Stomatella Snails!

[Trip 22]

Wow....I was wondering if others have seen this happen in their tank. I am new to the saltwater world. When I first noticed my stomatella snail it was because it blew smoke rings into the water. This was a couple of months ago. Last week I noticed these micro sized pinhead white balls with legs on the glass. They are sooo tiny a pic is impossible. So anyhow today I was looking into the tank and I noticed the "smoke". A stomatella snail was on top of the rock blowing out the milky smoke. Well next thing I see is these crazy dots. I look to the right and there is another stomatella snail blowing out eggs at the same time! This is a first time seeing the eggs being blown. Everytime he blew out a puff of eggs my clown was eating up a storm. Next thing I notice is the pinhead white dots on the glass with 5 legs. Now I know where they come from! Has anyone had any experience with this before? I was so amazed I didn't go get the camera which I should keep by the tank for reasons such as these. It was amazing!!!

 

[dc]

They are pretty prolific breeders in our tanks. Awesome snails also.

 

[jefathome]

The things with legs sound like amphipods.

Look here for possible ID:

http://www.melevsreef.com/id/pods.html

 

[whatcaneyedo]

I'll never buy snails again because I have hundreds of stomatellas. They're like rabbits, I see them reproducing all of the time. Once I think they were even having a sea snail orgy and the tank was milky with all of their reproductive fluid.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

It's pretty common to have Stomatella reproduce in reef aquaria.
The pinhead white dots with legs were not Stomatella.
FWIW I've seen several different species of shrimps attack and eat healthy Stomatella.

 

[mastou]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8971350#post8971350 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gary Majchrzak
It's pretty common to have Stomatella reproduce in reef aquaria.
The pinhead white dots with legs were not Stomatella.
FWIW I've seen several different species of shrimps attack and eat healthy Stomatella.

Hmm unfortunately I've seen the same my two Lysmata amboinensis have totally cleaned my tank for Stomatella snails

/Magnus