Sand sifting beasties....

[Mouse]

I have heard allot of talk about these sort of inverts being detrimental to your sand bed and the life that resides within. Are there any that will stir sand that wont eat sand beasties, ie cukes etc.

 

[danmhippo]

Why do they stir sand, or leaving the sand stirred? Because they are looking for food. Cukes don't eat sand faunas??? Sorry to break out the news to you, but they do if they get a chance at it.

 

[Rod Buehler]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by danmhippo:
<STRONG> Cukes don't eat sand faunas??? Sorry to break out the news to you, but they do if they get a chance at it.</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I was under the impression that the sand sifting cukes were bacteria eaters

. Injesting sand, eating the bacteria off of the grains leaving behind clean sand.

 

[2poor2reef]

Like Rod said, mopping cukes only eat bateria off the sand grains they ingest. If a larger organism can't get out of the way of a cuke, then it doesn't deserve to live. Speedy gonzales they aint. Quenn conchs are another animal that will work the top layer of sand for diatoms and microalgae. I use both and have a thriving sand bed.

 

[SPC]

I agree with the above 2 posts, cukes are bacteria eaters, they most likely don't have the gut to eat anything else. Check Dr Ron's forum on RC for confirmation of this.
Mouse, I also have the animals that 2poor mentioned and find them to be great at keeping the top layer of sand clean.
Steve

 

[tetra]

so what is a queen conch and what does it looks like?..does it eat cyano algae too?

 

[2poor2reef]

Queen conch (strombus gigas) is typically sold in the hooby at 1" to 3" long, but they grow very large pretty quickly. This is their only down side in my opinion. The eat primarily diatoms but they also eat hair algae and other microalgae and some sea grasses when they get larger. Some say the will eat cyanobactre also and I would agree but it is not their preference. They need a good amount of sand, probably three square feet each, as once they get bigger they are pretty much restricted to the sand and stop climbing. If you don't have a continous supply of diatoms then I would allow even more room.

They have a long mottled trunk with their mouth on the end, like many snails, but much more elonganted. They have definite eyeballs that look like they're on the end of sticks which look directly upward, I assume to watch for predators from above. I don't know how they got the name "queen conch". I assume that they are the largest strombus, but it could also be those funny eyeballs on a stick that look kinda like scepters. Who knows.

They sometimes move in jerky little hops rather than in slow continuous increments like other snails. It's probably my favorite clean-up critter.

[ August 06, 2001: Message edited by: 2poor2reef ]

 

[tetra]

thanx for the info...does anyone have a pic. of it?

 

[Hammer]

I have plenty of cerith snails that look like they are playing an insane game of tic-tac-toe i nthe sand. Do a pretty good job too.
I would like to get a queen conch in the future, but will wait a while for that addition.

 

[SPC]

Tetra, Premium Aquatics site has a picture of them. Great description 2poor.
Steve

 

[Mouse]

Thanks for the info on the san critters, nice one lads.

 

[tetra]

thanx spc....