sudden clam death... murder?

Where did you find that they eat healthy clam? I'm just curious. I'm googling, but all I find is that they seem to be reef safe.

 

Babylonia Whelk:

tongan nassarius or whelk - id - Reef Central Online Community

Did I put something STUPID in my tank?!

Just read through those threads, there are several accounts of them being predators, and eating Tridacnas...

 

Thank you!! Wanted to make sure so I know to never get one!

And too bad, they are really pretty!

 

I havn't found a whole lot of info on these guys period, besides being a popular shell to collect... The only clam eating mention I found was in that YouTube video. And that's the only conclusion I can come to for why this guy died (he was very responsive 2 days ago and the snails have only been in the tank since Friday)... Unless I find definitive proof they eat clams I'm not going to freak out at my LFS but I am goin to remove them, and move on. I have learned no to dwell on a loss, it doesn't help the situation :-(

 

Ha ok and on the other hand a talk with my store may be in order, thanks for the link.

 

Yeah those links above aren't very convincing either. There really isn't much information about them. Oh well, better safe than sorry!

Sorry about the loss of your clam

 

Pagojoe was involved in the first link, and even though he couldn't find the documentation to support his claim, he is a very reputable source...

Also, based on what you've said, and several other folks accounts that these snails eat clams, it seems likely that it is true.

That's why I would only stick with the KNOWN types of reef safe snails, as there are more than a few predatory snails out there.

 

I know pagojoe is the snail man! But in his last post he seemed to hesitate about the predatory nature of them as well...that's what I got from it anyway.

 

hmm... let's see:

seems that it IS in the Babyloniidae family: Shell Catalogue - Family BABYLONIIDAE

Which is a whelk, and whelks are typically considered predators...

A GOOD article on whelks:

Whelks by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com

And some freaky photos of one going after a clam:

nitrous snail - Page 2 - UltimateReef.com

I guess, you'll have to decide for yourself, but one test would be to put it in with a clam, and WATCH it carefully... get ready to shoot some pictures...

maybe if the LFS that sold it to you as "reef safe" doesn't believe you, ask them to put it in with one of their clams and see what happens... ;D

 

To add to what I said earlier, and I seriously mean this: try feeding it some clam meat and see if it eats it... you can get fresh/ frozen clams from a local seafood market... I wouldn't try feeding it a nice tridacna clam though.