a double-benthic organism?????

[ctenophors rule]

i was snorkeling sunday at a state park, saw some realy cool stuff sharks, corals, cowries, fish, jelly fish (ow, itch) but anyway coolest of all (least for me) was the massive fist sized (what isuspect to be margarita snail) completely coated with a bluish brown sps coral (i suspect to be montipora) it had three areas where the coral was starting too form nubs, that could staghorn, bu t i doubt it.

this got me to thinking.

1, why oh why was i snorkeling in a state park!!!!!

2, what would be the pro's and cons of keeping this in aquaria?

it would allow for unpredictable flow patterns

variable lighting

but may also bring coral into contact of other corals, rocks, sand, etc.

do you think this is a good idea?

what are your thoughtS?

what if a fast growing coral grew on a coral eating snail shell?

the ultimate irony? or a way in which coral eating snails ould be safely kept in aquaria?

thanks.

 

[ctenophors rule]

bump

 

[greenbean36191]

All hard corals are protected in Florida, so the main con of keeping this animal would be that it could cost you jail time, huge fines, and the loss of your vehicle.

It's hard to say what you saw based on the color alone anyway, but it wasn't Montipora or Acropora. Without knowing what it was there's really no way to tell you much about it.

If a fast growing coral grew on a coral eating snail's shell it would have a coral growing on its shell- at least until the point that one of its conspecifics ate the coral. These animals rarely just affect corals one at a time, so chances of it running into another that would be happy to clean its shell are extremely high.

No, growing coral on the back of a coralivorous snail wouldn't allow you to keep one in a coral tank. Almost all of them are small animals, about the size of a nickel or less. That means any coral growing on them would be have to be small too. Also, that would be the only coral that would be protected from their predation and if it was the only coral in the tank, the snail would starve.

 

[ctenophors rule]

thyanks for the hard coral info.

why are you so sure it is not montipora?

so it wont work with coral eating snails, but how well do you think it would work in an aquarium setting with normal snails? like trochus or margarita?

i think i will try it with some gsp. unless anyon e has a ny reason(s) not too.

 

[Psychographic]

If it was a SPS, I think as the coral grew, it would either outgrow the snails capability to move, or it would wind up getting caught in the rockwork and killing the snail and or coral, depending on where in the tank this happened.

GSP on the other hand would probably be fine.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

I'm pretty sure Montipora is not found in the atlantic.

 

[luther1200]

It could have been a sponge.