Conchs and bare bottom

[lkoechle]

I am going bare bottom with my 65.  I am tired of cleaning the sand bed and I am pretty sure it's becoming a detritus sink in some areas because I can't fit a siphon in those areas.  

 

The switch will be over a couple weeks. It's a shallow sand bed.  I will put a small dish of cleaned sand in for the melanarus I have.

 

I also have two florida fighting conchs though and I am worried about their long term survival. How do these guys fare in a bare bottom?

 

I would like to hear if anyone has had success before rehoming them.

 

Or has anyone done mostly barebottom with sand areas and have it still look good?

[specore]

4 minutes ago, lkoechle said:

I am going bare bottom with my 65.  I am tired of cleaning the sand bed and I am pretty sure it's becoming a detritus sink in some areas because I can't fit a siphon in those areas.  

 

The switch will be over a couple weeks. It's a shallow sand bed.  I will put a small dish of cleaned sand in for the melanarus I have.

 

I also have two florida fighting conchs though and I am worried about their long term survival. How do these guys fare in a bare bottom?

 

I would like to hear if anyone has had success before rehoming them.

 

Or has anyone done mostly barebottom with sand areas and have it still look good?

No experience with bare bottom, but have been considering it.  I too have a fighting conch and he is one of my favorite animals so will be following.  My suspicion is they won't do very well in BB, but I suppose it is possible they could still have enough algae/detrititus to graze on.  

 

[lkoechle]

13 minutes ago, specore said:

No experience with bare bottom, but have been considering it.  I too have a fighting conch and he is one of my favorite animals so will be following.  My suspicion is they won't do very well in BB, but I suppose it is possible they could still have enough algae/detrititus to graze on.  

 

Mine don't seem to do a whole lot anyways LOL. I have thought about maybe keeping sand on either end of the tank and maybe that'll be enough for them. But that's why I wrote this thread like you I think they are really cool to watch when they are out.

[mndfreeze]

It's probably going to starve to death over many months. 😞  There is a recommended amount of sand bed (measured in feet) to keep conchs usually.  Can't remember it offhand but sand is pretty crucial for their health.  Their little hoover mouth goes around sand grains and down into it as well to get the bits they like to eat.  

 

IMO, you should rehome it if you are going to switch.  Even though its a fairly simple life form it's not fair to slowly kill it with a bad environment and it's a bad way to be a pet owner.  

[lkoechle]

14 hours ago, mndfreeze said:

It's probably going to starve to death over many months. 😞  There is a recommended amount of sand bed (measured in feet) to keep conchs usually.  Can't remember it offhand but sand is pretty crucial for their health.  Their little hoover mouth goes around sand grains and down into it as well to get the bits they like to eat.  

 

IMO, you should rehome it if you are going to switch.  Even though its a fairly simple life form it's not fair to slowly kill it with a bad environment and it's a bad way to be a pet owner.  

I decided for now to only remove half the sand bed so the front is clear and the back is covered.  I have two conchs, so I'll rehome one of them and keep the other. 

[Tamberav]

I think it would depend how much grows on the bare bottom. I suspect my conch could survive bb tank because he can get up on the rocks and loves to clean the glass.

 

Ya I didn't know some could climb glass...everytime I let the glass get dirty...there he is having a buffet. I have two and the other can't seem to climb... It's foot looks a bit different.

 

Don't ask me how he does it...it makes no sense to me...his shell is so damn heavy too!

 

 

 

 

[WV Reefer]

2 hours ago, Tamberav said:

I think it would depend how much grows on the bare bottom. I suspect my conch could survive bb tank because he can get up on the rocks and loves to clean the glass.

 

Ya I didn't know some could climb glass...everytime I let the glass get dirty...there he is having a buffet. I have two and the other can't seem to climb... It's foot looks a bit different.

 

Don't ask me how he does it...it makes no sense to me...his shell is so damn heavy too!

 

 

 

 

 

Thats crazy! I would have said “not possible!” 😄

[mndfreeze]

On 12/16/2018 at 5:21 AM, Tamberav said:

I think it would depend how much grows on the bare bottom. I suspect my conch could survive bb tank because he can get up on the rocks and loves to clean the glass.

 

Ya I didn't know some could climb glass...everytime I let the glass get dirty...there he is having a buffet. I have two and the other can't seem to climb... It's foot looks a bit different.

 

Don't ask me how he does it...it makes no sense to me...his shell is so damn heavy too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How long have you had the conchs in your system as bare bottom?  It can take months to years for them to slowly starve to death.  

[WV Reefer]

10 minutes ago, mndfreeze said:

 

How long have you had the conchs in your system as bare bottom?  It can take months to years for them to slowly starve to death.  

Her post says “could”.  

[mndfreeze]

Oh my bad. I thought she was saying her tank was bare bottom and her conch goes up on the glass.  My work day just started and I haven't had my coffee yet. 😄

[Tamberav]

48 minutes ago, mndfreeze said:

Oh my bad. I thought she was saying her tank was bare bottom and her conch goes up on the glass.  My work day just started and I haven't had my coffee yet. 😄

I meant mine spends more time eating off the glass and even at the top of my rocks than in the sand. I am lazy about scraping and its a feast. I don't think all types of conches can climb though. I think mine is simply going to the spots where food is more plentiful. If the bare bottom was covered with microalgae then I would think they would just eat it off the glass instead of the sand. 

 

I think the main problem may not be food (in a well fed tank you would have lots of microalgae and you could probably supplement with nori) but that they like to sleep in the sand. I am not sure if taking away their 'bed' would cause significant stress or not.  

 

I have two in a 25g now.. when my 22g went BB, I moved the 2nd one into the 25g. One can climb and one can not (different looking feet), they don't fight... either because they are different types or not males. 

 

I moved the one out of the BB because it is a SPS tank and algae is not nearly as plentiful and well.. he wouldn't have a bed to sleep in 😛