Cowries

[dcall]

I am thinking about adding a tiger cowrie to my tank and want any advice on them that anybody can give.

 

[ediaz]

they feed on sea fans and will die without them.

Ed

 

[Monkeyfish]

Actually they're herbivores and detrivores and will eat just about anything including fish flesh and mussels. Cyphoma gibbosum or the Flamingo Tongue Cowry is the one which requires a diet of gorgonians.

 

[Tihsho]

Are there any other cowries out there?

 

[BCreefmaker]

oh yeah.... very few that are reef safe tho

 

[rockyz]

Tihsho I heard money cowries were reef safe

 

[Monkeyfish]

Cypraea annulus "gold ring cowry" and Cypraea moneta "money cowry" are both reef safe and excellent algae eaters.

 

[skyfireblaze]

I agree with Monkeyfish -- both are great. They're by far my one of my favorite inverts.

 

[tasos]

Ã"° have a big tiger cowry snail in my 50 G tank and a little piece of a yellow gorgonian with white polyps that does fine ....(save from a LFS aquarium....).It has been like this for a month now and no problems so far.I don't think they harm gorgonians.........

 

[CaveManNOhio]

Are there some that can kill you?

 

[gloo]

I just bought a 'black cowrie', got ID'ed by some as Cyprea Caputserpentis. Was told they eat mostly algae, and could be supplemented by using unflavored nori. Sorry in advance for the large pics, kept them this size for ID.

I did read that they go after just about anything they can when they get larger, including slow inverts, and some soft corals ( I hope he eats my xenias).

Anyone have experience with these guys? I am not very familiar with these species, but do they also have a specialized radulla like some conch do, that can be used like a spear to grab fish? Hate to find out the hard way. I do see a 'tube' like protrusion pointing straight out, while its 'mouth' which I assume is the radulla scraping algae off rocks like snails do.

 

[iamwhatiam52]

Anyone know where to get the reef safe species Cypraea annulus "gold ring cowry" and Cypraea moneta "money cowry mentioned?

 

[jdwhit]

I got my two money cowry from LFS in Fort Worth - The Fish Place.

 

[pagojoe]

Yes, this is Cypraea caputserpentis, no, they don't have specialized radular teeth like cone snails, no they aren't dangerous, yes, they do scrape algae and microorganisms off the rocks and glass. They don't ever get any larger after they form teeth, they just thicken the shell and stay the same size. This is a rough-water species though, and spends a lot of time out of the water, particularly at night. I wonder how it's doing in your tank?

Cheers,



Don

 

[gloo]

Its doing great actually. You are right on the money about it not growing much. It eats and eats and eats, but seems to only thicken and coloration changed a bit. The guy has been eating lots of algae ( coralline, macro and micro), eats softies ( GSP, and sometimes small zoas, and seen him chew the foot of xenias).
This guy does spend a lot of time out of water, but never actually travels on dry surfaces, only partly out of water.

He also is not bothered by the parasitic snails I happen to have, which is nice considering they killed my astreas.