herefishiefishie
Premium Member
Every week I will be posting a new mollusk for discussion. Please post everything you know about this week's mollusk, to include pics, care and feeding habits, optimal environment, common names, and anything else you can think of.
Today's mollusk is the popular nasssarius snail. Please note that this thread can cover the two main species seen in the hobby, Nassarius variegatus and Nassarius coronatus.
These snails are often said to be the perfect reef scavenger. They eat meat-based detritus only, and will not eat living material or algae. They are very skilled at finding and disposing of the smallest bit of meat-based detritus (leftover fish food, dead snails/crabs/fish, whatever).
They are very tiny, measuring 3 cm at the very largest (according to Baensch), but are usually seen much smaller, less than 1 cm. These snails need a sandy substrate, as they stay buried until they smell food with their very sensitive sniffers, a long incurrent siphon. They incidentally serve to stir the surface of the substrate as well.
Dr. Shimek has a great article about these snails. If anyone has a link to this article, please post it.
This snail has not been successfully bred in the aquarium, although if they are getting enough to eat they will lay eggs.
Please post any information you might have about the Nassarius snail, especially pics.
Today's mollusk is the popular nasssarius snail. Please note that this thread can cover the two main species seen in the hobby, Nassarius variegatus and Nassarius coronatus.
These snails are often said to be the perfect reef scavenger. They eat meat-based detritus only, and will not eat living material or algae. They are very skilled at finding and disposing of the smallest bit of meat-based detritus (leftover fish food, dead snails/crabs/fish, whatever).
They are very tiny, measuring 3 cm at the very largest (according to Baensch), but are usually seen much smaller, less than 1 cm. These snails need a sandy substrate, as they stay buried until they smell food with their very sensitive sniffers, a long incurrent siphon. They incidentally serve to stir the surface of the substrate as well.
Dr. Shimek has a great article about these snails. If anyone has a link to this article, please post it.
This snail has not been successfully bred in the aquarium, although if they are getting enough to eat they will lay eggs.
Please post any information you might have about the Nassarius snail, especially pics.