change positions. I also got 60 cerith snails that are all over and active, 50 baha redlegs that are very active and 25 b/w hermits that sort of took a beating. I think I lost about 10 which I have removed. They were very small. I had my water tested Saturday and was given the thumbs up. ( I know I need to get my own test kit- next on the list). The tank is a 180 and it has a very light load- 2 fish- a damsel and a clownfish. Should I be concerned about the Conches??
Thanks, Bill

[scubadude]

Well queen conchs are slow moving to begin with and they are probably getting adjusted still to your tank, I wouldnt worry about them too much for now, You can pick them up if you are real worried about them and see their "Foot" slowly retract as you pick them up....if you see that then im sure they are ok HTH

[Reinhold]

My two Queen Conchs are primarily nocturnal. They sit half-buried in the sand during the day and rarely move. They have doubled in size in 6 months to about 4 cm long.

[FishKid]

mine didnt move for a week after i got them... They are with the fish gods now i dont know why they died, My only guess is 2 hour acclimation wasnt long enough... 4 months after i got them, they melted away

[Mikeman]

fishkid, they probably didn't have enough food, I asked dr. ron abut them one times and he said that needs lots and lots of sand, more sand than a 29g tank has

[FishKid]

They had enough food! trust me! The two i had cleaned the tank of bryopsis! They ate everything. They were still small, so the amount of sand in my 30 gal should have been more than adequate...

mark

[petpoor]

I have Fighting Conchs and was told each one needs one square foot of sandbed to survive and do well. I got Fighting Conchs because they supposedly stay smaller.

Tom

[Iron Crab]

I'm back. Thanks guys, Well, right now one has found the glass and is now cleaning the side of the tank, one has extended it's foot but is still not moving. The 3rd one looks like an empty shell but it's still in there. I think if it was dead wouldn't it become crab food. I have a lot of hermits, a sally, and at least four green looking crabs with fuzzy legs that came in on the rock. I'll give them a little more time. I do know that everything else looks great- even the fish seem to have brightened up with their color.
Thanks, Bill

[shooter]

We (My Husband and I) have a 210 gallon tank with 3 fight conch, 1 yellow tang, 2 blue tangs, 3 fox face, 2 box fish, 2 cardnials, 2 clown fish, 2 damsels, 4 cleaner shrimp, 2 clams, 2 sand shifters, and whole bunch crabs and snails. We have live rock and live sand, a refugium, phosban, 18 watt UV sterilizer and 36 watt UV sterilizer, Reef Octopus skimmer and a MP40W VorTech wave maker and. Our Nitrate is about 8-10. The conchies stay completly buried under the sand for weeks, we pull the up and check them every few days, but we can not find 2 of them for 3 days now. We will just keep looking, but I want to ask if anyone knows any symptoms that they will have if they are sick and how much do they bring up our nitrates. I read online that a medium sebae anomone will produce as much as 3 medium fish, so how much does a 3.5'' conch produce.

[shooter]

If a fighting conch dies under the sand will it just sit there and decay and release toxins or will it float and become food to the oyher fish and invertebrates? Does anybody know or know where I could look up the answer? I can not seem to find out the answer anywhere online or in books please reply in you have any ideas Thanks