Hot pink bodied snail? Whelk perhaps?

[Vilas]

This beauty appeared on my glass today. Looks like a whelk to me, but I'm not sure. Most of the life in my tank is taken straight from the indian ocean, if that helps narrow it down, though I do have the usual indo-pacific live rock.
I worry that many whelks are predatory - I only collect snails that I can id in my book, so I wouldn't have taken him home on purpose. Hope this is a good guy. Any ideas?

 

[sam.basye]

It's not a giant horse conch is it? I collected two in SW Florida and they try to kill all my snails...

They are bright orange bodied with orange shells that turn to brown. It looks similar to mine, but idk if they venture that far to S Africa...

Here's a pic of mine and a couple stock pics.

 

[pagojoe]

It's in the same family as the Horse Conchs, but doesn't get nearly as big. It is a fasciolariid, definitely a Peristernia species, and probably Peristernia forskalii. They are predatory on other snails.

Cheers,



Don

 

[sam.basye]

+1 shell looks the same. Hard to find any good info on the species though..

Sure is a pretty pink body like the orange of the horse conch. Too bad they kill other snails.

 

[Vilas]

Thanks! So what would you do? Kill it? It would starve in my qt tank. Or just go get feeder snails for it? My snails are free, I collect locally. Lesser evil here?

 

[sam.basye]

I still have the two horse conchs I found and the only reason I haven't gotten rid of them is for the color they add to the display. They are basically useless except pretty to look at. lol They don't bother anything, but other snails that aren't a whelk. Mine have killed two little astreas and a crown astrea. I say if you have an endless supply of snails then why not keep it just for the color it adds. I just watched one crawl? over/next to my baby hammer coral and keep going. All in all: I'd say reef safe...just not snail safe. Let us know your decision and happy snailing!

 

[Vilas]

Hmm. I do like it. I suppose I can take common and abundant snails. My hermits and pesky crabs chomp them anyways, so I may as well.
Shame on one front - they're a local topshell that chows bryopsis like no one's business. Not available in the trade, as they're endemic to an area that doesn't allow commercial sale of reef life. They'd be reefkeeping gold if only I could export to the usa. And I'm using them as feeders.

 

[vividgraphx]

Had a whelk eat a maxima clam. Be careful.

 

[Vilas]

Thanks for the heads up! No clams in the tank, though I do keep the odd mussel or oyster, because I can't get zoanthids off rocks otherwise. So I find one nicely encrusted and it comes home. But I assume those don't last long term, from all I've read.

 

[sam.basye]

Vilas, do you collect most of the critters in your tank(s)? If so, how do you go about collecting them? Other than the obvious picking up a snail. lol I've been interested in different collection methods for fish and what not.

 

[Vilas]

I stick to tide pools. Other local reefers have elaborate ways to collect fish while diving, I'm a bit new to that game.
I can't use chisels or anything, so corals have to be growing on something I can easily remove - ie an oyster. I also can't remove rock legally.
Fish, patience and a net are my tactics! Sometimes I try a bit of bait to lure things out of rocks.

 

[Vilas]

If you are interested, the marine aquarium south africa board has a diving and collection forum, the photos people post make me very jealous!

 

[sam.basye]

Tide pools are always fun. Lots of good stuff if you look hard enough. I'll definitely have to check that out! What are your favorite things you've caught so far?

 

[Vilas]

Frankly, my two hitchiker gobies. Personality times a thousand, reef safe, peaceful, and max size about an inch and a half. Also managed to take home a porcelain crab - the filter feeding one.
Best are the zoanthids, they're so varied and abundant. And if they can take the abuse of a tide pool onva summer's day, complete with tourists walking and peeing on them, they're hard to kill.
I've had luck with some of the local anemones, also damn near impossible to collect without hurting them. Found a few on things that I can legally take, which is a fist pumping moment.
Also have had luck with micro starfish, cowries, and some nudibranch hitchikers - still growing five months after collection.
Only real failure was the giant chiton. Kept exiting the tank and waiting for the tide. One time I didn't find the poor guy till it was too late. :-(

 

[sam.basye]

Wish I lived somewhere I could collect my own critters. Sounds like you have a lot of good options to stock your tank. I caught some similar porcelain crabs that I really liked from the gulf that I presume either my horse conch or pistol shrimp killed :/

Nothing like tourists to ruin it for everyone. lol