Beware the TBS whelks...

[CStrickland]

I wonder if a wrasse might help?
My melanurus dispatched all my nassarius, and the melev article said the whelks are slower than they are, but maybe that little trapdoor thingy would wrasse-proof the shells...
just a thought

re: barnacles, always get a few on the nerites from reef cleaners but they never breed or anything. I think the water is a little too stable or something.

 

[Shawn O]

I'm not a bleeding heart either, I hunt almost every weekend, and I kill my share of animals. But I only hunt to eat. I've never kept a deer head for my wall and I never will.

There's nothing wrong with mounting the heads of animals you've harvested. I know several people who hunt for food and keep the heads or antlers of most animals they kill. There is nothing wrong with also only taking the animal because it will make a good trophy. Friends of mine in Wyoming hunt 90% of the meat the eat. They keep the heads or antlers of the ones that are trophy worthy. My friend Rodney will only take a deer if it has a good rack. If it's too small he will pass on the animal and hope that antelope season is better for him. His GF will take anything that has enough meat to make it worth using up her tag on. They eat every bit of meat from the animal, regardless of type of animal, with the exception of Sage Hens. Those birds are only good for the breasts. The antlers and hide of the deer you kill are just going to rot if you don't mount them. btw, you'll never really get an appreciation for how big a moose is until you stand face to face with one mounted on the wall.

 

[CStrickland]

I stuff my empty tofu boxes after dinner. I put them on the wall so that other tofu's will fear me, and also so that people who come visit will recognize my power.

 

[BrandonFlorida]

I stuff my empty tofu boxes after dinner. I put them on the wall so that other tofu's will fear me, and also so that people who come visit will recognize my power.

LOL the power of fear...

 

[Shawn O]

I stuff my empty tofu boxes after dinner. I put them on the wall so that other tofu's will fear me, and also so that people who come visit will recognize my power.

Lol. Does piling up my empty pizza boxes count? Mario and Luigi might jump a little higher for me if they see it.

 

[Bent]

There's nothing wrong with mounting the heads of animals you've harvested. I know several people who hunt for food and keep the heads or antlers of most animals they kill. There is nothing wrong with also only taking the animal because it will make a good trophy. Friends of mine in Wyoming hunt 90% of the meat the eat. They keep the heads or antlers of the ones that are trophy worthy. My friend Rodney will only take a deer if it has a good rack. If it's too small he will pass on the animal and hope that antelope season is better for him. His GF will take anything that has enough meat to make it worth using up her tag on. They eat every bit of meat from the animal, regardless of type of animal, with the exception of Sage Hens. Those birds are only good for the breasts. The antlers and hide of the deer you kill are just going to rot if you don't mount them. btw, you'll never really get an appreciation for how big a moose is until you stand face to face with one mounted on the wall.

In your opinion there's nothing wrong with it, and that's Ok, but personally I don't condone or support trophy hunting. It's just not what I believe and not how I was raised. My grandad was Cherokee and he always told me if you can't use 90% of the animal then you have no business killing it. But he was from a different generation. He had to hunt to survive and he taught me all that stuff. We tanned our own hides, we made sausage out of the intestines, used the stomachs for water bottles, the fur for clothes, antlers for knife hilts. I even have a blanket I made out of bear fur.

Some people trophy hunt. I don't like it, but I'm not here to tell others how to live. I don't go to rallies, I'm not a animal activist. I have friends who trophy hunt. I like them, but not what they do. I don't have to agree with all of someone's actions or life decisions in order for me to like them. I disagree, I don't do said action, and I go on with life.

I realize that I'm in the minority for most sport hunters, and I'm cool with that.

:beer:

 

[Hitch08]

Interesting. I'll need to check my rock, but I don't recall seeing any whelks.

 

[Bent]

Interesting. I'll need to check my rock, but I don't recall seeing any whelks.

They are pretty. Too bad. They are nocturnal I think. I see a ton more when the lights go out and I look with my flash light.

They are black and white with single trunks sticking out.

 

[BrandonFlorida]

They are pretty. Too bad. They are nocturnal I think. I see a ton more when the lights go out and I look with my flash light.

They are black and white with single trunks sticking out.

Yeah they move super slow, and I have seen many small guys in my tank. I will need to check at night to see if they are snail hunting or not.


They are pretty, thou..

 

[Sk8r]

Whoa, guys. Melev's example lacks scale. That bears a very strong resemblance to strombus grazer snails, which never get beyond half an inch in size, which are excellent little cleaners, and which are relatives of the fighting conch. They spin spiderlike thread, which they can use to lower themselves from one rock to another. They lay round egg-clutches, in a tough round 'purse' on the glass, with a half dozen little white eggs on the bottom of the round, and they're excellent to have in a tank.

Nearly impossible to buy from major sources, simply because if you have two you will have many within a year. LFS's will often give them to good customers.

 

[BrandonFlorida]

I just read on TBS site that a certain whelk can bore thru the barnacles and I do notice them chilling on the TBS live rock for extended periods of time. Maybe it is time for me to start picking them out and putting them in the sump or doing the hot water method..

Crap....

 

[Bent]

Whoa, guys. Melev's example lacks scale. That bears a very strong resemblance to strombus grazer snails, which never get beyond half an inch in size, which are excellent little cleaners, and which are relatives of the fighting conch. They spin spiderlike thread, which they can use to lower themselves from one rock to another. They lay round egg-clutches, in a tough round 'purse' on the glass, with a half dozen little white eggs on the bottom of the round, and they're excellent to have in a tank.

Nearly impossible to buy from major sources, simply because if you have two you will have many within a year. LFS's will often give them to good customers.

So you are saying these whelks are OK?

 

[Sk8r]

Pic of strombus grazer, aka 'dove snail'. It is not a whelk. It's a mini-conch, but rather than burrow, it sticks mostly to rocks and glass, that I've ever observed. http://www.melevsreef.com/node/1508

 

[Bent]

Pic of strombus grazer, aka 'dove snail'. It is not a whelk. It's a mini-conch, but rather than burrow, it sticks mostly to rocks and glass, that I've ever observed. http://www.melevsreef.com/node/1508

That looks nothing like what I'm pulling out..

 

[Bent]

Here's a pic of what I have.. (Center near the top of the pic.)

 

[BrandonFlorida]

Mine look the same as your pic bent.

 

[shred5]

Funny thing about most of these predators that come in on live rock a simple trap can catch them pretty easy..

 

[CStrickland]

This probably isn't going to lessen your confusion, but it's interesting to know.
"Stombus grazer" is sort of a confusing name. It can be either the type of tiny conch called strombus maculatus or a [likely eupics or pyrene, but collumbids are really hard to differentiate, I think it's a big diverse group] collumbid snail.

Since conchs really use their eyes a lot, they are further out the antennae for better looking around. The collumbids are less visual so their eyes (if they have them at all, idk they must have eyes right?) are not out on the feeler thingees.

But at this point the non-strombus collumbids might be the *real* strombus since the lady who was selling the snails everybody really liked a lot had her collumbids mislabeled as strombus grazers.

It's whatever, just semantics. But if you are trying to id it might help you understand some of the names people use. Also, I read about this a while ago and just did a quick search to refresh my memory so take it with a grain of salt, like a bit of trivia. plus I made up my own spelling for all those Latin words lol ain't nobody got time for that

 

[Bent]

This probably isn't going to lessen your confusion, but it's interesting to know.
"Stombus grazer" is sort of a confusing name. It can be either the type of tiny conch called strombus maculatus or a [likely eupics or pyrene, but collumbids are really hard to differentiate, I think it's a big diverse group] collumbid snail.

Since conchs really use their eyes a lot, they are further out the antennae for better looking around. The collumbids are less visual so their eyes (if they have them at all, idk they must have eyes right?) are not out on the feeler thingees.

But at this point the non-strombus collumbids might be the *real* strombus since the lady who was selling the snails everybody really liked a lot had her collumbids mislabeled as strombus grazers.

It's whatever, just semantics. But if you are trying to id it might help you understand some of the names people use. Also, I read about this a while ago and just did a quick search to refresh my memory so take it with a grain of salt, like a bit of trivia. plus I made up my own spelling for all those Latin words lol ain't nobody got time for that

 

[Sk8r]

Yours do look a little different, Bent, look as if they're larger, with a kind of snakeskin pattern. And darker in body. THere are SO many species...you might fly this past LeslieH in inverts and see if you can get an ID.