Investigator1's Daily Reef World 6/25/03

[investigator1]

I am extatic today! Something in my reef finally spawned! Ok I know it's just a cerith snail but YA! I took a panorama shot for everyone to see:

 

[fishfanatic2]

Cool! 8)

If you're not raising them, well that's homemade cuisine for your other inhabitants!

 

[wade1]

As a side note... most of the time the cerith will never survive in a tank...the eggs hatch and larvae go to the skimmer and corals. However, I currently have THOUSANDS of tiny little snails in my tank! I am not yet certain if they are cerith or another type, but they live in the sandbed (only 2mm or less in size still) and go running for the glass at night en mass. Its awesome to see and I didn't have to buy more snails!


Wade

 

[Anonymous]

Well your snails must be happy! Congrats! BTW, there's nothing wrong with being ecstatic over snails. My roommates thought I was crazy when I found a huge bristleworm one time and was all happy about it.

Do you know for sure that's a cerith? I have what I THOUGHT were cerith (maybe nerite?) snails that reproduce like nuts, and the young survive. The eggs are different though, they're larger, round, and clear laid in a straight line. I found approx. 100 or so in my 30 gallon tank, and I started with 6. They graze the glass day and night. There is a close up pic of two copulating in "My 6 gallon Tank" link.

 

[Anonymous]

what kind of camera are you using?

 

[investigator1]

Olympus c-4000

 

[Anonymous]

Stomatellas will breed like mad in a closed tank - I think they have a benthic larval stage or direct development though unlike most which seem to have a planktonic stage in open water before settling.

Cool pic.