Is Chestnut Cowrie sale with clams?

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Is Chestnut Cowrie safe with clams?
Heared it's effective to get rid of algae. But I'm not sure whether it will harm clams.

 

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I found this for you. Hope it helps.

If you search through the posts on Reef Central, you will find a lot of contradictory info. It all boils down to this (pretty much): for years, cowries were considered to be herbivorous grazers. Someone discovered that they are actually grazing off microorganisms most of the time rather than algae, and published that they were carnivores. A bunch of people took that "carnivore" word and ran with it, and assumed they ate everything from coral to other snails. Around the same time, people started collecting live Cypraeovula species from the cold waters of South Africa, and Zoila species from Australia, both of which feed on sponges. So now that these are widely known to eat sponges, people don't differentiate them from the common tropical cowries, most of which DON'T eat sponges, and you see quotes like "those eat sponges" even if the species were in different genera from the South African and Australian endemics. Also, with the age of the internet, some of the reefing experts (who are apparently a far cry from snail experts) started publishing photos of ovulids eating gorgonians and soft corals and calling them "cowries," which they are certainly not.

The TRUTH: cowries graze, and they have little ribbons of rasper teeth, and they may rasp at whatever they come across. They obviously don't all eat the same thing, or there wouldn't be a couple hundred species. Some are more specific than others in their dietary requirements, and the more widespread a species, and the more varied habitats in which it's found, the more likely it is to be a generalist feeder. Most of the species found in aquaria are these generalists, because the others will usually die too easily due to a lack of suitable food or water conditions.

Which species are usually kept?

Cypraea (Neobernaya) spadicea
http://www.gastropods.com/9/Shell_89.html
The Chestnut Cowry is a cold water species, caught off California or Baja, and sold because they are pretty and readily available. They won't last in a tropical reef tank, but make a pretty shell for your shelf after you keep them for a few weeks.

Cypraea tigris
http://www.gastropods.com/6/Shell_96.html
Often sold to aquarists, hardy, large, tend to be bulldozers in tanks, but normally don't eat anything objectionable. That said, your well-behaved Tiger Cowry may get hungry and go on a tasting spree, and over and over people report that their nice Tiger Cowry decided to mow down a whole patch of zoanthids overnight. I've never found this species associated with zoanthids in the wild, and I suspect that zoanthids are not a preferred food...but, large cowries eat a lot, and if it has eaten all the suitable food, it very well might start tasting of other things in your tank.

Cypraea (Mauritia) arabica
http://www.gastropods.com/7/Shell_37.html
A common generalist feeder, the Arabian Cowry is one of the easiest to keep alive. A friend kept one for over 20 years (long beyond the life expectancy on the reef) by feeding it wilted lettuce and clams on the half shell. They are fairly large, and if you don't feed them, will probably eat all the suitable "grazing" material in your tank in a short period of time. Once this happens, the same things that happen with hungry Tiger Cowries may start to happen: they will taste of all kinds of things in your tank that they might not otherwise bother.

Cypraea (Monetaria) caputserpentis
http://www.gastropods.com/4/Shell_44.html
The Snakehead Cowry is offered for sale occasionally, and I know of at least one that was kept for several months successfully, maybe longer than that. I'm not sure whether this species could thrive in a reef tank, since they aren't really live-reef animals. They live on the dead rocks in the most wave-pounded areas near the reef edge, and feed primarily by grazing the algae and microoganisms off the rocks at low tide, at night, ABOVE the water line. I don't know of any reports of this species experimenting by eating prized zoa's, so it may be a safer species to keep in a reef tank, assuming you can keep it alive. It would be almost impossible to duplicate the natural habitat for this species in a reef tank.

Cypraea (Monetaria) moneta and Cypraea (Monetaria) annulus
http://www.gastropods.com/6/Shell_76.html
http://www.gastropods.com/6/Shell_36.html
The Money Cowry and Gold Ringer Cowry are probably the most suitable species for a reef tank. These small cowries are closely related, and often interbreed on the reefs. They do seem to prefer slightly different habitats, but both species are widespread across the Indo-Pacific and may be found in a great variety of habitats. One or the other occasionally gets accused of embedding itself in a zoa patch and eating them. I can't say this doesn't happen, but I can say I've never seen it happen. They also get accused of tasting of other things, and since there is usually no photo of this actually happening, it's often guilt by proximity. My experience is that they will normally spend their time cruising the rocks and glass, eating the algae and microorganisms that they encounter, but they MIGHT taste of other things in your tank, especially if you have an extremely clean tank with no growth on the rocks or glass. As you mentioned, they have been observed grazing on cyano as well, but I don't know if this is "normal" or if the cowry just grazed through a patch of it. It's more typical to see them eating algae, and Charles Raabe posted a fairly detailed account of his Cypraea annulus eating hair algae last year on Dr. Shimek's forum at Marine Depot. I think all potential cowry-keepers should read it:

http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic72161-11-1.aspx?

There are a few other cowries that turn up in reef tanks, but the above behaviors are fairly typical for all the ones an aquarist is likely to encounter. None of them normally eat corals and none of them prey on other macro life.

Large cowries are showy tank inhabitants, but you pretty much have to just figure that you will sacrifice whatever they bulldoze or smash or eat in order to have something that pretty in your tank. I'd personally sacrifice the occasional zoa colony to keep one, but not everyone feels the same way.

 

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Very helpful, thanks a lot!

I found this for you. Hope it helps.

If you search through the posts on Reef Central, you will find a lot of contradictory info. It all boils down to this (pretty much): for years, cowries were considered to be herbivorous grazers. Someone discovered that they are actually grazing off microorganisms most of the time rather than algae, and published that they were carnivores. A bunch of people took that "carnivore" word and ran with it, and assumed they ate everything from coral to other snails. Around the same time, people started collecting live Cypraeovula species from the cold waters of South Africa, and Zoila species from Australia, both of which feed on sponges. So now that these are widely known to eat sponges, people don't differentiate them from the common tropical cowries, most of which DON'T eat sponges, and you see quotes like "those eat sponges" even if the species were in different genera from the South African and Australian endemics. Also, with the age of the internet, some of the reefing experts (who are apparently a far cry from snail experts) started publishing photos of ovulids eating gorgonians and soft corals and calling them "cowries," which they are certainly not.

The TRUTH: cowries graze, and they have little ribbons of rasper teeth, and they may rasp at whatever they come across. They obviously don't all eat the same thing, or there wouldn't be a couple hundred species. Some are more specific than others in their dietary requirements, and the more widespread a species, and the more varied habitats in which it's found, the more likely it is to be a generalist feeder. Most of the species found in aquaria are these generalists, because the others will usually die too easily due to a lack of suitable food or water conditions.

Which species are usually kept?

Cypraea (Neobernaya) spadicea
http://www.gastropods.com/9/Shell_89.html
The Chestnut Cowry is a cold water species, caught off California or Baja, and sold because they are pretty and readily available. They won't last in a tropical reef tank, but make a pretty shell for your shelf after you keep them for a few weeks.

Cypraea tigris
http://www.gastropods.com/6/Shell_96.html
Often sold to aquarists, hardy, large, tend to be bulldozers in tanks, but normally don't eat anything objectionable. That said, your well-behaved Tiger Cowry may get hungry and go on a tasting spree, and over and over people report that their nice Tiger Cowry decided to mow down a whole patch of zoanthids overnight. I've never found this species associated with zoanthids in the wild, and I suspect that zoanthids are not a preferred food...but, large cowries eat a lot, and if it has eaten all the suitable food, it very well might start tasting of other things in your tank.

Cypraea (Mauritia) arabica
http://www.gastropods.com/7/Shell_37.html
A common generalist feeder, the Arabian Cowry is one of the easiest to keep alive. A friend kept one for over 20 years (long beyond the life expectancy on the reef) by feeding it wilted lettuce and clams on the half shell. They are fairly large, and if you don't feed them, will probably eat all the suitable "grazing" material in your tank in a short period of time. Once this happens, the same things that happen with hungry Tiger Cowries may start to happen: they will taste of all kinds of things in your tank that they might not otherwise bother.

Cypraea (Monetaria) caputserpentis
http://www.gastropods.com/4/Shell_44.html
The Snakehead Cowry is offered for sale occasionally, and I know of at least one that was kept for several months successfully, maybe longer than that. I'm not sure whether this species could thrive in a reef tank, since they aren't really live-reef animals. They live on the dead rocks in the most wave-pounded areas near the reef edge, and feed primarily by grazing the algae and microoganisms off the rocks at low tide, at night, ABOVE the water line. I don't know of any reports of this species experimenting by eating prized zoa's, so it may be a safer species to keep in a reef tank, assuming you can keep it alive. It would be almost impossible to duplicate the natural habitat for this species in a reef tank.

Cypraea (Monetaria) moneta and Cypraea (Monetaria) annulus
http://www.gastropods.com/6/Shell_76.html
http://www.gastropods.com/6/Shell_36.html
The Money Cowry and Gold Ringer Cowry are probably the most suitable species for a reef tank. These small cowries are closely related, and often interbreed on the reefs. They do seem to prefer slightly different habitats, but both species are widespread across the Indo-Pacific and may be found in a great variety of habitats. One or the other occasionally gets accused of embedding itself in a zoa patch and eating them. I can't say this doesn't happen, but I can say I've never seen it happen. They also get accused of tasting of other things, and since there is usually no photo of this actually happening, it's often guilt by proximity. My experience is that they will normally spend their time cruising the rocks and glass, eating the algae and microorganisms that they encounter, but they MIGHT taste of other things in your tank, especially if you have an extremely clean tank with no growth on the rocks or glass. As you mentioned, they have been observed grazing on cyano as well, but I don't know if this is "normal" or if the cowry just grazed through a patch of it. It's more typical to see them eating algae, and Charles Raabe posted a fairly detailed account of his Cypraea annulus eating hair algae last year on Dr. Shimek's forum at Marine Depot. I think all potential cowry-keepers should read it:

http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic72161-11-1.aspx?

There are a few other cowries that turn up in reef tanks, but the above behaviors are fairly typical for all the ones an aquarist is likely to encounter. None of them normally eat corals and none of them prey on other macro life.

Large cowries are showy tank inhabitants, but you pretty much have to just figure that you will sacrifice whatever they bulldoze or smash or eat in order to have something that pretty in your tank. I'd personally sacrifice the occasional zoa colony to keep one, but not everyone feels the same way.