sand cleaner in 8 gal

you've got 1? how big do they get?

 

dwarf ceriths from Reefcleaners.org

You would want about 30 or so in there. They will keep you sand stirred and spotless.

Nassarius are good but are mostly carnivores and do not eat as many diatoms or as much cyanobacteria as dwarf ceriths.

 

uh oh, my strombus doesnt look like sushigirls i wonder what mine is then lol. maybe its something aussie?

this is him getting more adventurous than usual (sand must have been too clean)


normally he just cruises around the sand and cleans the bottom of the rocks or glass


whatever he is, he could be the coolest snail i've seen yet because he has a long trunk that stretches furthan than you would expect, big googley eyes and pushes himself around with his scarey looking hook.
he cant climb the glass, but when the sand is too clean he will try climbing the rocks for things to eat, hes not very good at it though. think i might try supplementing his diet and see how it goes, thanks pet mother!
mine is probably similar in size to my clown (thats at least 3yr old) which is why i've only got one.

 

well i have no idea what that snail is, anyone know? try posting an ID thread

 

I have 5 strombus snails (I got lucky & found some at an LFS, very hard to find). The pics I posted were from ones I had before. That one is an adult, they're very small (1/2 inch), but reproduce in the tank. They call them Strombus maculatus, but technically they're really a type of columbellid snail. Don't do much for the sand, but are algae eaters (tho I did catch one recently eating a crab pellet in my fuge LOL).

Chappy, yours looks like some kind of conch, maybe a fighting conch but I don't know much about them. Supposed to be great sand cleaners, though.

 

i was thinking conch too, and something else. thank you for the clarification though.

 

I found one similar it was a strombus gigas "Queen conch snail"

 

oh thanks! conch does sound familiar. i think i tried googling it for a bit when i got it but there were so many variations it started getting hard lol. he hasnt tried to fight me yet tho!
my LFS advertises them as strombus, but its also the only snail they seem to sell

you're right about them being great sand cleaners, wish he could reach the top of my rocks

 

That was gonna be my other guess (I only know 2 conch names...LOL) until I googled it. Of course, the only pics I saw were the huge shells with the spikes all over so I guessed the other one after googling it.

I wanted a fighting conch, but no one here carries them.