strombus (conchs)

is a characteristic of all genus strombus that they sift sand.

ive been looking into getting a conch or two to sift and aerate my sand a little more and most people recommend fighting conch. My lfs has a big price swing in conchs (horse conch 1.99, burrowing conch 6.99, and fighting conch 9.99-14.99) and a few others in between...
Just wondering if its ok to go with the horse conch because of price. does it sift sand also?

 

ok more general question then: Does anyone have conch in their tank?

 

I would not get a horse conch, I believe they get to be very big. Also make sure you research which one you are getting. Some don't do well in reef aquariums, meaning they will eat other inverts or damage corals. I have a burrowing conch in my aquarium and love it. You don't see it much, but it's cool to watch. As for sand sifting, don't expect miracles, but it does move the sand around a little. I would get a fighting or burrowing conch.

 

I have a fighting conch.
He is neat, but is lazy as all heck. I have been close to pulling it thinking it was dead twice now, but then I wake up and its moved another three inches. They are cool and add biodiversity, but as GuitarMan stated, I wouldn't use them as a hardcore sand sifter. Nassarius snails are much better than conchs for that. Or even better, sand sifting gobies.

 

I have a bear conch, he's my favorite thing in my whole tank! Usually only comes out at night though.

 

well thanks for the advice guys... but arent sand sifting gobys notorious for spreading sand all over the tank and aggravating the corals?

 

Yes, LOL. But as for the conchs...a Horse Conch isn't a conch at all, and will eat any other mollusc in your tank. I don't know what a burrowing conch is, but it's probably one of the small Indo-Pacific strombids, and should be okay in your tank. In fact, any of the true conchs should be fine, except for the species that grow really large (S. gigas, S. costatus, S. latissimus, etc.).

Cheers,



Don

 

I have 3 fighting Conch's in my 90 g tank... small, maybe 2" long. They do a decent job of cleaning each and every sand particle.... I.E., they don't move around all that much. I would guess that maybe they move 5-10" in a day when they are being lazy, but they can motor across the tank if they felt like it! I watched one of the Conch's run from my green starfish (that I still can't Identify), they have the ability to "hop" to cover grater distance in case of trouble. Lazy, but they are fun to watch!

I don't see a reason not to get one, even if they only do a marginal job at cleaning the sand.

My Engineer Goby does a good job a sifting the sand around his "home", but other then that, he's a big chicken that likes to hide in his hole.

Brian

 

i have a florida fighting conch in my tank hes cool and moveds alot. he does burry himself every so often for a week or so . hes fairly big 3 or 4 inches. and he dose bulldos things in the tank that are on the sand bed. i do have to place feather dusters and smaller rocks and corals back every once and awhile. other then that he rocks.