Nassirius attacking my Nerites

[shiveley]

I got a few Nerite snails yesterday and when I dropped them in tank, after the proper acclimation of course, my Nassirius came flying out of the sand and grabbed the first one he could. He started probing the poor Nerite with his radula and was unrelenting in his attack.

 

I pulled the Nassirius out after I noticed that he had successfully killed the Nerite. Since then he has been placed in a "time-out" quarantine tank, along with the Nerite he killed...figured he might as well eat it if it's already dead.

 

The Nassirius had just eaten a day or so ago, so it's not likely that he was starving.

 

and yes, i'm sure that it's a Nassirius and not a predatorial welk; he's a classic example of a Tongan Nassirius.

 

Anyway, I thought that I'd share this piece of information.

[Riona]

Huh. I've never seen that before. The only problem I've had was with my hermits trying to eat my snails. Though they have only succeeded a couple of times(and I think the one is a male. It left the purple coralline covered shell for a tan one ) Weird.

[Maroon Clownfish]

What kind of hermits do you have, Riona?

[Riona]

Blue legs. They usually ignore them. I just didn't have enough bigger shells in the tank for them. Oops. Now they've both got nice big shells though. Bigger than my snails anyway, though the one in the tan shell has been obsessing over trying to find an entryway into a little black stone that is in the tank Lol, he sits there for a few minutes at a time turning it around non stop, trying to figure it out.

[LabJunkieReefer]

I've got nassirius (the tongan and super tongan) in my tank with nerites and I haven't had any issues. They're all doing fine actually. Guess I had a different experience. Although, I've also got astreas, turbos, etc. snails in my tank. Maybe the big mix keeps them apart.

[nUgZ]

What color is the nassarius??

[Riona]

Does that make a difference if it is a nass snail? The store close to me has them ranging from solid black to the usual grey to striped or spotted ones of grey and black from weird breeding patterns.

 

Or are you thinking shiveley has a predatory whelk instead of a nass?

[nUgZ]

Read this.

 

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/mg/index.php