Need info/input on Cowries/Conches

[easydoesit]

I'm fairly new to the hobby (about two months) and am starting to see a large growth of hair algae in my tank (most likely due to overfeeding, which I will start to cut back). I have six ceriths and three trochus, which do not touch the hair algae in my tank. I had three Mexican turbos in there and they ate everything within a week to the point where all the snails quit moving and hid in their shells.

I've done a quite a bit of researching on snails and have heard that a couple smaller species of cowries are the most suitable snails for the marine aquarium. What I need to know from people who have cowries is:
-what species you keep (completely herbivorous)
-what they generally seem to eat
-how many you keep per gallon/tank
-any other valuable information (predators/size/origin/etc)

A huge help would be a source where I can purchase these cowries, as I have yet to find a site offering herbivorous cowries.

I have a huge sand bed too and was wondering what people recommend as far as conches go? I only have enough space for one as this is a 50 gallon tank. Once again, as with the cowries, please think utilitarian here. I want a conch that does it all, eats lots of detritus, some algae, scraps, and is perhaps entertaining.

 

[easydoesit]

http://www.saltwaterfish.com/zoomify.asp?catalogid=1818&img=assets/images/2908_deercowrie.jpg

This species is being advertised as a deer cowrie, but I cannot tell. When I look at other pictures of deer cowries it does not really compare. Any ideas?

 

[mndfreeze]

I'd like to tag along on this and toss in a question of my own regarding the conch's also..

Sites I'm reading suggest they have masssive sand beds. I have a 12G nano but almost the entire floor is my base rock, with only a 5" x 4" sandy area in the corner, then a thin 1" sand around the viewing sides (to be able to clean my glass)

Are conch's that dependant on sand that I couldn't get one? Or will it realistically be fine crawling on the rocks and such also?

 

[tibob32]

^ Conches barely ever leave the sand (I've got a Fl fighting conch and I coulcn't even imagine it on rocks) Their foot isn't sticky like a snail, they just use it to push themselves around.

As for hair algae, I'd suggest an emerald crab. That the best bet I'd give for that. I don't think a conch will touch it, they eat detritus

 

[Elysia]

I have ring cowries. I'm not certain if they eat hair algae or not -- the best thing to do to combat hair algae (besides fight what is fueling it in the first place) is to do a very good job manually removing it. That is what I do. I personally wouldn't purchase a cowrie sight unseen.

There have been a few threads on cowries in the past month, so you may want to run a search; that way, people don't have to re-type what they have already posted.

 

[pagojoe]

Yup. And the one in the pic is an Arabian Cowry, not a Deer Cowry.

Cheers,



Don

 

[easydoesit]

Thanks a lot everybody! I have an emerald crab, but he doesn't seem to touch hair algae. I will do a search on cowries to see what people have been saying. Thanks for the ID Don.

I talked to my not so LFS and they said they will give me a call when they get some Money Cowries in stock. I will start with a couple to see how they do.

I'm cutting back the feeding to once a day for now and hopefully that will coerce my critters to graze a little. Other than that, I'm getting a new pair of gloves soon so I'll put them to work.

Thanks again for the suggestions.