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#1
11/19/2007, 12:04 PM
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fighting conchs - where to buy and ok for DSB tank?
Has anyone seen these at a LFS and are there any reasons not to have them in a DSB tank (such as they actually eat all the critters out of the DSB)?
Reason I ask is I could use one more thing that cruises my sandbed, my son thinks they are really cool looking "elephant snails" and from the intial descriptions I see they seem to be beneficial. Thanks in advance. |
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#4
11/19/2007, 01:28 PM
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I used to have a really live sandbed with all sorts of spaghetti worms that would turn the sand real well. Then I put a conch in and no more spaghetti worms and the sand bed went kind of stagnant. If you have good critters in the sand I wouldn't put one in because I'm pretty sure they turn over the sand looking for inverts to eat.
You should be able to find conch most places. ORA aquacultures a ton of them so try to buy captive bred. |
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#5
11/19/2007, 01:31 PM
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pat could be right..I had a bunch of worms in my sand bed, and they are gone.. but i thought it was my copperband and raccoon buterfly that ate them.. I get the conchs from Tropiquatics in lombard or Beyond the Reef in Schaumburg.. they are cheep critters at both places..
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#6
11/19/2007, 02:00 PM
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I got 2 in my sand bed. I got them at Ocean's Floor for $10 each. They have them in stock veyr regularly. I don't think I have the issues that others have had with worms, but can't say for certain. I know I still see bristle worms in my bed pretty regularly. I thought they did a decent job of turning the sand bed over for a while. They ate a bunch of algae that was growing on my sand when I got my initial algae bloom.
Then they stopped eating the algae (or at least a lot of it), but they must be eating something because it's a year later and they are still doing quite well.
__________________
Livestock: Rock Beauty Angel Flame Angel 2 Firefish Gobies Occ. Percula Clownfish Blue Hepatus Tang Blue Sided Wrasse Purple Line Dottyback Fire Shrimp, Cleaner Shrimp |
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#7
11/19/2007, 02:23 PM
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They don't eat worms. Pat, it had to be something else, or it wasn't a fighting conch.
I have loved the ones I've gotten from Premium Aquatics. Really pretty shells. I think theirs are from Bali but could be wrong on that.
__________________
Orca Systems Custom Skimmer w/3 Sicce PSK-2500s in Recirc mode. 3850lph of air at 73 watts. fish: royal gramma, true perc, hepatus tang, hawaiin sailfin tang, citron goby, radiant wrasse, 1m, 1f solarensis wrasse, fed Rod food |
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#8
11/19/2007, 02:58 PM
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Thanks everyone!
So of course this is a week I am off for work and no one seems to have them  Premium Aquatics is out of them plus some other snails I was going to get. I was at Living Seas yesterday (was by my in-laws right there) and they were wiped out of just about everything as there big midnight madness sale was the night before. Reef plus closed today. Tropiquatics doesn't have any but may have the other snails I wanted to pick up as well. I will keep calling as this is the best week for me to give it a try... Thanks again. |
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#9
11/19/2007, 05:12 PM
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Ocean design sometimes has them. Reeftopia usually has them if you want to order from them. Floridapets and coralsplus both dot com have them usually.
Or wait on Premium.
__________________
Orca Systems Custom Skimmer w/3 Sicce PSK-2500s in Recirc mode. 3850lph of air at 73 watts. fish: royal gramma, true perc, hepatus tang, hawaiin sailfin tang, citron goby, radiant wrasse, 1m, 1f solarensis wrasse, fed Rod food |
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#10
11/19/2007, 09:21 PM
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I have had two conches in my 30 for about 1 year now and they're doing great.BTW I also have alot of spaghetti worms and they're doing fine to. My bed is only 2 to 3 inches deep though.
__________________
You know, DOTZ, like the candy you put in your mouth. |
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#11
11/21/2007, 02:43 AM
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I can't remember if it was a fighting conch or a queen conch or a horse conch but I do know that the worms disappeared concurrently with the addition of the snail. Everyone that I have every seen will go after meaty additions to the tank. I don't know what else they would eat in the sand bed besides microfauna. By the time detritus works its way into the sand bed as deep as they tend to bury themselves it has been pretty well processed by all the other inverts in the tank. Logic would dictate that they are therefore hunting for critters in the sand. They don't grow big eating nutritionless algae and tiny detrital material.
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#12
11/21/2007, 09:54 AM
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I have a queen conch that is very active at night. even crawled up the back side of my tank one night (I didnt think they did that).
I got mine at Inland Seas two weeks ago... its only about 1" long... I also have naccarius snails that live deep in the bed and when I feed brine or mysis, they literally launch out of the sand bed and even challenge the serpent star for a piece of shrimp. very cool to watch. |
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#13
11/21/2007, 11:40 AM
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Quote:
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#14
11/21/2007, 01:52 PM
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Have a queen and a fighting with a DSB. No problems.
p.s. The guy at Aquatica is a cool cat.
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W-W-B-D -h-o-e-o -a-u-e-? --t-l-f-- ---d-y--- |
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#15
11/21/2007, 07:26 PM
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Thanks for all the info on conchs. I placed an order for them from liveaquaria yesterday and just got done acclimating and putting them and some other shelled friends in the tank. Great experience with liveaquaria...
Now I have something new to show to the family on thanksgiving (not that anyone is going to care about a snail looking thing - They will all be focused on the chromis and the xenia  which I like too.)
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#16
11/21/2007, 09:26 PM
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Just got a conch at oceans floor .....its about an 1" long.... dont know what kind but they have more...call Dave
__________________
Mike _____________ Click the Red house for my (just another) 120g in wall thread. |
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#17
11/22/2007, 12:22 AM
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How about the Large Tongan Nassarius snails....we've got several of the little 3/8" size from Reeftopia but picked up two of the Giant Tongan's from our LFS for $6 (pair) and their about the size of a quarter (Shell Diameter) and about 2+" long (shell length plus about another approx 3/4" of body length outside the shell - Not including the length of their Nose (trunk)). They 'seem' to sleep during the day and are out at night cruising over/thru the sand bed under the LED moonlights...so far so good and they keep the sand stirred but not so much as to undermine the LR's.
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#18
11/22/2007, 01:01 AM
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Quote:
 wishing you and your family a happy thanksgiving! glad you were able to score some conches
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