Conches

[subz88]

What do they eat? And should they be target fed?

Thanks in advance :)

Sub

[Macca]

Sub conch are omnivores - will eat anything they find at the bottom of your tank, seaweed, algae, fish poop, left overs etc. If you have a thriving aquarium no need to target feed. If you have minimum stock just feed the odd piece of marine frozen etc.

On Conch - we sell both fighting conch (sand) and red footed. The red footed conch is not a true conch although it is sold in the aquarium trade as being one. Bare this is mind when purchasing as they are really a snail. Although sold as reef safe they can be carnivoroes to other small molluscs. Also be very very careful of other sellers selling whelks as conch.

James

[liquidlogic]

fighting conch (sand) i presume this is sand turn overer. also do these become carnivouses. dam james u know ur stuff

[subz88]

Sub conch are omnivores - will eat anything they find at the bottom of your tank, seaweed, algae, fish poop, left overs etc. If you have a thriving aquarium no need to target feed. If you have minimum stock just feed the odd piece of marine frozen etc.

On Conch - we sell both fighting conch (sand) and red footed. The red footed conch is not a true conch although it is sold in the aquarium trade as being one. Bare this is mind when purchasing as they are really a snail. Although sold as reef safe they can be carnivoroes to other small molluscs. Also be very very careful of other sellers selling whelks as conch.

James

Hi James, thanks for your post :)

I had four red footed conches obtained from yourself with the usual excellent service.

My aquarium is a 4x2x2 reef set up with 60kgs+ of live rock, DSB, various softies/lps/sps and all manner of critters.

Unfortunately the red footed conches haven't fared very well. I tried target feeding them a number of times with pieces of nori, new era flake, cockle, mussel, squid and didn't have much luck. They didn't move much after a few weeks and a couple have since passed away, possibly all of them.

I do have red legged hermits in the tank, and haven't noticed any aggression with the conches. There are plenty of shells in the tank to reduce the likelihood of the hermits attacking the snails.

The tank is well stocked with fish, and water quality has always been maintained at NSW levels, with undetectable levels of nitrate and phosphate.

My other snails such as my nassarius/astrea/trochus/ceriths seem to be fine. Just wondering what I can try to ensure the remaining two red footed conches survive longer, if they are still alive (fingers crossed) :( I haven't noticed them predating on any of my other snails. Perhaps they are missing a vital component of their natural diet?

Any ideas if the fighting conches are clumsy around coral frags?

Once again, all advice appreciated,

Cheers,
Sub

[Macca]

Sand conch mow through the substate so can knock over frags but I think they are ace and worth the hastle. Red footed conch are very slow moving and what you might find is the hermits etc are getting to the food before them. They are extremely hardy so they must not be getting enough food. Trying placing some mussel next to them but away from the hermits (it will be hard but they are obviously losing their scraps to other inverts).

James

[subz88]

I wondered if other creatures were getting to the food before them, and kept them in an isolated section of the tank using a piece of acrylic and egg crate to create an area that the crabs couldn't get into. The red footed conches were still disinterested in the food I tried feeding them. Do you feed them anything else besides the foods I've tried?

[Macca]

Basic info

http://www.etropicals.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=43&pCatId=2249

Will phone up my over sea collector and ask him what he has seen them eating

James