Tonga fighting conch vs. nassarius

[lbear]

Hi!

This is not a thread asking about which cleaning crew to have.

I ordered tonga fighting conch online and recieved something looks pretty similar to nassarius snails in my tank. My question is: how to distinguish between these two species?

I may have chance to post pic when I get home.

Thanks!

 

[raddogz]

My fighting conch's shells were a white with tannish coloration on it. I could see the eyes and spur they use to get around were pretty evident as well.

The nassarius vibex snail shell's were gray in color.

 

[gfk]

my conch had a long mouth looking thing that looked like gonzo's nose.

and also, the conch shell looks like the big ones you see on tv/movies, but smaller

 

[Sparkss]

definitely a different shaped shell than a nas vibex.

 

[lbear]

This is what I got. Customer service of the online seller asked me to send photo to them. I expect its shell being whiter.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Looks like it might be a tonga nassarius snail, but it is not a conch.

 

[mygirls]

I have several of them. It is not a conch, but tonga nassarius snail

 

[chem-e]

Other than the size, I think a good way to tell is the eye and mouth/feeler. My conch's mouth is on the ground, but the nass is up in the air until it finds something.

Also, could you have a super tongan nass? I just bought one of these this past weekend from Lucky Ocean because he had some in, so I wanted to try one out.

 

[GreshamH]

The Tongan nassarius's iare typically huge, so they're all super in my mind

 

[lbear]

I got e-mail from customer service and they told me it's indeed fighting conch. What do you think?

one more pic taken while snails were in the acclamation box:

 

[crazzyreefer]

it would help if you had something like a ruler or a dime to judge them by, but unfortunately they dont look like conchs, conchs shells are vary different...I have sold over 200k of snails and no conchs ever looked like yours.... I would however pm Jim Bookfish if I was you, he was working in Tonga and would know definitivly.

 

[GreshamH]

I've unloaded thousands of them Nicholas, they are Tongan Nassarious snails, for sure

 

[gfk]

this is a fighting conch, tell them to search google images since they clearly dont know what theyre talking about

http://www.aquahobby.com/marine/img/alatus1.jpg

http://www.sanibelflorida.com/images/seashells/fightconchjuv.jpg

 

[sfsuphysics]

yeah those are not fighting conches, I have a conch and nassarius tongan snails and those are nassarius. Sounds like a typical retailer who doesn't know squat about what they have, that's why it's good to have pictures on the website of each item.

 

[GreshamH]

Their most likely saying what the wholesaler sold them as

 

[lbear]

One more question: Does Tonga fighting conch burrow in the sand bed as nassarius snail does? My nassarius snails only come out when there is food presented.

I've sent e-mail to the customer service again and hopefully they could find out what's going on.

This pic is from google search. This is the snail which I really want to get. It has a pair of eye on tubes and mouth looks like cerith snail's.

 

[Unarce]

Those are definitely not conchs. The type of conchs we usually see, will usually bury half way to 3/4 into the sand. Nassarius snails usually bury themselves in the sand completely, with their 'smeller' sticking right out.

It's unfortunate the vendor can't tell the difference, as they're quite easy to distinguish, with at least a 100% difference in price.

The surefire way to convince them that you got the wrong snail, is that they lack the horny operculum that conchs have to propel them forward.

 

[gfk]

conches will bury themself somewhat...

mine was under sand, on glass, and on sand. (only went on the glass once, it freaked me out lol)

 

[lbear]

I got e-mail from the vendor and they agree those two are nasarius snails and give me refund. I really want to get fighting conch! I've been searching all LFS in east bay and south bay. Anyone has idea where can I get them in the bay area?

 

[GreshamH]

Have you tried Tyler at Dolphin? He's had em pretty much every time I've been there. Same with New Alemeda Aquatics.