keefsama2003
In Memoriam
I dont do beaches. its like kryptonite. so i will have to nominate someone to go for me 
Do You Know Who You're Dealing With?
- Thread starter eboonaman
- Start date
greenbean36191 I've noticed the same thing Billsreef mentioned. sure they might die after 2 years, but how many of our tropical snails really outlive them. I mean I know I have a few old ones in there. but there must be reasons why companies selling cleanup crews with snails in hundred lots do well, people keep replacing them.
greenbean36191
Premium Member
If you keep them at the right temperature and salinity and provide them with the right food there is no reason that you should have to periodically replace your cleanup crew. Up until my brother nuked my tank a few months ago, my cleanup crew had been going strong for about 4 years without any replacement.
The problem is that probably the majority of snails in the hobby are not tropical. Most Turbo and [/i]Astraea[/i], many cerith and nerite, and all "margaritas" fall into that category. If you keep those snails, you can certainly expect them to last no more than a year or two just like Ilyanassa.
Steven Pro
New member
I got some of these so-called Nassarius snails a while ago. I also used to have a nice breeding population of Cerith snails. Note the use of the phrase "used to" above. My Ceriths all but disappeared after a few months of adding the other snails. I started removing the Ilyanassa and I think I have finally gotten ahead of them. They are quite prolific. Now the Ceriths seems to be rebounding.<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8489449#post8489449 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by billsreef
I also have my doubts about them attacking other snails, I've yet to see Illynassa attack a healthy animal of any kind in aquaria or in the wild. It's true in areas where you find huge concentrations of them that there is little else in the sand as far as pods and worms, however, those areas are also typically poor for the growth of such things even if the Illynassa were not there
greenbean36191
Premium Member
I like Trochus, Florida ceriths, Indo-Pacific Turbo and tropical abalone for larger tanks, Caribbean Astraea for BB tanks, money or ring cowries, a small number of Nassarius, and then the hitchhikers like Stomatella and Collonista.
To give you an idea of what my clean up crew was in my 29 before the crash, I had about 10 cerith, 5 nerite, 3 Trochus, 3 Nassarius, and however many Stomatella and Collonista showed up. There were never any algae problems and it took the glass about 2 weeks to get a noticable haze of algae on it.
To give you an idea of what my clean up crew was in my 29 before the crash, I had about 10 cerith, 5 nerite, 3 Trochus, 3 Nassarius, and however many Stomatella and Collonista showed up. There were never any algae problems and it took the glass about 2 weeks to get a noticable haze of algae on it.
onegreenray
Active member
Did you actually see the Ilyanassa killing the ceriths? I had a nice population of ceriths then I added a Coris wrasse that killed off the pyramid snails i had and the ceriths. Just sounds more like the Ilyanassa out competed the ceriths for food. The are faster and more aggressive when it comes to food. If anything I have seen my Ilyanassa getting eaten by my hermits for there shells.
Guess it’s a preference thing.
Steven Pro
New member
It is certainly possible. I never did see any direct predation. Although, the mouths of the Ilyanassa don't see well suited to scraping off algae and diatoms and I did experience an increase in diatoms as the Ceriths dwindled. If the Cerith population decline was caused by competition for limited resouces, I should have experienced less diatoms, not more.
Spracklcat
Disaster Expert
Steve, your hypothesis makes sense if diatoms are the ONLY food source for Cerith snails (which they are not), and if the Ilyanassa do not eat any diatoms at all. The Ilyanassa do eat diatoms off glass (I've witnessed them doing it nightly). One could explain the diatom increase if as the Ceriths were outcompeted, there was more plentiful detritus, which the Ilyanassa eat preferentially.
greenbean36191
Premium Member
Actually, there have been feeding studies with Ilyanassa that showed that at certain densities of snails, their foraging behavior actually promotes diatom growth. However, after a certain population density, the increase in diatoms is outpaced by the increased grazing of the snails. I don't recall off the top of my head what the numbers were, but I didn't include the papers in my article because in the hobby the snails are generally kept in concentrations higher than those that led to increased diatoms.
As far as what happened to the ceriths, in the paper I cite in the article, Race demonstrates that not only do Ilyanassa competitively exclude Cerithidea, but they do eat the eggs and juvenile snails as well.
As far as what happened to the ceriths, in the paper I cite in the article, Race demonstrates that not only do Ilyanassa competitively exclude Cerithidea, but they do eat the eggs and juvenile snails as well.
greenbean36191
Premium Member
Which one?
Here is the abstract for the Race paper.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/q125533704808481/
I don't have access to the full online version. You'll probably have to hit up the library to read it.
If you want the other one about the diatoms I'll have to look for it, but IIRC it is available online somewhere. I'm not sure if a subscription is required or not though.
Here is the abstract for the Race paper.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/q125533704808481/
I don't have access to the full online version. You'll probably have to hit up the library to read it.
If you want the other one about the diatoms I'll have to look for it, but IIRC it is available online somewhere. I'm not sure if a subscription is required or not though.
Thanks greenbean,
I'll have to try and remember to look up the full paper next time I go up to Campus. I'm really curious to see just how they came to the predation conclusion, as it contrasts my observations of them in their native habitat as well as aquaria.
I'll have to try and remember to look up the full paper next time I go up to Campus. I'm really curious to see just how they came to the predation conclusion, as it contrasts my observations of them in their native habitat as well as aquaria.
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