What is this? Found it last night.

[Nitroq2]

Last night I was passing by my tank and saw what I thought at first was a snail on the glass but as I kept walking and watching I noticed he was moving really quick and his underside was a little darker than my snails and he didn't really look like anything I had. So I decided I better look and then when I get over there I notice he has no hard shell yet a somewhat hairy back. and without doubt a couple of black eyes. What I am wondering is this simply of a snail without a shell or is it somewhat sinister and some kind of other coral eating critter. The pictures below are from a ziplock back, after I caught him and put him in the sump in the bag. What ya think?

 

[NicoleC]

Stomatella snail. Good guy -- and he does have a shell, it's just covered like a limpet.

You can let him out of jail.

 

[Mariner]

Yep...Stomatellas are one of the better hitchhikers. They are a nice addition to the clean up crew, and will sometimes even multiply in a tank.
Mariner

 

[Tomoko Schum]

The first picture does look like a stomatella.

http://uweb.txstate.edu/~ma14/aqua/documents/20.html

Like NicoleC said, a stomatella snail has a flat oblong shell - I call it a snail in a half shell.

Tomoko

 

[04mach1]

Good guy.

 

[6Speed]

Yep, I have lots of those in my tank. They definetly reproduce!

What other beneficial snails will reproduce easily?

 

[NicoleC]

IPSF's "strombus grazers" (which are NOT strombus sp., they are columbellid sp.) are excellent, well-behaved cleaners who reproduce nicely. I started with 6 a few years ago, and have sold maybe 500 at swaps and could certainly sell more if I wanted to harvest regularly.

Also, those little tiny collonista sp. snails that hitchhike in a come out at night are pretty beneficial and don't need any help from us to reproduce by the thousands, provided you have sufficient quantities of diatom films to graze on.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

I think I saw your posting somewhere about them before. I have been thinking about the strombus grazers ever since. I would love to get hold of some. Would you be willing to trade a dozen of them for a frag of zoanthids or other corals?

Tomoko

 

[NicoleC]

I have a small biotype that is, at least for the immediate future, closed to new inputs.

But if enough of the little guys survive the cross-country trek, you are welcome to some. I have a huge crop of babies right now, but I don't know how many will make it. I'm going to spread them out for the trek, and we shall see.

 

[tjswan]

i love these guys do a great clean up job