Housing a fighting conch
- Thread starter efish
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TheReefDiary
Valuable Member
If it's small you'll be fine for a bit so long as there isn't a ton of rockwork. And yes eventually if it stays healthy it will be to big for a 13g, especially if you have other sand cleaning inverts or fish.
OP
OP
efish
Active Member
Okay so what size do you recommend me removing the conch when it reaches that size, and for the future are there any good alternatives so I don't fall victim to their insanely cute faces in the future
TheReefDiary
Valuable Member
It's mostly just a concern of having enough food for it. I would say any larger than 3 inches in that tank is pretty big, especially considering there isn't a ton of depth in the sand (at least in this picture).Okay so what size do you recommend me removing the conch when it reaches that size, and for the future are there any good alternatives so I don't fall victim to their insanely cute faces in the future
OP
OP
efish
Active Member
Also I just took some new photos of a conch I got that was labeled fighting conch, but its shell is colored like a tiger conch I think, unless do fighting and tiger coaches have the same design on their shells?
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Adding new sand will not really help as there is no food in it for a conch. I had two in a 72“x18" tank with a deep sand bed and eventually ended up pulling them due to lack of food. In a small tank nassarius snails would be better as sand stirrers. My fighting conch never left the sand bed so they were useless again algae unless on the sand. Sometimes I wouldn't even see them for days unless I could spot an eye sticking out of the sand.
It sounds like you already have the conch :thinking-face:
It sounds like you already have the conch :thinking-face:
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Kapachuka3
Valuable Member
i would say you would be fine getting a conch for your tank. Just make sure once the algae is all eaten up or gone you place some seaweed into the Tank. 13 gallons i enough room for a small one. I have 3 decent sized conches in my 32.5.
Conches seem to vary in their activity levels. I have one that's a "fighting" conch, but I suspect it is actually the tiger/strawberry variety. I have another that was said to be a "bear" conch, which is also a small conch that maxes out at 3in. Both are in my 13.5gallon tank. The bear conch is an algae eating machine--it was climbing up the rocks last night, and doing some pretty fancy gymnastics to get to where it wanted to go. Trunk out and on a mission.
An active conch is an infinitely better sand stirrer than Nassarius snails--my Nassarius just go into the sand and then pop right out at night with minimal sand movement (although they do cross over the sand--but then so do my ceriths).
Do you have a picture of the back side of your conch's shell? The fighting conches I've seen are more spikey on the back end than the tiger/strawberry type.
An active conch is an infinitely better sand stirrer than Nassarius snails--my Nassarius just go into the sand and then pop right out at night with minimal sand movement (although they do cross over the sand--but then so do my ceriths).
Do you have a picture of the back side of your conch's shell? The fighting conches I've seen are more spikey on the back end than the tiger/strawberry type.
MaxM
Active Member
My small conch are like yours. I see them up on the rock rubble all the time. They can circle the perimeter of my rockwork in two nights, also active some of the morning. My tank is a 40gal breeder with a 2-3 inch band of sand between rock and tank wall.
While this probably true (even though my Nassarius came out any time I fed) If the OP conch is a fighting conch it may very well starve quickly in a small tank. Maybe my fighting conch were unique in that they never left the sand bed and spent most of thier time under the sand so they did not help at all with alage control :thinking-face:
My "fighting" conch is quite lazy. I actually thought it was dead and gone, hence the second conch added to my 13.5g. Funny enough, once the second conch was added, the fighting conch came out and started working and has been an off-and-on grazer for the past couple of months. Still lazy though.
I'd say OP should keep tabs on the size. Once sand and lower rock algae becomes scarce, OP can use algae tabs, but might be best at that point to swap out the fighting conch for a smaller conch.
OP
OP
efish
Active Member
Yup I already have it I worded the start of this thread wrong, nasarius snails seem like a better option in general I will switch out this conch for 5 of them at my lfs after it cleans a bit more, it has done wonders so far, and is looking really happy at the moment
wilder
New Member
Compare the back of the shell with pics of fighting conchs. I can’t tell from this angle. It looks like it may have banding like a tiger tho.
I think shipping small conchs should be fine. Just make sure there is an “arrive alive” guarantee for invertebrates.
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