Trochus Mass Spawning

[NaH2O]

Hey all!

I thought I would share this with you. Back in August I had a mass truchus spawning event. My tank was clouded with gametes from the trochus....and every single trochus was releasing either sperm or eggs. I was thankful for an awesome skimmer, and was/am running a 5 micron filter sock. What I didn't count on was the arrival of baby trochus. If I didn't see them, I wouldn't believe it, but my tank has loads of them. No complaints from me, but I am so surprised by this. If someone asked me if baby snails are possible on my system, I would say no chance. The type of flow combined with my filtration - no way.....well....it happened. I wonder if the amount of hair algae I had in the tank at the time served as refuge enough so they were able to survive.

Anyway, here is a shot of one snail releasing gametes:

 

[NaH2O]

And here is the resulting baby trochus. It is about 1/2 the size of an eraser:

 

[ScottT1980]

Cool pictures Nikki, let me know when you want to start shipping the babies. My tank could use a few...

Take er easy
Scott T.

 

[sharks]

Very cool pics Nik
I have the same thing in my system.
I agree that before I would say nah it couldn't happen.
But now we know huh?
When I look at my tank at night with a red light there are thousands of snails in there.
The good thing for me is all my hermits tend to leave them alone since they are so small.
I’m still stumped as to where the heck they all go during the day. 80% are gone all day and then at night the army awakes and is on the move.
Gotta love not having to buy snails anytime soon.

 

[Craig Manoukian]

Great shots Nikki! Congrats on being a grandmother!

 

[hunterd_67]

cool, if ur out of room for them, i have plenty of room in my tank..lol

 

[Barnacle Dave]

Very nice... abd I love your SIG

 

[NaH2O]

Thanks, Dave!!

It is strange that I keep seeing the small ones getting larger, and I now see new little ones. Only a couple mm in diameter.

I would love to give some of these up, but my tank really could use them. Perhaps when my tank is finally mature I will part with a few