How many of you actually keep a pyramid eating fish?

How many of you actually keep a pyramid eating fish?

  • Yes, a six lined!

    Votes: 16 45.7%
  • Yes, some other fish

    Votes: 4 11.4%
  • Yes, some kinda invert

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • NO! MY CLAMS ARE FINE!

    Votes: 15 42.9%

  • Total voters
    35
I have a sixline but I didn't buy him for pyramidal snails, I bought him for flatworms. Doesn't eat 'em though :( Oh well, he's a great fish and has become a favourite anyway.

I have five clams that are very precious to me. Fortunately I've never even seen a pyramidal snail and I really hope I never do! I would say that there is about as much chance of a pyramid eating fish actually eating pyramidal snails as there is that a flatworm eating fish will actually eat the flatworms.
 
I actually don't have any snail eating fish. I manually, from time to time, pick and CRUSH :D them off with my wife's eye tweezers (hope she doesn't see this :rolleyes: !!) and feed them to the cleaner shrimps since they were curious as to what I was doing. I used to have a lot of them. All of a sudden I haven't seen many for months. I think my cleaners might have gotten used to the snail meat and have kept them at bay. I see a few here and there but not at the plague proportions as before. I have a 5" maxima, 2" squamosa, and a 7+" derasa. I was planning on gettting a six line earlier in my struggle but have rethought this since I haven't seen any for a while. I check on the bottom of their byssus gland also but nothing. Oh well, hopefully I'm lucky enough for the shrimps to figure out that they have a free meal on those clams :D .
 
I always recommend introducing a fish that eats Pyrgiscus ,Pyramidellae,"rice" snails BEFORE introducing a Tridacnid.
Red Sea Dottybacks are an excellent choice in addition to certain wrasse species.
 
ReefEze said:
what wrasses?
Most Halichoeres , especially H. melanurus.
Six-line and four-line wrasses are very popular choices. I had an eight-line that attacked these snails, as well.
I am quite sure my four Macropharyngodon {leopard} wrasses would make short order of any 'rice' snails, as well.....although the opportunity to witness this has yet to occur. I have witnessed my Leopard wrasses eat immature Stomatella , a drawback, as these are desirable herbivorous snails.
 
Sorry, I had a momentary plank there. I forgot that six lined, sct were wrasses!:rolleyes:

OK, Ill check them out
RE
 
I'd like to tag onto this thread :
Pyramidellae can easily hitch-hike into your reef aquarium on snails, corals, or liverock additions any time you introduce these because of their small size. Just because your clams have been safe in the past does NOT mean they are safe in the future.
I would not rely on prayers to keep your aquarium free of these snails!
 
My thumb and forefinger are my snail predators. They are pretty easy to remove if your clam isn't attatched to a rock. That part of why mine are on the sandbed. I removed four from a new clam I bought once and have not seen one since.
 
yeah... I was planning on removing them myself untill (if) i got a siz lined, which would probably be the last addition... if at all

thanks
RE
 
Tusk%20&%20Tang.jpg

this is the best pyramid snail eating fish, but he will it your shrimps to. (Lienardella fasciata) Harlequin Tuskfish.
 
I just got a small 1.5" six-lined wrasse a few days ago. Today I discovered about 6 snails on my 3" squamosa near the gland. They were about 0.5-0.75 cm in size. How long does it take to get that size for those pyramidal snails? Also, would my fish eat them if they were that large? What size snails do they eat, tiny ones only?
 
Bump -

I have been getting paranoid about this (just invested $800+ in new clams)

Does anyone have a picture of the dreaded pyramid snail???

The real reason I am concerned is my Trochus snails have been breeding - I know this for sure because I started out with 5 medium sized banded trochus snails from etropicals.com and now have 20+ mini versions of the originals. I was in Kuwait when all this happened and my wife did not notice the new additions while she was doing the daily maintenance - so they grew and I don't have a reference as to their growth rates. The big issue is the small snails that I have seen in and around everything in the tank (mostly on the macroalgae in the refugium and around the bases of the $$$ clams).

I've got a six line wrasse and an orchid dottyback - but as most say on this forum - they don't really eat snails (they are certified mysis eating machines)

Show me a pyramid snail so I can let these baby trochus snails live in peace (positive thoughts...)
 
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