Bubble shell snails.

[Fish_Boy_Wonder]

Hey everyone! Thanks for all the warm welcomes in the meet and greet section.

I’ve had my 14g set up for about a year now, however I have had bubble shell snails in there almost since day one.... but here’s the kicker, my rock was dry when I got it... but to top it all off the species of bubble shells I have (two types) are native to the California coast, how are they surviving and multiplying in a reef tank with temps between 76*-80*?!

I’ve tried doing as much research as I can online through wiki, google, and even smithsonian and natural history musium articles.

So anyone here have or had bubble shell snails and maybe have some insight on these critters?

This guy is about 3” long.

Ohh and fun fact, they mow down Cyanobacteria, all algae I’ve seen in my tank, and diatoms.

 

[James M]

That looks more like a stomatella snail

 

[Fish_Boy_Wonder]

That looks more like a stomatella snail

Thanks for the reply, but the ID of the snail isn’t in question here, it is in fact a Bulla gouldiana aka California bubble, Gould’s bubble, or cloudy bubble snail.

 

[Fish_Boy_Wonder]

A better image.

 

[Katrina71]

@saltyfilmfolks may have had these before

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

That’s just beautiful!
I’ve never had one no.
Some of the intertidal species in CA ,southern particularly are pretty adaptable. The Mexican turbo for example.
Take a look at the Steinheart aquarium site , Monterey aquarium site Birtch Aquarium at Scripps research institute as well as the Ca fish and game site. They seem to have a better set of info or at least leads on info for the local floura and fauna.

 

[Fish_Boy_Wonder]

That’s just beautiful!
I’ve never had one no.
Some of the intertidal species in CA ,southern particularly are pretty adaptable. The Mexican turbo for example.
Take a look at the Steinheart aquarium site , Monterey aquarium site Birtch Aquarium at Scripps research institute as well as the Ca fish and game site. They seem to have a better set of info or at least leads on info for the local floura and fauna.

Thanks! I love these guys. This one in particular is the only one of the bulla Goldiana I have, the others are smaller, blackish purple and constantly lay egg clusters. The goldiana just layed it’s first cluster two nights ago, so now I have a mass of eggs that look like spaghetti flailing in the current.

Anybody with suggestions on saving the eggs and larva? I know they are free swimming so I can’t imagine theyed survive the fish and or pumps.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

You could stuff them under a rock and see what happens. Usually they get beaten by the surf and distributed.

 

[Fish_Boy_Wonder]

You could stuff them under a rock and see what happens. Usually they get beaten by the surf and distributed.

Ahhh maybe I’ll set up my fluval spec today and use that as a tank for them and hope for the best. Thank you for your help.

They have been such a great part of my clean up crew considering they eat any algae that grows in my tank except bubble but I got emerald crabs to take care of that when it pops up.
Some day I’ll figure out how they got in my tank. Lol

 

[Fish_Boy_Wonder]

Smaller bubble shell species eating. Lol so funny looking.