You have a lot of carnivores in there!

My 65 gallon, plexiglass tank (with a built-in wet-dry filtration
system) is a very basic set-up. Nor do I consider it a  display tank, so
I have not taken pictures of it. But I get a lot of enjoyment observing
the critters in there.

Other mollusks presently in the tank include:

Nassarius graniferus, pappilosus, Nassarius troendleorum - They're
excellent scavengers, lively, and fun to watch. A graniferus bit at a
pappilosus the other day, you should have seen the reaction. It did a
backward somersault! I'm trying to get pictures of the troendleorum (a
difficult species to find on Guam).

Cypraea annulus, Cypraea moneta - slowly disappearing as the crabs get
to them. Great herbivores though.

Cymatium rubeculum, Cymatium aquatile - carnivores, the aquatile just
had made a meal of a large clam.

Euplica deshayesi and Euplica turturina - These collumbellids are great
little herbivores too. They are breeding like rabbits. I've recently
taken a few extreme close-ups of their egg cases. With a hand lens, it
is possible to the watch the eggs develop. It takes about a week before
they are released from the case. The babies aren't surviving though. The
little domino damsels I have are always picking at them off the glass.

Strombus microurceus - Conchs are great to watch and I add different
species all the time. Again, these guys are often fall prey to the
crabs.

I suppose it is time I make a serious effort to eradicate the crabs.
They too can be fun to watch but, if you wish to keep snails, they're a
pest.

Cheers,
Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: Conchologists of America List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Your Full Name
Sent: Monday, April 19, 2004 3:52 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Crab vs Dog Whelk


Do you have some photos online of your setup?  I just started a large
tub aquarium a few months ago to watch various snails from the Tampa Bay
area.  Current inhabitants include a couple of banded tulips, 3 true
tulips, 2 horse conches and 2 lightening whelks with one of them being
about 12" long.  I expected the large lightening to decimate the other
snails but she hasn't touched them.  The lightening seem to only eat
various scallops and clams I collect.  The horse conches only seem to
eat kings crown conches (when I have them), and the true tulips only eat
the banded tulips.  The banded tulips will sometimes eat on various
small cerths I also have in the tank, but they spend most of their time
running from the larger true tulips.  I've found it interesting to see
how selective their eating habits are considering how easily they could
eat other things due to size differences.  To watch a bright orange
horse conch envelope a victim is a colorful if not deadly event.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
[log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs
To leave this list, click on the following web link:
http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1
Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and
click leave the list.
----------------------------------------------------------------------