Strawberry conch behaviour

[MrsPeet15]

Hi all.

 

About a month ago I stocked up on clean up crew for my new 100l. I’m having a REALLY hard time getting on top of GHA and the tank had finished its cycle. Current stock is:

 

2x Mithrax crab - one has shed and is now enormous 

1x blood shrimp - again had a healthy shed about a week after I got him. 

3 x gold ring cowries - these guys are SO industrial. They never stop working and I love them, really glad I got them.

1x Strawberry conch.

 

Now I know there’s plenty in there for him to eat. The first few days I had him he buried himself, then he remerged and cracked on cleaning up. The last week and a half, he’s stayed on the substrate, hasn’t buried himself and hasn’t done a right lot else. He doesn’t seem to be eating very often if at all. Today, after my water change he’s been trying to ‘jump’ by extending his foot and sort of hopping along the substrate. He made his way to the back of the tank, propped himself up against the rear wall and now has returned to his usual spot and isn’t doing a great deal again. He’s had he’s eyes out the entire time so he’s definitely not dead. 

My params before he water change were:

Ammonia - 0

nitrite - 0

nitrate - 2

salinity - 1.026.

 

Does anyone have any experience with the behaviour of these little guys? Reading other’s experiences online suggests he should be either buried or roaming around munching away.

 

thanks.

[WV Reefer]

43 minutes ago, MrsPeet15 said:

Hi all.

 

About a month ago I stocked up on clean up crew for my new 100l. I’m having a REALLY hard time getting on top of GHA and the tank had finished its cycle. Current stock is:

 

2x Mithrax crab - one has shed and is now enormous 

1x blood shrimp - again had a healthy shed about a week after I got him. 

3 x gold ring cowries - these guys are SO industrial. They never stop working and I love them, really glad I got them.

1x Strawberry conch.

 

Now I know there’s plenty in there for him to eat. The first few days I had him he buried himself, then he remerged and cracked on cleaning up. The last week and a half, he’s stayed on the substrate, hasn’t buried himself and hasn’t done a right lot else. He doesn’t seem to be eating very often if at all. Today, after my water change he’s been trying to ‘jump’ by extending his foot and sort of hopping along the substrate. He made his way to the back of the tank, propped himself up against the rear wall and now has returned to his usual spot and isn’t doing a great deal again. He’s had he’s eyes out the entire time so he’s definitely not dead. 

My params before he water change were:

Ammonia - 0

nitrite - 0

nitrate - 2

salinity - 1.026.

 

Does anyone have any experience with the behaviour of these little guys? Reading other’s experiences online suggests he should be either buried or roaming around munching away.

 

thanks.

Conchs are weirdos.  Every few months I dig mine up to make sure he is still alive.  Last week I found him and he had put on an inch of new shell. He hopped around for awhile and then disappeared again.  ??‍♀️

[MrsPeet15]

1 minute ago, WV Reefer said:

Conchs are weirdos.  Every few months I dig mine up to make sure he is still alive.  Last week I found him and he had put on an inch of new shell. He hopped around for awhile and then disappeared again.  ??‍♀️

Yeah I’m hoping he’s just being strange lol, a lot of google searches are coming up with answers that would suggest they’re just odd! Was quite a sight to see him hopping along the sand! Everything else looks happy as Larry. He’s currently staring intently through the glass at the side of the tank. 

[WV Reefer]

2 minutes ago, MrsPeet15 said:

Yeah I’m hoping he’s just being strange lol, a lot of google searches are coming up with answers that would suggest they’re just odd! Was quite a sight to see him hopping along the sand! Everything else looks happy as Larry. He’s currently staring intently through the glass at the side of the tank. 

He’ll find a spot and then go under the sand and you’ll only see his snout peeking out.  They are funny dudes. 

[MrsPeet15]

Just now, WV Reefer said:

He’ll find a spot and then go under the sand and you’ll only see his snout peeking out.  They are funny dudes. 

He was buried during the first week but resurfaced and hasn’t gone back down since. He seems healthy enough, just isn’t doing what I expected him to - stay buried, be nocturnal and eat like an elephant lol. 

[jamescstein]

My wife has a fighting conch in her seahorse tank that climbs up in the cheato balls. This is a 60gallon Tall tank. And it gets high up near the surface in the weeds.

[MrsPeet15]

9 minutes ago, jamescstein said:

My wife has a fighting conch in her seahorse tank that climbs up in the cheato balls. This is a 60gallon Tall tank. And it gets high up near the surface in the weeds.

How on earth does it manage that?! That must be one hench conch lugging that shell up there! 😂

[RayWhisperer]

Conch are omnivores. Might be lacking a bit of meat in its diet. Try a small chunk of shrimp, or something. That might get it back to grazing again. I’ve not had much success with conch, so this is just a guess.

[Aurortpa]

Like @RayWhisperer said, they are actually omnivores.  Mine eats so slow, so when I offer him meaty treats I have to put him in a shield, but he definitely chows down on mysis, fish eggs, and pellets.  I feed him just once a week.

[MrsPeet15]

Thanks for the info r.e omnivores guys. I feed my blood shrimp gold pods once a week, I might try him on some of these and see if he likes them.

 

Had a massive power cut yesterday, power was out nearly 13 hours. Thought I’d lost the tank again, came home and everything was fine and he seems to be on the go again!

[specore]

On 9/9/2018 at 9:04 AM, MrsPeet15 said:

Yeah I’m hoping he’s just being strange lol, a lot of google searches are coming up with answers that would suggest they’re just odd! Was quite a sight to see him hopping along the sand! Everything else looks happy as Larry. He’s currently staring intently through the glass at the side of the tank. 

Hopping is how they move.  I've had my fighting conch for 4 years and he is maybe my favorite invert.  You should see his trunk (at that's what I like to call it 🙂) extended and searching for food.  Once he is satisfied with the cleaning up of his little 7 square inch area he will then hop to a new spot and use his trunk to eat everything within reach again.  Didn't realize they were omnivores.  I haven't fed mine since the first couple of months.  Used to rubber bank soem nori to a rock for him every few days.  

[MrsPeet15]

On 9/13/2018 at 8:56 PM, specore said:

Hopping is how they move.  I've had my fighting conch for 4 years and he is maybe my favorite invert.  You should see his trunk (at that's what I like to call it 🙂) extended and searching for food.  Once he is satisfied with the cleaning up of his little 7 square inch area he will then hop to a new spot and use his trunk to eat everything within reach again.  Didn't realize they were omnivores.  I haven't fed mine since the first couple of months.  Used to rubber bank soem nori to a rock for him every few days.  

I see, so he was just roaming around then 🙂 I do like them they’re interesting little critters aren’t they?

[hikermike]

This is very typical behavior for conchs mine does all the above and it's 2 years old.  Warning! Halloween hermits COVET conch shells even if they're already in a larger one!

In this instance you WILL lose your conch!