Empty Snail Shells

[hobokendude]

Hi. My friend has been finding empty snail shells in his tank lately. We just stocked him up with a good amount of snails and the majority of them are now empty shells. He has had the tank (nanocube 24dx) for a while and it is stocked with corals, anemones, a clownfish, purple dottyback, various small hermitcrabs, emerald crab, cleaner shrimps, monkey shrimp....I think that about covers it. Anyway, what could be killing the snails? The emerald crab? We have lost fighting conchs, margarhita snails, cone shelled snails, etc. Just trying to figure out what could be happening. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Trogdor]

could be a combination of the hermits and the emerald crab. I doubt much else would bother them. Did you have extra shells already for the hermits to grow into? If not then they are the likely culprit.

 

[hobokendude]

I am thinking it is something that goes on when the lights are off. I think it would be the hermits if I saw one of the snail shells on the hermit. But I don't believe I've seen that yet. In addition, the fighting conchs have also been emptied...and no crab can fit into their shells. It is very strange and I can't figure it out. Only one I can think of is the emerald crab. But dunno if he can clean out 6 snails a week.....don't see why he would. Very strange.

 

[johnanddawn]

snails tend not to be very hardy depending on the variety. it is my belief that they are handeled very poorly from collection to market and they come in very stressed. whenever i add snails i expect to lose a few because of this. hermits can be a culprit though as could some unknown critter in the tank like a crab or mantis (not likely the emerald) - but i believe the list you have given is pretty snail friendly so it may just be a hardiness issue, and conchs and cones don't really belong in a nano anyway

 

[reefman23]

Probably too large of a cleaner crew and a couple of inappropriate choices that John mentioned led to their demise.

Jesse

 

[davenia7]

I stopped my hermits from doing this by throwing in a bunch of extra shells. like 20 of them for 4 hermits.
If a hermit is ready for an upgrade... they will kill the snails whether the shell will fit them or not. It's an act of desperation.
Add a bunch of shells and see if your loss slows down or stops.

 

[davenia7]

also, make sure the hermits have enough food.

 

[Angel]

My first thought was to large of a cleaning crew, like Jesse said, and they are not getting enough of what they eat.

 

[reefman23]

I stopped my hermits from doing this by throwing in a bunch of extra shells. like 20 of them for 4 hermits.
If a hermit is ready for an upgrade... they will kill the snails whether the shell will fit them or not. It's an act of desperation.
Add a bunch of shells and see if your loss slows down or stops.

also, make sure the hermits have enough food.

Good points too...

Jesse

 

[davenia7]

Murdering little beasts sometimes.

 

[hobokendude]

Quick (and probably silly) question....why are fighting conchs not ok for nano's? They seem to do a good job keeping the sand surface clean. Maybe they should have more space than a nano can provide? Thanks again everyone for all the insight.

chris

 

[reefman23]

Maybe they should have more space than a nano can provide?

That's exactly it. They do too good of a job in a nano and dont leave themselves any food... at least that is my understanding.

Jesse