I placed a nassarious snail in my 55 gal tank about a week ago and I havent seen him since. He tried to go up the wall of the tank, but I placed him back down in the substrate, then he burried himself and I havent seen him since. At the pet store, they were very active and turning the substrate over. I trieb to entice him to come out like they did at the lfs, by placing some krill on the bottom. I dont want to disturb, all of the substrate, searching for him and digging stuff up. Any thoughts?
help finding my nassarious snail
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I'm into my fourth week of cycling. I have three damsels, and three snails. 1 turbo, 1 astrea, and one missing nassarious. I have about 15 pounds of live rock. My substrate is mostly argonite( 40lbs), and 20 lbs of crushed coral. I have a fluval 305 filter with biomax.
thominil
Aquarium Advice Addict
Nassarius are small little guys especially compared to that size tank. Chances are you won't see him. Most tend to blend in with the sand pretty well, and the crushed coral will probably make it even harder to find unless it is layered. You might want to look into getting a bigger clean up crew.
cmor1701d
Aquarium Advice Addict
Do have anything with claws in the tank?
It appears you are using the damsels to cycle the tank, have a substrate mixed of sand and cc, and a cleanup crew of 1 each of various snails?
You really should have 5 of each as your starting clean up crew. A single snail could be anywhere in the tank, though it's pobably under the sand.
Stock list and tips for maintaining your SW tank
How to cycle your tank with out the use of fish
Quarantine article
An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure: A Quarantine Tank for Everything by Steven Pro
Parameters
It appears you are using the damsels to cycle the tank, have a substrate mixed of sand and cc, and a cleanup crew of 1 each of various snails?
You really should have 5 of each as your starting clean up crew. A single snail could be anywhere in the tank, though it's pobably under the sand.
Stock list and tips for maintaining your SW tank
How to cycle your tank with out the use of fish
Quarantine article
An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure: A Quarantine Tank for Everything by Steven Pro
Parameters
Cmor
Yes, I am using damsels to cycle my tank( although they arent doing such a great job: its been three weeks and there is 0 amonia, 0 nitrite, and a little bit of nitrate).
Yes, I have a mix of cc and sand.
And yes, I have one each of the snails.
I did realize that my cleanup crew was rather small in numbers, but I thought that I would add a few more a little at a time. But now, from your suggestion, you think I should have a bigger CUC when starting my tank. I was thinking about getting some hermit crabs and more snails. The only thing is that i read that the hermits will kill the snails for their shells, so i will put some extra empty ones in there too.
Some of my subsrate and rocks have begun to turn orange-ish(maybe diatoms), wich i read is part of the start up/cycling process. It is my understanding that hermit crabs like to eat that up?
Yes, I am using damsels to cycle my tank( although they arent doing such a great job: its been three weeks and there is 0 amonia, 0 nitrite, and a little bit of nitrate).
Yes, I have a mix of cc and sand.
And yes, I have one each of the snails.
I did realize that my cleanup crew was rather small in numbers, but I thought that I would add a few more a little at a time. But now, from your suggestion, you think I should have a bigger CUC when starting my tank. I was thinking about getting some hermit crabs and more snails. The only thing is that i read that the hermits will kill the snails for their shells, so i will put some extra empty ones in there too.
Some of my subsrate and rocks have begun to turn orange-ish(maybe diatoms), wich i read is part of the start up/cycling process. It is my understanding that hermit crabs like to eat that up?
David S
Aquarium Advice Addict
don't worry about the diatoms they will burn out as quickly as they arrived,as for the snail I wouldn't worry to much, if it runs out of food below the substrate it'll soon surface,mine dissapears for weeks on end.but I would definately get more CUC as mentioned before.
Cycling with fish isn't very healthy for the damsels
Cycling with fish isn't very healthy for the damsels
Jaybird
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I find that my blue-leg hermits are the most aggressive hermits I have. I have blue-legs, scarlets, and yellow-tips in there and it's the blue-legs always causing problems. But, they are cheap and easy to get.
To find your nassarius you could look for the small tube they will keep above the substrate for breathing.....or you can try feeding the tank with some smashed up shrimp. Mine come boiling out of the sand scrambling for food every time I feed the tank.
To find your nassarius you could look for the small tube they will keep above the substrate for breathing.....or you can try feeding the tank with some smashed up shrimp. Mine come boiling out of the sand scrambling for food every time I feed the tank.
I finaly found him! it turns out that mine is nocturnal( I dont know if that is a general behavioral characteristic). For the past couple of nights, I wait until all lights are off for about 20 minutes and then I look inside the tank using a flash light. I like to see all the critters that come out at night, and there he was. By morning time, he goes back into hiding and doesnt return till the next evening. At the lfs, they left their small tubes showing out of the sand, but mine completely burries himself.
As far as the advice on the type of hermit crab: it appears like there are some different views on the type of crab to get.
As far as the advice on the type of hermit crab: it appears like there are some different views on the type of crab to get.
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