Something new and Exciting after 13 years!

Cool find! They are usually assigned to the genus Volvarina now, rather than Hyalina. They're neat snails, and behave kind of like mini-olives. They scavenge mostly, but if you watched them reallllly closely, you'd probably see one catch something and eat it. They may actively predate on tiny animals in your tank, and you must have a pretty good population of tiny animals if your little marginellids are doing so well. These snails can grab another tiny snail and kill it quickly, which usually isn't a problem, since anything they kill is probably so small you wouldn't notice it anyway. A huge population of them might tend to wipe out your sand bed fauna eventually, though.

Cheers,



Don

 

Kind of what I was thinking Don. With two active Halichoeres wrasse I'm not too worried, but now I know what they are looking for all day. I have way too many pods in my tank and I'm sure they feast heavily on whatever baby snails hatch and survive the wrasse. Thanks for responding!

 

Congrats on your find!

 

Thanks OFK nice to have you back, my condolences.

 

Interesting Don...they kind of sound like they behave similar to bumblebee snails.

 

Yes, but bumblebee snails are more limited in their dietary options. They are generally slow moving and mostly feed on sessile inverts, and have long proboscides that allow them to attack tiny tube worms and vermetids. The little marginellids are fast moving, active hunters. They can grip other animals with the front of the foot, letting them "hold on" while they kill and eat them. This gives them a lot more choices when it comes to what's on the menu.

Cheers,



Don

 

Don,

You are indeed the "snail weenie"...I mean that respectfully, of course. That's really great info, and thanks to you ingtar for posting them up!