cone wars

[cephalopoder]

I had to share this with all you mollusk lovers. Very cool reading.

http://manandmollusc.net/conewars/conewars.html

 

[Marlinnut]

Nice article, but I do not see how the author kept all the cones in the same tank. When I lived in Hawaii, I kept cones that I caught off the reef by my house in my tanks. I stayed away from the cones that fed on worms (to hard to feed them as they were very selective of what worms they ate), but easily kept the mollusk and fish eating cones. What I found out was that Conus textile, a mollusk eating cone, would eat all the cowries and Turbo snails I put in the tank, but would also eat other cone shells, both worm and moillusk eating ones such as C. omaria and C. marmoreus, and my fish eating cones (C. catus and C. striatus). So I had to separate the cones. The nice thing though about the mollusk eating cones is that they cleaned out any snails I put in their tank, leaving a clean, odorless shell. Good way to collect cowrie shells. The fish eating cones were equally easy, as they took any fish I put in their tank, such as guppies and goldfish.
Does anyone know if there is a place to purchase live cone shells? I have always wanted to keep them again as they were very attractive and easy to keep.

 

[Turtlesteve]

Just tagging along....

Just tagging along....

You can get a florida cone, conus floridanus from www.gulfspecimen.org for $11.50, but i believe it's a worm-eater. I considered ordering one, except there's a $35 minimum order and shipping would probably cost another $35.

PS. I would also like to keep live cone shells and cowries (other than c. tigris and c. arabica) if you ever find a source let me know.

 

[Marlinnut]

Turtlesteve,

I let you know if I have any success finding a source for cones. I plan to ask my local LFS owner; he personally travels to the South Pacific every so often and collects his own animals, so maybe he will be able to collect a cone for me.

Hope this works...

 

[K. Lee]

I think anyone trying to keep or raise dangerous poisonous animals is not acting responsibly, that's besides scientific interests.

edit: Although, I must confess, I wouldn't mind having Hell's Fire Anemone's, or even dedicating a tank to one or two, so there you go.

 

[Marlinnut]

K. Lee,

I understand your concern, but keeping cones is no different then keeping lionfish or other scorpionfish, as well as sharks or stingrays; if someone does decide to keep them they should be knowledgeable of the animal and take necessary precautions to insure that envenomation does not occur when cleaning the tank. Having kept cones, the chance of envenomation is extremely low to non-existent; cones stay buried in the sand or under rocks during the day and only employ their venomous apparatus when near their prey or if removed from the water for a period of time and they cannot get back to the water. Cones also cannot be bred in tanks as their veliger larval stage is planktonic and would not survive the pumps used in tanks. That being said I would agree to keep the cones in their own tank as the fish-eating cone would eat or attempt to eat all the fish in the tank and the mollusk-eating cone would eat all the turbo and astrea snails.

 

[Turtlesteve]

K Lee,

Only about three or so species of cones are considered dangerous to humans. Of these, only one has ever caused human fatalities. I'd be willing to bet more people impale themselves on acropora than are killed by venomous snails. Should we refrain from keeping acros too?

Sorry if it bothers you, but i'm willing to take the risk, I am a responsible person, and it's my decision. Yes you might get stung even if all precautions are taken, but owning such animals or breeding them does not make you irresponsible.

 

[K. Lee]

It doesn't bother me. I just don't think it is wise. In effect, it is the same as having a rattlesnake in a cage. Locked or not, the snake can get out.