i need a good detritovore

rDr4g0n

rDr4g0n

Well-Known Member
i need a good detritivore

well my tank is progressing nicely, but my beautiful white sand is starting to develop little pools of detritus (i use the word pool for lack of a better term). theres poopie, and what basically looks like dust bunnies. ive vacuumed them up a few times, but i was wondering what you would recommend to clean it up and keep my sand moving.

i currently have 3 turbo snails, and an emerald crab on cleanup duty.

btw i bought some non-live sugarfine sand, and its already got all sorts of life in it: feather dusters, worms, pods, and more! its awesome :)
 
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Warnberg

Warnberg

Well-Known Member
There are several to choose from. I personally like my conchs for clean-up. There are some sand sifting goby's as well, but most don't like them because they have a tendancy to spread sand all over (including the rock and your favorite coral).
 
rDr4g0n

rDr4g0n

Well-Known Member
ive got a 30 gallon tank with about a 2-3 inch sandbed. any recommendations for species and number of conchs?
 
Warnberg

Warnberg

Well-Known Member
Strombus alatus...
recommendation and info from saltwaterfish.com

Aquacultured in Florida, these Conchs make great additions to any tank. They eat brown diatoms (algae) that grow on live sand beds. Fighting Conchs will bury themselves in the sand bed and clean the upper layers. At this size Saltwaterfish.com recommends 1 Fighting Conch per 30 gallons.

Conchs belong to a Class known as Gastropods, which make up the largest class of Mollusks. Conchs grow by increasing their swirling body while producing a protective shell. This shell protects their soft body from predators. They use a pad, or foot, that extends from their shell which allows them to drag their shell along. As they drag their shell often times their mouth and eyes can be seen coming out from the opening of the shell
 
rDr4g0n

rDr4g0n

Well-Known Member
should i also look into cerith or nassarius snails, or is one conch enough?

also, wont he get pretty big?
 
Warnberg

Warnberg

Well-Known Member
The conch will get big, and yes I would definitely diversify your cleanup crew. I like verity, lots of different stuff, don't just stick to one or two types.
 
rDr4g0n

rDr4g0n

Well-Known Member
Dentoid said:
I agree with the variety concept of clean-up crew. Nassarius snails are great, no disrespect Dragonwrasse, but before you purchase Nassarius snails, read this.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/mg/index.php

This came from an earlier post, but is relevant.
Click to expand...

an extremely interesting read... to summarize, it starts by pointing out that many 'nassarius' snails that are sold arent the REAL nassarius snails. it continues to discuss the snails original habitat, which is much colder water than a reef tank (something like 68f). this causes the snail to basically start dying as soon as you put it in your system (im paraphrasing.. the link describes the exact nature of the snails deterioration). the snail should have a 40 year lifespan, but often that isnt the case in captivity (more like 2 years). It also claims that this snail is the kinda guy that eats pretty much ANYTHING, including lots of good stuff like pods and worms. there are places where the snails have actually eaten ALL the pods in their habitat, leaving just the snails as the sole colony. finally it points out that many of the snails have been found to have flukes that dont host on humans, but do infect the aquarium water and will burrow into your skin causing an itchy rash.

so what do those of you out there who have had nassarius snails for an extended period of time think about all this? any other opinions?
 
BrothaWolf

BrothaWolf

Well-Known Member
You just have to make sure you are getting nassarius VIBEX those are the ones I have in my tank. They do a good job and are cool to watch (try flipping one upside down for fun) I havent had any problems with them. They will make a fast meal out of anything lying around. They pop up out of the sand like a bunch of U-Boats
 
C

cheeks69

Wannabe Guru
RS STAFF
I ordered 100 of these nassarius vibex and the population has dwindled because I thought not enough food, now I'm not so sure :bugout:
 
rDr4g0n

rDr4g0n

Well-Known Member
well the paper covers "Nassarius obsoletus" which was eventually changed to "Ilyanassa obsoleta" because its different than nassarius. if you have nassarius vibex, you should be ok. its the Ilyanassa's that are bad.

ok so i need to get 1 fighting conch and a bunch of nassarius vibex snails? any recommendation on how many nassarius?
 
BEELZEBOB

BEELZEBOB

Well-Known Member
great. i have 3 of those and the are mos def the bad ones.
things creep me out too.

it makes sense now as to why the seemed to chase my hermits.

the fluke thing is a great thing to have on my mind.

what should i do?

dont rellly want to kill them. yall ever seen one eat carrion?
they have their lil breather tube, and they can extend their stomach tube thing way out or, expand it all wide like.

i watched one eat a krill, and it was freaky.

i like the submarine effect though.
 
rDr4g0n

rDr4g0n

Well-Known Member
well if you ever set up a refugium you can toss em in there. id feel bad killing anything in my tank, even a predator.
 
Dentoid

Dentoid

Smile Maker
PREMIUM
rDr4g0n said:
well the paper covers "Nassarius obsoletus" which was eventually changed to "Ilyanassa obsoleta" because its different than nassarius. if you have nassarius vibex, you should be ok. its the Ilyanassa's that are bad.
Click to expand...

I believe the point of the article was that retailers are selling Ilyanassa as Nassarius and to be aware of the differences when buying-Caveat emptor. I'm sure the cold water snails would do fine in a cold water tank and would be great for one looking for that particular type of snail.
 
J

jg2269jg

Member
i was stupid enough to buy those snails on ebay and i thought that i was getting 200 vibex i could share with my friends and when i got them they were definitely not the vibex and they just dies in mine and my friends tanks. they suck
 
cracker

cracker

Well-Known Member
Dentoid is correct! I added Ilyanassa obsoletas to my tank. I feel they were great detrivores but were shortlived.
 
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