Cali Kid Corals

Interesting Article on Shipping

A friend of mine gave me some "Strombus Grazers" ala IPSF. He says they breed quite readily in his tank. I took a dozen home with the hopes that they will breed in my tank. If they do I will gladly bring some to the next meeting when they are ready. Not to take business away from LFS of course, since I've yet to see baby cerith snails (though lots of cerith egg squiggles) and I'm not sure of any other snails that really breed in a tank, but maybe if we can circulate enough "breeding" species locally, then we can take a tiny eensy weensy bit of pressure off the wild snails. I'm sure ISPF won't mind! (Since they market them as breeding snails!)

V
 
banded trochus are well known for breeding and surviving their juvi stage :D Strombus are great as well. I've never really had the strombus grow up on me, plenty of eggs, just no babies.
 
Can you post a picture of your Strombus Grazers?

More and more, I'm thinking (from other posts I have read) that they may be the same snails that I picked up from Fingerwrinkles about a year ago (he in turn got them from someone else). If they are, they do breed in our tanks. I'm starting to get a lot more comfortable with their breeding cycle and I think I'll have some available to share by the time of the next swap. Mine look like nassarius but don't hide in the sand and only eat algae. The best description I have for them so far is a Dove Shell (however, there are lots of species of Dove Shells). They lay little spheres on the glass with 3 to 7 snails each. After a couple of weeks or so, the snails are born as miniture versions of the parents and start eating algae right away. They seem to be viable from day one after hatching.

There is a fuzzy picture of a couple of mine on this thread http://www.bareefers.org/bar/viewtopic.php?t=429&sid=18051e05b6a8b98e5a515121e96a050c

Since IPSF doesn't post pictures of their snail on their website (suprising in this day and age), the only way I can confirm with them is by placing an order. I believe that Dr Ron has their snail on file. I was also thinking of having him identify mine.

Adding to the list of known species that breed in our tanks, I have Collonista snails, and at least one baby from my Trochus snails that I found growing in my sump. Gorm gave me some of his black Ceriths that breed for him in his tank. I have some cerith eggs; but, can't verify that I have any babies yet. Between these snails and the Asterina starfish, my goal would be to never put a wild caught snail into one of my tanks.

This article has more info on the Collonistas http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rs/index.php

Here are the rest of the articles:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/rs/index.php
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-07/rs/index.php

Regards,

Roy
 
Hi Roy, mine look exactly like the one in your picture of the frogspawn. Sort of conch-like shell. The patterns on the shell are quite varied as well.

V
 
It looks like my mystery may be solved. Thanks!

The adults seem to stay less than 1 centimeter in length. The egg spheres are about 3 milimeters in diameter. The newly hatched ones are about 1 milimeter.

The have the little trunks just like the nassarius.

I originally started out with 7 of them and now I have at least 100. I don't know at what size they start laying eggs. Thus, I don't know if all the eggs are being laid by the original seven or if some of the first babies are now laying eggs. I'd like to think that when the snail hits about 5 milimeters or more, it would be of a good size to share; but, I still am not sure how long it takes to reach the 1 centimeter size.

They are good little algae eaters.

I wonder what size they are when IPSF ships them?

Thanks again,

Roy
 
I've been tempted to order some of the strombus from IPSF for awhile, but I never get around to it. When I get rid of my hermits (whom I'm pretty sure would snack on snail eggs and babies), I might have to get a few of those buggers from you guys.
 
I pull prolly 100 snails from my tank every 1-2 weeks, I could bring some to the workshop if you are going, FYI, if I could do it all over again, these would of never made it into my main tank, I find them an eye sore due to numbers.
 
Gorm, you have the cerith snails, right? I'm amazed that they actually make it to a phase where they actually have a shell. I've seen so many egg squiggles that just disappear eventually. Who knows, maybe flatworms eat them or something!

I think that, luckily for snails, the eggs that are up on the glass are far away from a hermit's reach. I put in 3 "red leg" (not scarlet leg) last week, just for variety (they're fun to watch!) and the strombus are too small for them (wrong shell shape) for them to snatch. THough they might still try to eat them.

Walmart sells shells in their hobby/craft section (lots of cerith shells in the pack, which is like $3 or something) so you can keep the shell-hunting down to a minimum from the hermits.

I think it would be great if people brought "extra" snails to the meetings, rather than "tossing" them. I'll certainly bring in strombus once they get going!

V
 
I'll be out of town for the next meeting (off snorkeling); however, I have been bringing Collonistas and Asterinas to the last few swaps for the misc table. At the next swap, I should be able to add the Dove Shells (Strombus grazers?) to the mix.

If anyone specifically wants any of them, let me know. The Collonistas breed like rabbits. Dr Ron says "If present in large numbers, they may effectively replace all other grazers in our systems."

In my main tank, I don't have any nusiance algae on the rocks. If I don't wipe down the glass every couple of days or so, a tough green algae film begins to build up and is really noticable after a week or 10 days. I usually leave the green film on the glass for the snails and Algae Blenny. When company is coming over, I scrape it off. I have Chaeto in the sump and nitrates are zero. I'll take algae on the glass over algae on the rocks any day.

At the last fragging demo, on my last pick, I picked up the cup of sand that Gorm brought. There were lots of black ceriths in there. They were all small, I don't know how long it takes for that species to reach egg laying size. I put them in a tank to see what happens.

Sounds like Gorm will be our local source for the Black Ceriths for the next meetings and swaps.

Best of luck,

Roy
 
I'm interested in the type of ceriths you have, I've seen about 3 different versions all called "ceriths" but distinctly different shell paterns. I too have had "zig zags" of eggs on the glass, but never have I seen then grow, don't know if another snail eats them or what.
 
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