Houdini Conch Strombus Snail

[Autonomy]

Just wondering if Conch snails (from the strombus family), actually burrow? I'm new to this species of snail. I purchased my first one two weeks ago and after having cleaned up the sand after a diatom bloom has now disappeared? The tank is ready for more additions and after an 8 week cycle it is ready to be stocked. I'm still playing around with the aquascaping of the liverock and now I'm worried that I might squash him if I continue to relocate the liverock boulders until I'm happy with the look. What would be the best thing to do? Should I just wait for him to resurface and then continue aquascaping? How long do conch snails burrow? How deep do they burrow and is there there any way that I may be able to entice him out. Obviously food would do the trick, any other suggestions though? I haven't seen him now for 24hours and the last time I did he seemed fine. I've had a good look around the tank and I haven't been able to see any eyes looking back at me. My sand bed is only approx. 2.5cm in depth. Anybody have any suggestions or experience with these type of snails?

 

[Bectan01]

Yup I have two and they can burrow for weeks sometimes. I used to worry about them (dying under the sand and me not noticing) the first time I poked around until I found one and pulled him out, he was not too happy about it but was fine

 

[Bectan01]

Oh and for your info your base rocks (the ones on the bottom) should be sitting on the glass not on top of the sand. Large conchs and some sand sifting fish can shift rocks if they are not properly anchored on the bottom of the tank.

 

[Autonomy]

Measurement wise he's only about 5cm (1.9inch). My question now is, how exactly would I go about making sure that all the boulders are sitting on the glass if I'm not able to find him soon. I just don't want to cause him any harm.

 

[Bectan01]

Fair enough, I can usually see where mine are they either have their little eyeballs poking out or I can see the bump in the sand. Have a good search and also try a few hours after lights out, mine quite often are out at nighttime.

 

[Autonomy]

Found the little rascal! I had noticed a bit of a bump after contemplating on where to begin looking for him. It had been four days and my aquascaping had been put on hold. So I thought that I might just try and locate him and work around him. After very close observation of the whole tank, I noticed what seemed to be a bit of a bump in the sand. I reached in and felt what seemed to be a shell, so I took an even closer look and saw two beady little eyes on stalks staring back at me as if to say 'Yeah, what do you want?'. I just let him be, and continued to aquascape around him. I purchased him so that he could help with the diatom bloom I had experienced, and once placing him in the tank he got on with it, back and forth, back and forth, nonstop. I don't have any experience with this type of snail and trying to come by some information on them has been a touch challenging, so do you think that maybe after gorging himself silly he just needed a rest and that's what strombus snails do? Gorge and then rest, gorge and then rest ...... ? PS: thanks so much for giving me a baseline on where to start.