What the conch?

TokenReefer

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 4, 2022
Messages
2,069
Reaction score
1,956
Location
Outer Space
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
How do these things survive? I'll be honest, I thought I've looking at a shell for the past 6 months. Look at the tank every day...did it move....maybe it moved...maybe urchin just moved it... The other day the urchin got on it and it woke up! It tried to get the urchin off with a couple jerks. Urchin moved on and the conch hasn't moved since. What the... How is it surviving? I've been reading they do this but, what is it eating?
1716220539756.png
 

lil sumpin

Digital Sponge
View Badges
Joined
Aug 13, 2023
Messages
588
Reaction score
1,135
Location
New York
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
My strawberry conch is sluggish but can also zip around the tank. I've seen it half bury into the sand bed and stay immobile for a day at most. I'm not entirely sure what it subsists on, I often see it working on the rocks, glass and sand. Was thinking of augmenting the diet with some algae pellets or something of the sort
 

Joseph_Joe

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 1, 2024
Messages
64
Reaction score
33
Location
France
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
They usually have a low metabolism like some other species. Thus they dont need to eat so often knowing they move like 1 inch per day. Not a huge effort.
I am fascinated by them. I added a New conch 3 days ago and I saw some hermit crabs coming to eat the tiny algae on his shell. I thought they were coming to eat him, but he is tough enough.
Don't worry about them
 
OP
OP
TokenReefer

TokenReefer

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 4, 2022
Messages
2,069
Reaction score
1,956
Location
Outer Space
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I'm not exactly sure what species this is tbh. Fighting conch I think it said at the lfs. It moved around a bit when I first got it then one day it just parked. It's obviously sustaining itself on something so I'll let him do his thing. Maybe detritus in the sand in that little area it's in is enough? Sometimes the powerhead pattern blows sand over half the shell... What an odd and interesting creature.
 
Back
Top