Is conch safe for fish in tank
- Thread starter matman4u
- Start date
pagojoe
Team RC
If it's a real conch, it will eat micro- and macroalgae, as well as the epiphytic organisms that live on the algae. If it is a true conch, it will have a "strombid notch" on the lip near the opening end, and the eyes will look like they have pupils like human eyes. It will also have a long, skinny, pointed operculum that won't close off the entire shell.
Cheers,
Don
Cheers,
Don
Any idea what kind of conch? I ask because I've heard a lot of warnings about them becoming real china shop bulls when they get big. I've got a Tongan Fighting Conch in my system. He's about an inch or so and is only suppose to get like 3-4 inches tops. I know the queen conchs are popular too, but I hear they can get up to like a foot or more and need an insane amount of open sand bed to live in. The only down side I've found is that he rarely comes out of the sand unless he's packing up shop to move to a different spot in the tank. Watching that is entertaining though cause it's like watching a rapid surfacing submarine in a movie. Shame too, he's got a gorgeous shell.
He really did a bang up job of clearing out the tufts of hair algae I had growing around my sand bed. The most interesting part was watching him eat. All you would see is these two eyes sticking up out of the sand, then this nose like proboscis would reach up outta the sand, grab the strand and pull it down to the sand all the while scraping everything off the stand. It reminded me of how an elephant strips twigs off a branch to eat. Sadly, he's now relegated to eating scraps of nori and sinking algae wafers because between him and the other snails there's almost no algae left near the sand bed and conchs don't normally climb once they get bigger than about an inch or two.
He really did a bang up job of clearing out the tufts of hair algae I had growing around my sand bed. The most interesting part was watching him eat. All you would see is these two eyes sticking up out of the sand, then this nose like proboscis would reach up outta the sand, grab the strand and pull it down to the sand all the while scraping everything off the stand. It reminded me of how an elephant strips twigs off a branch to eat. Sadly, he's now relegated to eating scraps of nori and sinking algae wafers because between him and the other snails there's almost no algae left near the sand bed and conchs don't normally climb once they get bigger than about an inch or two.
matman4u
New member
I beleive it is a Florida Fighting Conch.
I did have to take it out yesterday because it was making a mess out of the tank.
Like you said, it was like a bull in a china shop. Banging really loud against the glass and knocking everything over. Also it was stirring up all is my sand and getting it everywere. Really cool to watch but it definetly need a lot more open space than I had to offer. Even in a 125 gal tank.
I did have to take it out yesterday because it was making a mess out of the tank.
Like you said, it was like a bull in a china shop. Banging really loud against the glass and knocking everything over. Also it was stirring up all is my sand and getting it everywere. Really cool to watch but it definetly need a lot more open space than I had to offer. Even in a 125 gal tank.
AJSTITAN14
New member
I put some macroalgae (plants) in my tank and it slowed the algae growth way down.
