Captive bred Ceriths keep dying

[Lyss]

So this is just mostly a vent of frustration I guess.

I have 7 FL Ceriths in my CUC — wild caught — and they have been super stars, so I picked up 5 captive bred Ceriths a few months ago while ordering from another vendor. They came in really small, but all were alive and acclimated well.

Then over the next month or so they one by one started to kick the bucket. I keep finding them upside down with Nassarius snails eating them. Still have all my OG FL Ceriths but was down to just 3 of the little captive bred dudes. Tonight I happened to walk by the tank and once again notice a Nassarius finishing one of them off.

I kept reading that the captive bred Ceriths were supposed to be so hardy, but out of all my CUC they are the only ones dying. Now I only have 2 of the 5 left.

Is it just me experiencing this?

 

[Udest]

that's strange , though I've had a bad run with snails as of late too kicking the bucket or just getting murdered , where did you order them from ?

 

[Lyss]

that's strange , though I've had a bad run with snails as of late too kicking the bucket or just getting murdered , where did you order them from ?

They’re biota captive bred — got them from a vendor that sells them while I was placing an order for something else and figured I’d pick some up since I like my other ones so much.

All my other CUC came from reef cleaners — no losses for any of those.

 

[Lyss]

So after some observation it would appear that the Nassarius snails might be picking the little captive bred Ceriths off. I am positive they are Nassarius and not predatory, so the only thing I can think is maybe they’re not getting enough food and the little guys look tasty/like an easy get. Anyone know if that’s even possible for Nassarius to be doing? I just now watched one climbing the tank wall after one of the two remaining captive bred Ceriths, so I threw in some sinking pellets for it.

 

[damsels are not mean]

Don't think true nassarius prey on anything even if starving. It could be that the batch you got didn't acclimate well. Maybe too much of a salinity gap or something.

 

[Lyss]

So this got more interesting (or maybe not). I still have two of the captive bred dudes, and even before the other three bit the dust, they were laying eggs a lot. Suddenly I’m finding little baby Ceriths around the tank, and they are definitely the same kind as the captive bred ones. Now I’ve got more than the five I’d initially purchased, plus all of my OG wild caught ones.