How big does a fighting conch get?

They are an important part of any reef aquarium. Tonga Conchs will also eat any excess food that the fish do not eat. Feeding: If no algae is present in the aquarium you may supplement the Tonga Fighting Conchs’ diet with live macro algae or dried seaweed (nori).

Well-Known Member. They are called fighting conchs because if you have two males together, they fight to the death. They are perfectly fine with other snails.

Taking live shells is unlawful on some beaches and unethical on all. Below you can see some pictures of the Florida fighting conch, as well as the video showing them alive and sticking their foot out. By the way, they are called Florida “fighting” conchs because the males will sometimes battle.

The true fighting conch is a gentle fellow that harms nothing at all and eats only sand crud. Just don’t have plate coral on the sand where you also have a fighting conch: it can accidentally harm it with the spur, but it absolutely will not harm other snails. Whelks look slightly conch-like, but some eat other snails.

Tonga Fighting Conch, Fighting Conch – Strombus gibberulus. Excellent for keeping substrate clean as well as glass and rock, this snail is a nocturnal feeder and will usually be less visible during daylight hours.

The best way to find out if a conch is a girl or a boy is to look for the presence or absence of the male’s reproductive organ, “the verge”. The verge is easy to spot if the conch is out of its shell, though it is very rare (but possible) to catch a conch extending its body far enough out of its shell.

Tank Requirements A reasonably deep sand bed to allow them to sift through for food. Recommended stocking level is 1 – 2 snails per 40 gallons (150L) of water. Caution should be taken when adding these snails with hermit crabs as the hermits do seem to like the shells and will eat the snails for their shells.

Tiger Sand Conch (Strombus species) make wonderful aquarium sand cleaners/sifters. They benefit a reef aquarium by burrowing and plowing through the sand, aerating and cleaning as they go. They are great at removing detritus and oxygenating the dead spots, helping to eliminate red or green slime algae.

Fighting conchs have large appetites and can clean your tank of all detritus quickly. Thus, when in a smaller aquarium, they may require supplemental feedings. They reach up to four inches in size. A minimum tank size of 30 gallons is recommended per individual.

Does the Conch Make a Good Pet. Some species can be kept in aquariums, but they are not intended to be a hands-on pet. As with any aquarium, and any pet for that matter, there is a decent amount of upkeep and maintenance.

(1) A person may not harvest, kill, molest, harm or mutilate a queen conch within or without Florida Waters, or possess, transport or land a queen conch regardless of where harvested.

The Florida Fighting Conch is a rather formidable-looking snail with a very handsome golden caramel-colored shell. The shell is touched with white, and sometimes has additional orange and purple markings. It is sturdy and 3-4 inches tall. About seven whorls and a pointed spire form the body of the shell.

1. Soak the shell in a bucket of clean water for an hour. …
2. Rinse all the dirt from the bucket and pour in a solution on 1 part bleach and 3 parts water. …
3. Carefully place the shell in the solution, and let it soak for at least 24 hours.

Yeah, conchs don’t molt or change shells, and they don’t have feelers, legs, or carapaces. You either got a conch shell that was inhabited by a hermit crab, or had something eat your conch and the hermit molt nearby was coincidental, or the conch is just withdrawn into the shell and is still alive.

The general answer is: true conchs only have the ability to climb when they are small juveniles. There are a lot of other snails that aren’t conchs that can climb no matter how big they get.

All cone snails are venomous and capable of “stinging” humans; if live ones are handled their venomous sting will occur without warning and can be fatal. … Cone snails use a hypodermic needle-like modified radula tooth and a venom gland to attack and paralyze their prey before engulfing it.

Mine buries in the sand during the day and comes out in the evening. Sometimes he will stay buried for a couple of days.

Well-Known Member I thought mine died or hibernated. Nope.

Freshwater conchs inhabit an extensive variety of ecosystems from marshes, trenches, lakes, ponds and rivers. The conch favours calm waters rather than flowing water. They are not necessarily found in disturbed habitats, but can be found there (Burky, 1974), and can also tolerate low levels of salinity (Prashad, 1925).

Strombus pugilis, common names the fighting conch and the West Indian fighting conch, is a species of medium to large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Strombidae, the true conchs. S. pugilis is similar in appearance to Strombus alatus, the Florida fighting conch.

Even though mature conch may breed up to 9 times a year, only 1 of every 500,000 eggs from a single egg mass will mature into an adult.

The queen conch reproduces through internal fertilization, and the female lays her sticky eggs on the sand, where they quickly become covered with sand and other material, offering them camouflage and protection from egg predators.

The Pascagoula Research Station of NOAA has pamphlets on the life cycle of conchs. Young conchs also have to go to school first and learn how to avoid predators. Conchs have eyes and a mind and are intelligent, if you did not know.

They reach a size of 4-5 inches long, and 3 inches high and can eat a large amount of algae. Because of their size we do not recommend them unless you have a tank 50 gallons or larger. If you do, you can keep 1 for every 30 gallons you have, after the initial 40 gallons.

Do conchs outgrow their shells like hermit crabs do? … No, whelks locally called conchs are mollusks. Mollusks simply add on to their existing shell. Crabs, on the other hand, along with shrimp and lobsters, are crustaceans and must molt in order to grow.

In an ideal situation, you would keep them with a deep sand bed full of flora and fauna for them to feed on and sift through. Conchs will keep that deep sand bed aerated and clean and lessen the need to supplement their diet.

Just wanted to share that if you’re fighting diatoms or an algae outbreak, fighting conches are awesome! Here is Eddie climbing the glass (which I didn’t realize they could do) eating algae/diatoms!

The queen conch lives an average of 7 years, but are known to live as long as 20 – 30 years. Conchs produce natural pearls that come in a range of hues, including white, brown, orange and pink.

Care Level:ModerateMax Size:4 Inches

A conch shell has superior strength and is used as musical instrument or decoration. It consists of about 95% calcium carbonate and 5% organic matter. The conch meat is edible.

Like most urchins, Tuxedos graze on algae. They are voracious eaters that will almost constantly cruise your tank eating any algae they can find. They’ll also climb on your glass and they’ll even clean up equipment (power heads, pump intakes, etc).

A conch shell will grow with the animal. The conch does not change shells like a hermit crab does.

Prized for their beautiful colours and unique flame effect, we find out what it is about… Among the rarest and most expensive type of pearl in the world, conch pearls are in demand once again thanks to the resurgence in popularity of natural pearls of all varieties and a renewed appreciation of their uniqueness.

As lovely as that concept might be, though, it’s only a metaphor: When you listen to a shell, you’re not really hearing the sound of the ocean. The shape of seashells just happens to make them great amplifiers of ambient noise. … The resonating air produces sound. The pitch of the sound depends on the size of the shell.

Inside a living conch shell is a mollusk, or soft-bodied sea snail. Conchs get around by using a foot or horn to drag themselves along the seafloor. The entire animal is extremely valuable.

In a study more than 30 years in the making, researchers have found that the removal of shells from beaches could damage ecosystems and endanger organisms that rely on shells for their survival. …

A queen conch can reach up to 12 inches in length and can live for up to 40 years. … Queen conch was once found in high numbers in the Florida Keys but, due to a collapse in conch fisheries in the 1970s, it is now illegal to commercially or recreationally harvest queen conch in that state.

It could’ve been alive. Many beachgoers don’t realize that sand dollars are living creatures. They’re a type of sea urchin in a class called Echinoids, or spiny skinned creatures. … Taking home a live sand dollar from a South Carolina beach is illegal.