Super Tongan snail NOT reef safe!

[19Mateo83]

I have heard pretty much everyone say that the Super Tongan Nassarius Snails (Nassarius Distortus) are reef safe. In this video I watch one not only eat a piece of food stuck in a zoanthids mouth but it also eats the top of the polyp off too! I don’t think these are quite as safe as everyone says they are. The 1st night after I put these in my tank I woke up to a very dead (previously very healthy) six line wrasse that had been eating frozen mysis and pods regularly and a dead and empty astrea snail shell. Tonight is the 2nd night so I went in with a red light to watch these snails and see what they are up to.

 

[19Mateo83]

And now in snail jail until I can figure out what to do with them in the morning.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Where did you purchase them from?

 

[19Mateo83]

Where did you purchase them from?

Petco of all places. The employee argued with me that they were astrea snails :face-with-raised-eyebrow: but I knew what they were… atleastI I’m 99.9% sure I know what they are.

 

[dmsc2fs]

put it in the sump or fuge.

 

[srobertb]

I’ve had these snails for 10+ years and never seen anything like this. I’m shocked to see they could be bad actors.

 

[19Mateo83]

I ended up giving them to the cool employee at the store, the dumb s*#t employee said he’d never seen an astrea hurt anything, still arguing that they were astreas.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Petco of all places. The employee argued with me that they were astrea snails :face-with-raised-eyebrow: but I knew what they were… atleastI I’m 99.9% sure I know what they are.

Possibly conchs and not nassarius...?

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

I've had my 3 shrimps get picked off during their molt by these guys.

I have 3, they lay new clutches of eggs every day, I am seriously considering getting rid of them.

My wife just bought a new cleaner shrimp a week ago, and on day 3 one of the snails based jump from the tip of the aquascape down onto it, and ever since the cleaner shrimp stays on top of the return.

I feel like unless you feed laege pieces of meaty food, they get aggressive. I have ti drop in a fairly large frozen krill every 3 days or they constantly appear to hunt.

My engineer goby and lawnmower blenny knock them accross the tank on site, my clowns have relocated when the snails change their regular haunt near them, me hermit crabs have to fight them off multiple times.

They also don't seem to be super common as it took me a while to find pictures of the same kind before finally identifying them as tongan nassarius snails, mis labeled when I bought them as morphus or whatever. They are pretty, and acrobatic, but I think they are predators at this point.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I've had my 3 shrimps get picked off during their molt by these guys.

I have 3, they lay new clutches of eggs every day, I am seriously considering getting rid of them.

My wife just bought a new cleaner shrimp a week ago, and on day 3 one of the snails based jump from the tip of the aquascape down onto it, and ever since the cleaner shrimp stays on top of the return.

I feel like unless you feed laege pieces of meaty food, they get aggressive. I have ti drop in a fairly large frozen krill every 3 days or they constantly appear to hunt.

My engineer goby and lawnmower blenny knock them accross the tank on site, my clowns have relocated when the snails change their regular haunt near them, me hermit crabs have to fight them off multiple times.

They also don't seem to be super common as it took me a while to find pictures of the same kind before finally identifying them as tongan nassarius snails, mis labeled when I bought them as morphus or whatever. They are pretty, and acrobatic, but I think they are predators at this point.

I'm not disagreeing with your assessment, but nassarius distortus aren't known to inhabit the rocks - they are sand dwellers. I suspect that whoever collected and (mis?) labeled them for sale actually collected some similar -looking snail...

 

[19Mateo83]

I'm not disagreeing with your assessment, but nassarius distortus aren't known to inhabit the rocks - they are sand dwellers. I suspect that whoever collected and (mis?) labeled them for sale actually collected some similar -looking snail...

I agree. I believe they are sand dwellers until they go on the hunt, then nowhere is safe.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I agree, I believe they are sand dwellers until they go on the hunt, then nowhere is safe.

Or... there are dozens of similar snails in the genus Nassarius and what are being sold to hobbyists as vibex and/or distortus are, in fact, carnivorous snails.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

For example, Nassarius arcularius and Nassarius coronatus both look VERY much like distortus but are carnivores (predatory).

 

[19Mateo83]

Or... there are dozens of similar snails in the genus Nassarius and what are being sold to hobbyists as vibex and/or distortus are, in fact, carnivorous snails.

Very true, and now that you mentioned it, I noticed it’s snorkel has patterns on it where the distortus is supposed to have a solid colored snorkel

 

[19Mateo83]

For example, Nassarius arcularius and Nassarius coronatus both look VERY much like distortus but are carnivores (predatory).

Good call on the nassarius archlarius. Look at the snorkel in the links photo. It has the same markings.

http://www.saltcorner.com/AquariumLibrary/browsespecies.php?CritterID=2809
@Court_Appointed_Hypeman does yours have the patterns on the snorkel too?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Ilyanassa obsoleta is another predatory "look-alike", this time similar to vibex and sold extensively in the hobby -mostly on ebay...

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

Good call on the nassarius archlarius. Look at the snorkel in the links photo. It has the same markings.

http://www.saltcorner.com/AquariumLibrary/browsespecies.php?CritterID=2809
@Court_Appointed_Hypeman does yours have the patterns on the snorkel too?

Yup

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Good call on the nassarius archlarius. Look at the snorkel in the links photo. It has the same markings.

I occasionally DO know what I'm talking about :face-with-tears-of-joy:

 

[19Mateo83]

I occasionally DO know what I'm talking about :face-with-tears-of-joy:

You just became my spirit animal :face-with-tears-of-joy:

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Unfortunately, as nassarius (vibex and distortus) became more popular, collectors -either through greed or mere ignorance - started selling all kinds of snails to hobbyists that are mis-labeled...