Are Whelks Welcome?

[JuzDuky]

Last week, I placed 90 lbs of live rock into my new tank. Now, I am beginning to see a few whelk snails. Since I am planning to have soft corals and mushrooms, should I allow these snails to remain or will they eventually cause harm if I let them stay?

Thanks for suggestions!

 

[demonsp]

Not really reef safe as they are carnivores and may eat other snails. Look in here.

http://www.melevsreef.com/id/

 

[JuzDuky]

Ok thanks!

 

[ACBlinky]

I keep one and love him to bits. The LFS where I bought him put a bunch of these whelks into their clam tank (not very bright), and lost all their beautiful Maximas overnight, but since I'm not keeping clams I don't worry about my whelk. He's beautiful, and does a fantastic job stirring up the gravel and cleaning up after the sand-sifting goby, who doesn't always find all the food I inject underneath the sand for him to sift out. I originally bought two, but lost one fairly early on. The second has tripled in size, it's huge now, and I'm a bit worried it's going to end up 6" long!

This is a picture of the two whelks I bought - no idea on the species, all I know is they're decidedly not clam-friendly:

 

[melev]

Agreed, those are very pretty. They look great in that Glad-Loc container, and not in a reef.

 

[bureau13]

Aren't Nassarius "snails" a species of whelk? I'm no marine biologist, but I have seen that stated.

jds

 

[greenbean36191]

Yes, Nassarius are whelks. They aren't predators like most whelks though, so they are welcome. Most others feed on different types of inverts so depending on their diets they can range from fairly innocuous (bumblebee snails) to extremely destructive.

Blinky, yours are Babylonia.

 

[mille239]

I have 3 of those same critters pictured above in the tupperware container. They were sold to me by the LFS as 'tiger nassarius snails' which I know are whelks. They are neat creatures that keep my sandbed constantly turned. (it's fun to watch them 'emerge' the second food hits the water column, and they cruise around the tank looking for it. They are fast! I have never had any problem with mine attacking any snails or crabs to date, and have had them over a year and a half.