Fighting Conch killing Trochus?

paal · 01/12/2010, 06:31 AM

Last night I noticed one of my Trochus snails were laying on its back with a Fighting Conch on top of it. The Trochus made several attempts to wiggle it off, but the Conch stuck to it. It happened at the far end of my tank, so it was hard for me to say for sure what was going on. After about a minute I removed the Conch and helped the Trochus turn around. Both seemed fine after this. I have no idea how long they had been in this “position”. The Trochus is about 3 times larger than the Conch. I have never seen any of the snails on their backs before.

The snails have been in the tank for about 2 weeks and the sandbed in particular has been cleaned up very well. There is still some algae left, but not much. The last 2-3 days my Conch has started leaving the sandbed (It stayed there 100% of the time at first) It now climbs both the LR and the glass (all the way to the top) although most of the time it is still in the sandbed.

Is it possible that the Conch is starving and was actually trying to eat the Trochus? oO

tibob32 · 01/12/2010, 06:59 AM

never seen an problems between my florida fighting conch and tronchus. My conch is 3- times the side of my tronchuses. I never left the sand bed and doesn't bother any non-vegetal lifeform

greenbean36191 · 01/12/2010, 11:13 AM

Conchs are strictly herbivorous. However, there are a lot of snails that are mistaken for conchs that will happily eat other snails. That's almost definitely what's going on in your case.

If you look at the snail's eyes, conchs have complex eyes with irises and it will look pretty much like a human eye. Almost all other snails will have simple black dots for eyes.

01/12/2010, 06:31 AM	#1
paal Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Norway Posts: 368	Fighting Conch killing Trochus? Last night I noticed one of my Trochus snails were laying on its back with a Fighting Conch on top of it. The Trochus made several attempts to wiggle it off, but the Conch stuck to it. It happened at the far end of my tank, so it was hard for me to say for sure what was going on. After about a minute I removed the Conch and helped the Trochus turn around. Both seemed fine after this. I have no idea how long they had been in this “position”. The Trochus is about 3 times larger than the Conch. I have never seen any of the snails on their backs before. The snails have been in the tank for about 2 weeks and the sandbed in particular has been cleaned up very well. There is still some algae left, but not much. The last 2-3 days my Conch has started leaving the sandbed (It stayed there 100% of the time at first) It now climbs both the LR and the glass (all the way to the top) although most of the time it is still in the sandbed. Is it possible that the Conch is starving and was actually trying to eat the Trochus? oO

01/12/2010, 11:13 AM	#3
greenbean36191 Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Ft. Lauderdale Posts: 10,598	Conchs are strictly herbivorous. However, there are a lot of snails that are mistaken for conchs that will happily eat other snails. That's almost definitely what's going on in your case. If you look at the snail's eyes, conchs have complex eyes with irises and it will look pretty much like a human eye. Almost all other snails will have simple black dots for eyes. __________________ Some say the sun rises in the East. Some say it rises in the West. The truth must be somewhere in the middle. Current Tank Info: tore them down to move and haven't had the time or money to set them back up

01/12/2010, 06:59 AM	#2
tibob32 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 550	never seen an problems between my florida fighting conch and tronchus. My conch is 3- times the side of my tronchuses. I never left the sand bed and doesn't bother any non-vegetal lifeform