ID a slug

[cruisaire]

Is this a slug under the ric? I have 2, one with a black "back shell" and one with a white "back shell".

>http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v607/cruisaire/Picture013-1.jpg</a>

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Maybe a cowre snail.

 

[george]

Looks like another Stomatella: http://www.reefcorner.com/SpecimenSheets/stomatella_varia.htm">http://www.reefcorner.com/SpecimenSheets/stomatella_varia.htm</a>

Their shells can vary widely in design. The giveaways are the long stalks in front and trailing fleshy part behind the shell cap.

 

[cruisaire]

That's it! Thanks George!!

 

[jefft]

I had one in my tank the other day and made almost the same post. lol I got the same link and mine was a stomatella also, it was freaky looking and I haven't seen it since. My clowns were actively attacking it until it slide under a rock.

 

[george]

Damsels and clowns (same family of fish) will eat these snails so while they may proliferate in a refugium quite nicely, they are rarely seen in a tank with those fish in it.

I feed them every so often to the tank and my two clowns gobble them up before they hit a surface. Sometimes they'll eat the snail right off my finger.

 

[jjw]

George, thanks for showing that link to me in my similar thread as well. Mine's measure about 1/2", isn't that a little too large for the clowns to swallow?

 

[jefft]

Mine was 3/4" they were tearing it up, but it got away.

 

[glxtrix]

hmm interesting, I have 2 maroon clowns in my anemone tank where I have Stomatellas by the hundereds.....ok well maybe not that many, but i atleast ahve a good 20+ and ive never seen my clowns bother them.

 

[siege]

Maybe your clowns just don't think they're tasty, worth the effort, or have ever really been hungry enough to wonder if they might be edible.

Having been a former biology and ecology student, as well as having done many many many birds of prey shows/demonstrations, I've said time and time again that esp. where nature is concerned, there is an exception to every rule. There really is no such thing as 100%, and there are always exceptions for every individual in every species; however, even with the amount of experience I have with animals of all kinds (I've cared for everything from Russian Steppes Eagles to a Kinkajou, from a Crested Kookaburra, to Ligers), but nothing so far has really driven home exactly how often there are exceptiosn to every rule as marine reef-keeping has.