clams / predatory snails?

[polyp]

Will nassarius or bumble bee snails attack (eat) a healthy clam?

Something very, very bad just happend to my 3" maxima and I'm having a rather difficult time finding useful information about these snails and thier behavior towards clams. The Knop book doesn't mention either specifically as far as I can tell.

Thank you very much in advance.

 

[toptank]

polyp,

I have never had experence with these kind of snail but would also be interested as well.

Barry

 

[MiNdErAsR]

Nassarius snails will not attack any healthy organism. They are scavengers, eating carrion. If they were feasting on your clam, then it was already dead.

As for the bumble bee snails, I believe Dr Ron mentioned they were not a good addition to a reef tank. Do a search of his forum for more details.

 

[toptank]

Jim,

Thanks fo rthe info. I will search for that on his forum.

Barry

 

[polyp]

Hi Jim,

Thank you for the information. Do you believe it's possible the nassarius are opportunists and may attack an injured organism, or must the creature be dead (or almost nearly dead) before they will consume it?

I don't suspect my bumble bees yet (there are only two in my 90 gallon and I don't think they would have discovered the clam so quickly)... but I will most certainly check out Dr. Ron's forum and do a search.

I believe it was a crab (a hitchhiker) that injured/killed the clam. I don't know exactly what type of crab it is, but I will hopefully trap and isolate it soon.

 

[MiNdErAsR]

Thank you for the information. Do you believe it's possible the nassarius are opportunists and may attack an injured organism, or must the creature be dead (or almost nearly dead) before they will consume it?

I don't believe so. I have about 65 (at least that's what I started out with) nasssarius in my tank, along with 6 clams. Never had a problem. Death and/or decay has a certain "air" about it, and this is what the nassarius seek out.

Clams have this peculiar habit of appearing healthy even though they're not. So the clam may have a partially retracted mantle, and still react to shadows, but for all intents and purposes be dead. It's fooled many a reefkeeper (including this one!) into thinking those evil bristleworms (or other cleanup personnel) did in the clam, when in fact that was not the case.