Too many Abalone?

[stagger_lee]

re: 12g Nano DX

Just started this tank around the holidays. Took off right away since I pulled live rock and sand from my buddy's existing established system. Started seeing a few baby abalone's right away and now there's like 15 of them that I counted and a few fairly large ones. One had its a$$ in the air the other night squirting all kinds of clear/white stuff out, I'm assuming to be waste.

If they all excrete that much waste, am I going to see spikes in water and are they eventually going to be doing more damage then good? If they have gone from population 2 to almost 20 in 2 months am I going to have an abalone only tank in a couple more months?

Thanks in advance for any help or advice. Cheers! :beer:

 

[SushiGirl]

Are you sure they're abalone & not stomatella snails?
And it was spawning, not excreting waste.

 

[stagger_lee]

I looked up stomatella snails and there are definitely a lot of those and the majority. There are a few abalone too, but now I see the difference. I thought maybe they were in different stages of maturity.

It crossed my mind that it might be spawning. Am I correct that I observed, at that same time that one was excreting fluid the another one was excreting eggs into the tank? When I saw this I couldn't believe my eyes. Pretty amazing if thats what was going on. Are these a problem?

Thanks again SushiGirl!! :beer:

 

[LeslieH]

I'm betting your abalone are just Stomatellas that have lost the rear portion of the foot. True abalone don't show up very often in tanks.

Stomatellas are useful grazers and not a problem.

 

[kichimark]

awesome little grazers they are. I had a few at first then went to about 50. There were a couple black morphs at first but now (a year later) there are mostly that color. I wonder if it is a dominant gene for that. Anyways, isn;t it cool when you seem them reproducing?

 

[stagger_lee]

I'm betting your abalone are just Stomatellas that have lost the rear portion of the foot. True abalone don't show up very often in tanks.

Stomatellas are useful grazers and not a problem.

I bet you're right Leslie! Thanks! I was always told they were abalone. Even by LFS. :hmm4: Always learning. :reading:

awesome little grazers they are. I had a few at first then went to about 50. There were a couple black morphs at first but now (a year later) there are mostly that color. I wonder if it is a dominant gene for that. Anyways, isn;t it cool when you seem them reproducing?

They sure do keep a clean tank. Hardly have to scrape glass between those guys and the margaritas. I do have several black ones with white spots as well. So was I right in seeing the other guy blow eggs out into the tank while first one was excreting fluids? They just fertilize in mid flow? Incredible. I spend hours just staring into this thing watching life happen. Can't wait to go bigger! :beer:

 

[kichimark]

Yup you are correct. I usually see them do that around mid day. Once I saw two in the same hole with one pumping out eggs into the current and a split second later followed by the sperm of the other.

 

[stagger_lee]

pretty miraculous to say the least. :beer: