How long do conchs usually sit there for?

Alpha_and_Gec · Sep 17, 2023

My mom wanted to get a conch, so I got one at the lfs today. It's just sitting there, doing nothing. I've had a conch way back when my tank first started, which did the same thing and eventually died after a month or so, seemingly stuck under the sand. Is this normal conch behaviour or am I missing something? There's not really anything for it to eat right now so I'd think it should probably be running around in search of food.
ignore the cerith, it's doing just fine lol

gbroadbridge · Sep 17, 2023

They can sit for a while, I've seen mine not move for a week or so.

Assuming it was moving at the shop, it's just acclimating - it'll move when it's hungry.

Alpha_and_Gec · Sep 17, 2023

Well uh it moved
kinda
it rotated to the right by about 20 degrees or so

Alpha_and_Gec · Sep 17, 2023

gbroadbridge said:
They can sit for a while, I've seen mine not move for a week or so.

Assuming it was moving at the shop, it's just acclimating - it'll move when it's hungry.

yeah it was the most skittly one at the store... and it jumped a couple of times in the bag lol
should I specifically feed it or will it just eat whatever the engi and the dascyllus leaves?

Z Burn's Reefing · Sep 17, 2023

Mine didn’t move for a couple weeks when it was new. Thought it was dead and didn’t want it to fowl the water so grabbed it and sure enough was still alive. Every once in a while the conch won’t move for several days but then becomes active again. Usually you can spot their eyes moving ever so slightly to give you some signs of life. IMO, what you are experiencing is pretty common.

gbroadbridge · Sep 17, 2023

Alpha_and_Gec said:
yeah it was the most skittly one at the store... and it jumped a couple of times in the bag lol
should I specifically feed it or will it just eat whatever the engi and the dascyllus leaves?

They're really good at keeping substrate clean as they eat any leftover food. They eat quite a lot.
How big is your tank?