Is this safe for my aquarium

[FREAKABHISHEK]

I have dought this snail

http://www.gastropods.com/Shell_Images/Cypraea/Cypraea_cervinetta.jpg


pic is from the net
but the snail looks like exactly the same

[xinumaster]

It is called cowrie and it is reef safe.

[FREAKABHISHEK]

when i unpacked it after reaching home the water it was in was turned into slime thick slime
will it do the same with my aquarium

[pagojoe]

LOL they make a lot of slime, especially the big ones. One that size can make about a gallon of "snail slobber," as one person called it, in a couple of minutes. If he does it in your tank, you'll need to seine out as much as you can with a fine-mesh net, or your fish will be gasping for air in short order. One he settles down, he will no longer produce a lot of slime. Your only worry with a big cowry like Cypraea zebra or C. cervus is that they may bulldoze your corals or rockwork.

Cheers,



Don

[Capt_Cully]

I believe they're naturally found on reefs. They cling to sea fan corals and feed by catching things traveling on the current.

Is this correct?

I've seen flamingo tongue cowries in the caribbean.

[Capt_Cully]

I believe they're naturally found on reefs. They cling to sea fan corals and feed by catching things traveling on the current.

Is this correct?

I've seen flamingo tongue cowries in the caribbean on sea fans.

[Capt_Cully]

I believe they're naturally found on reefs. They cling to sea fan corals and feed by catching things traveling on the current.

Is this correct?

I've seen flamingo tongue cowries in the caribbean on sea fans.

[FREAKABHISHEK]

so should i keep it or not

[FREAKABHISHEK]

its not that big
its about one inch

[pagojoe]

Flamingo Tongues are ovulids, not cowries, and they feed on gorgonians. Real cowries, like the ones in the photo at the top of this page (and in my avatar) are pretty much reef safe, none of them intentionally feed on either soft or hard corals. Neither cowries nor ovulids are filter feeders.

If the cowry FREAK* has is only an inch long, it's neither Cypraea zebra nor C. cervus, as these cowries average about 3 and 4 inches respectively. If it's brown with white spots, but more rounded instead of elongate and cylindrical, it's probably Cypraea (Lyncina) vitellus, the Pacific Deer Cowry. It should be reef safe, but as for sliming the tank, the same applies to this species as to all the others: if you see a lot of strings of slime floating in the tank after you introduce it, you should probably try to get them out of the tank, as best you can. The slime isn't toxic, but may coat the gills of the fish if there is enough of it.

The cowry in your photo at the top of this thread is Cypraea cervinetta, the Panamic branch of the C. cervus/C. zebra complex, which are Caribbean/Atlantic species. A tiny dwarf of this species is about 1.5 to 2 inches long, and they grow over 4 inches in length. If your cowry has teeth on the bottom and spots on the dorsum, it is an adult, and won't grow any larger than it's present size.

Cheers,



Don

[FREAKABHISHEK]

there are also some white tentecles comming out from the sides
though very small

[pagojoe]

Those are called papillae, and are part of the mantle. When the mantle is completely extended, they will be all over the cowry, and you won't be able to see the shell. They camouflage the shell, and probably make it harder for predators to find it. Here is a pic with the mantle almost completly extended and the papillae fully inflated:

http://doris.ffessm.fr/photo_gde_taille_fiche2.asp?varpositionf=&varSQL=SELECT%20*%20FROM%20fiche_liste%20where%20fiche_etat%20=%204%20and%20fiche_numero%20=%20445&varposition=2&varSQLphoto=SELECT%20*%20FROM%20vue_photos%20where%20photo_fiche%20=%20445%20ORDER%20BY%20photo_ordr e&groupe_numero=31&fichier=&origine=

In this pic, the mantle is only partly extended, and the papillae are only slightly inflated, making them look like small, white tentacles:

http://www.george-shells.com/vitelus.jpg

Cheers,



Don

[hmello@bermexin]

PagoJoe you are the Cowry King.........:thumbsup: :beer:

[FREAKABHISHEK]

Yes this is the pic