Kessil

Strange Reef Questions

Interesting that you brought this up since Liz and I exchanged a quick PM not too long ago in regards to Trochus snail shells. Her tank bred ones had their own microculture of coralline that's a very nice reddish coloration. The wild stuff don't come in with any sort of coralline at all. Over time mine would be covered in coralline.

So the question is what is causing the captive stuff to get covered in algae of any sort, but the wild stuff coming in doesn't have any.

For other shelled inverts, the moltings usually takes care of any sort of algae. I could usually tell when my old cleaner shrimp was due for a molt when the white antenna would start to become covered in some sort of algae. For the ones that don't have an exoskeleton to replace, they usually have some sort of tissue that covers the shell and prevents it.
 
Hermit crabs usually fix that in your tank, by eating algae off slower moving snails.
I think that is what happens in the wild.
(other than molting)

Of course, hermit crabs can cause their own set of problems.
 
Interesting that you brought this up since Liz and I exchanged a quick PM not too long ago in regards to Trochus snail shells. Her tank bred ones had their own microculture of coralline that's a very nice reddish coloration. The wild stuff don't come in with any sort of coralline at all. Over time mine would be covered in coralline.

So the question is what is causing the captive stuff to get covered in algae of any sort, but the wild stuff coming in doesn't have any.

For other shelled inverts, the moltings usually takes care of any sort of algae. I could usually tell when my old cleaner shrimp was due for a molt when the white antenna would start to become covered in some sort of algae. For the ones that don't have an exoskeleton to replace, they usually have some sort of tissue that covers the shell and prevents it.

Specifically my Trochus are covered in algae, but my conchs are spotless. Perhaps the conchs are spotless because they sometimes bury themselves, but even that doesn't make a lot of sense as it's never for long. Turbos also don't seem to get covered in anything except Coralline.
 
Specifically my Trochus are covered in algae, but my conchs are spotless. Perhaps the conchs are spotless because they sometimes bury themselves, but even that doesn't make a lot of sense as it's never for long. Turbos also don't seem to get covered in anything except Coralline.
Conches and Turbos seem to sit still for quite a while at times, and are larger.
My bet: The trochus eat the algae off the them, but not other trochus, since they move around and are smaller.
 
My fighting conches get covered in coralline algae.

For me the strange question is why do wild-caught snails always start coralline-free and yet always get covered in our tanks? For that matter, what about live rock and any other hard surface from the ocean? Clean in the ocean and coralline-covered in our tanks after a short while.

Some coralline eating organism universally present in all tropical oceans but not in our tanks? Or does something about our tanks like lighting or chemistry promote coralline growth way beyond anything seen in nature?
 
I always assumed it was simply that in the wild there are so many things that eat coralline and algae.

My trochus were covered in algae, but when I introduced a sailfin blenny, he's chomped all snails clean.

My tonga fighting conches were clean, but I believe it was mostly because they hid from light during the day, and came out usually when it was darker.
 
Back
Top