new conch ! (pics)

[REEFROOKEE]

hey guys ! picked up this conch at the LFS! He told me it was a true conch! I did some searching, and found out that if it has human looking eyes its most likely a reef safe conch?! :dance: looks like its trying to eat algae off the glass and has no interest in my hermits or turbos, but i defiantly know i dont have enough algae for him and everyone else to live off... so what can i supplement to him?

thanks

 

[Guygettnby]

if you know you dont have the capabilities to properly care for it then why buy it in the first place? just doesnt make sense to me....

 

[jakeh24]

from what I've heard you will have very clean sand

 

[Dave71]

Looks like a queen conch based on the pic.

 

[tibob32]

put some nori in the tank, my florida conch likes it

 

[REEFROOKEE]

if you know you dont have the capabilities to properly care for it then why buy it in the first place? just doesnt make sense to me....

i want to learn to take care of it! i know it will live in the tank with out me feeding it.. but i want to make its life easy!

 

[REEFROOKEE]

what the heck is nori? lol

 

[Guygettnby]

i want to learn to take care of it! i know it will live in the tank with out me feeding it.. but i want to make its life easy!

okie dokie, well it will eat the left over food that your other tank mates do not eat and will help keep your sand bed nice and clean.

 

[Guygettnby]

what the heck is nori? lol

nori is seaweed.... you can buy it at any decent pet store. it comes in 3 different kinds that i know of, green, brown and red. just make sure not to feed too much. find something to keep it on the sand and not allow it to float away before the conch has a chance to eat some. of course thats if it has a chance before it falls apart or other fish eat it first.

 

[REEFROOKEE]

nori is seaweed.... you can buy it at any decent pet store. it comes in 3 different kinds that i know of, green, brown and red. just make sure not to feed too much. find something to keep it on the sand and not allow it to float away before the conch has a chance to eat some. of course thats if it has a chance before it falls apart or other fish eat it first.

see and thats why i bought it! i new you guys could help!

 

[wickedfish]

So do conchs remove valuable things from the sand bed? What can be the negative effects on a reef tank with conchs are they busier than your average snails??

 

[Dave71]

First - I would say it depends on the conch regarding impacts.

I have a tiger sand conch, and it is a favored member of my CUC.

Generally a queen conch is not suggested for a small system, due to the size they can obtain. However, I think it probably takes a long time to get to that point.

No personal experience on that though.

One reason I love my conch is because of its diversity of what it will clean up.

I had a bout of cyano and then added my conch. It took care of it shortly after it hit the sand. Although I think this is more typical of my species of conch (Strombus Sp.) vs. them as a group.

Link to a decent selection of conch's with some brief descriptions.

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/cat/infoL3/24199/category.web

 

[Guygettnby]

So do conchs remove valuable things from the sand bed? What can be the negative effects on a reef tank with conchs are they busier than your average snails??

i have kept many different conchs in the past and i currently keep one that has been alive for probably 3 years. i have never noticed any bad side effects to keeping a conch besides they will get big and they are like bull dosers to anything you have on the sand bed. other then that they do an awesome job at keeping your sand bed clean.

there are however some conchs you would not want to buy. some pet stores do not know what they are selling and label certain snails or whelks as conchs. so always try to get an ID before you buy a conch.

i have kept the following so far.

Sand conch (still have)
Queen conch (got rid of once i found out what it was)
Crown conch (put in mantis tank when i found out what it was)
Fighting conch (died in crash but 1 of my favorites besides sand conch)
minitaure conchs (cantremember actual name)
bear conch ( died for unknown reasons)

and then there are the various whelks that were sold to me as conchs when i didnt know better.

 

[Tennyson]

okie dokie, well it will eat the left over food that your other tank mates do not eat and will help keep your sand bed nice and clean.

Will a conch eat things other fish might need like copepods or whatever a goby/mandarin might eat? Thinking of getting one.

 

[pagojoe]

Nope, conchs are vegetarians (except for Crown Conchs and Horse Conchs, neither of which is a true conch).

Cheers,



Don

 

[Guygettnby]

Will a conch eat things other fish might need like copepods or whatever a goby/mandarin might eat? Thinking of getting one.

Pagojoe beat me to it. but if you get a true conch then no it will not harm anything other then the algea or left over food. just make sure you get a proper ID on any conch before you buy it so you know what your getting before you spend the money. i have seen too many people waste there money buying something they thought was 1 thing and it ends up being something else.

 

[Gangrene]

The queen conch will get huge. I have a fighting conch because it remains much smaller.

 

[Dadekster]

Most good sized grocery stores sell nori as well, generally in the asian foods isle and it's generally a lot cheaper than pet stores. Just make sure it's plain seaweed and you'll be fine. Tangs love it as well.

I keep two fighting conches and they are great CuC members and fun to watch.

 

[Speckled Grouper]

That looks like a Florida Fighting conch, Strombus alatus.