ZR2 Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 Anyone know what this is? I ordered two scarlet leg hermits and got one and the other is a snail in a hermit shell? No idea what it is. 1 Quote Link to comment
ZR2 Posted April 23, 2019 Author Share Posted April 23, 2019 Turns out I did get two hermits but one was in a snail shell and the snail is in a hermit shell Quote Link to comment
Rob22 Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 Hermits don’t make their own shells. They kill snails and take theirs. Quote Link to comment
ZR2 Posted April 23, 2019 Author Share Posted April 23, 2019 8 minutes ago, Rob22 said: Hermits don’t make their own shells. They kill snails and take theirs. I know, live aquaria had mistaked the crab as a snail and mixed it with the snails I bought. But I have this snail that I thought was a hermit and I don’t know what it is. Has a weird long head sticking out of it. Quote Link to comment
Lognor Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 Looks like a nessarius snail based on that one long antennae/feeler. Not positive though. Does it dive under the sand and only leave the feeler sticking out like a periscope, or does it stay out and roam? 2 Quote Link to comment
ZR2 Posted April 23, 2019 Author Share Posted April 23, 2019 7 minutes ago, Lognor said: Looks like a nessarius snail based on that one long antennae/feeler. Not positive though. Does it dive under the sand and only leave the feeler sticking out like a periscope, or does it stay out and roam? I have not seen it go under yet. It was up on the glass. I order astreas, nerites, and some margarita snails to tackle a green hair algae problem. Not sure what’s in that pink shell. It’s the only shell that looks like that and it was shipped in the back with the hermit and the other hermit was mixed in with the snails Quote Link to comment
Lognor Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 4 minutes ago, ZR2 said: I have not seen it go under yet. It was up on the glass. I order astreas, nerites, and some margarita snails to tackle a green hair algae problem. Not sure what’s in that pink shell. It’s the only shell that looks like that and it was shipped in the back with the hermit and the other hermit was mixed in with the snails The pink is just corraline algae, nothing indicative of a species, as far as I know. If it's not burying itself and is out all the time, then it's not likely to be a nessarius then, unless it was starving when you got it. I'm sure someone more familiar with snails will chime in. Quote Link to comment
pricewayne Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 Yeah, looks like my nassarius snails — how long has it been in the tank? Mine stayed out and crawled all over my glass and rocks for most of the first day I added them. By night it’ll prob bury itself in the sand and keep its little snout sticking from the sand. I love em. Think it’s so cute when they pop out from the sand — always at feed time 🙃 1 Quote Link to comment
Rob22 Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 https://www.melevsreef.com/articles/whelk-versus-nassarius Tough to tell with all of the coraline algae on it, but the pattern on the siphon makes it look like a whelk. 1 Quote Link to comment
ZR2 Posted April 23, 2019 Author Share Posted April 23, 2019 17 minutes ago, Rob22 said: https://www.melevsreef.com/articles/whelk-versus-nassarius Tough to tell with all of the coraline algae on it, but the pattern on the siphon makes it look like a whelk. That’s exactly what it looks like it is starting to bury itself. 1 Quote Link to comment
Ratvan Posted April 24, 2019 Share Posted April 24, 2019 I just discovered I have one as well 1 Quote Link to comment
Lognor Posted April 24, 2019 Share Posted April 24, 2019 1 hour ago, Ratvan said: I just discovered I have one as well That's definitely a Nessarius. 2 Quote Link to comment
pricewayne Posted April 24, 2019 Share Posted April 24, 2019 1 hour ago, Ratvan said: I just discovered I have one as well 💖💖💖 Keep it, keep it! Total good guy 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment
Ratvan Posted April 24, 2019 Share Posted April 24, 2019 22 minutes ago, pricewayne said: 💖💖💖 Keep it, keep it! Total good guy 🙂 Didnt realise that saw him head directly for my Hermit so he is chilling in my back up pico at the moment. I thought these were meat/carrion eaters? Quote Link to comment
pricewayne Posted April 24, 2019 Share Posted April 24, 2019 Just now, Ratvan said: Didnt realise that saw him head directly for my Hermit so he is chilling in my back up pico at the moment. I thought these were meat/carrion eaters? They’re great at cleaning up leftovers and small detritus on the sand bed. You’ll notice at feeding time they’ll pop right out of the sand and come runnin’. Though they won’t sift sand. I haven’t heard any negative aspects to having them — I have 3 of them in my 13.5g. 1 Quote Link to comment
Rob22 Posted April 24, 2019 Share Posted April 24, 2019 Ratvan, yours is definitely a nassarius snail. The other can’t really be determined due to the coraline. I have never seen a nassarius snail covered in coraline due to them spending most of the time under the sand. No light and the sand scrapes their shell. The op’s snail could have been stuck in a bare bottom tank for a while though. Quote Link to comment
ZR2 Posted April 25, 2019 Author Share Posted April 25, 2019 On 4/24/2019 at 3:18 PM, Rob22 said: Ratvan, yours is definitely a nassarius snail. The other can’t really be determined due to the coraline. I have never seen a nassarius snail covered in coraline due to them spending most of the time under the sand. No light and the sand scrapes their shell. The op’s snail could have been stuck in a bare bottom tank for a while though. I am still not sure if mine is a whelk or a nassarius, it is lazy. It has been stuck to the glass for two days. It tried to bury itself one day and then got back up on the glass. My new Astreas are slow but they are starting to put a dent in the hair algae. Also found my new green clown goby alive in the sump after going missing for 2 days. It has been an interesting week with the tank. 2 Quote Link to comment
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