video: feeding my predatory snails

Had a fiddler crab that just died so I threw it in the sump for them to eat. They're not in the DT because they're predatory and not reef safe lol.
Its a long video but if you want to just jump to the part where it eats the crab its at 2:30.
Just thought I'd share it with everyone, sorry the video is so shakey lol

 

Wow - what kind of snail is that??

 

I think its some kind of cone snail. Looks a lot like one. But where I got it they only had them labeled as "ornate sand snails" and "not reef safe". I have some rock down there that was crawling with gorilla crabs from very large and really really tiny ones, I haven't seen any of the big ones since I put these snails in there with them LOL.

 

Thanks for that video! That seems like a pretty high quality camera. Great action.

 

thanks! it's a kodak z1012 IS
It's good for video and point and shoot stuff but I cant get good macro shots with it , or atleast I haven't figured out how to do that right yet lol

 

Great video! It's an olive snail, Oliva reticulata,
I think:

Oliva (Viduoliva) reticulata

I had no idea they were such effective killers until
I kept a few in my own tank. They will scavenge,
but they'll also kill other animals if it's convenient.
The olive has a tiny esophagus, though, so what you
just witnessed was it stuffing the crab into the slit
in the bottom of its foot, then taking it underground.
It was "killing" the crab, so it can eat it later!

Cheers,



Don

 

Those snails are predatory??? I have one in my tank and never knew that. I rarely ever see it as it stays buried under the sand digging like a mole. Do you think I should take it out? Will it ever go for my hermits or other smaller snails?

 

They will eat snails, but maybe not all snails. The ones I had seemed to specialize on killing and eating the small conchs, and only occasionally the other species. If you've had your olive for quite a while without it eating your snails, they may not be the easiest ones for it to kill (or the ones that taste the best). I've never seen them catch hermit crabs. If yours has plenty to scavenge, it may be less likely to kill the other animals in your tank.

Cheers,




Don

 

crazy vid K+

 

Nice video. I doubt anybody would be selling something as dangerous as a cone snail, although, people have sold blue rings...