Conch baby??!!

[Sonam]

We are conch fans here. We have two large fighting conches that we have seen engage in what seemed like mating behavior. And then today this little guy popped up out of the sand!!

Sorry for the poor photo. Lights going down in the tank when the little guy came up.

Anyone else have these experiences?

 

[JustAnotherNanoTank]

Wow how odd! Never seen that before.

 

[reef lover]

Can you get a bettet pic? Could be a whelk hitched in .

 

[Sonam]

Ok will try. It hasn’t come out when the tank lights are up - always seems to come up at night. That’s a good thought.

 

[Sonam]

Will try to get a better photo. The baby seems to come up at night but avoids coming up when the lights are bright. It does have one eye that sticks up out of the sand but it’s small and hard to photograph when buried. Will try.

Good thought about the hitchhiking!

 

[sixty_reefer]

Id be more worried about it being a cone snail, and for the looks of it 80% chance to be one. Whatever you do don’t touch it until a proper id is made.

 

[Sonam]

Here’s another photo. You can see it’s eyes sticking up out of the sand.

 

[JustAnotherNanoTank]

I still have no idea. Sorry!

 

[saltyhog]

That is a different species of conch. I have both in my tank. One is a tiger conch and the other a fighting conch....I forget which is which. Not sure how he got there but not an offspring of your other guys and definitely a good discovery. That one is probably about as large as he will get.

A head on picture would confirm what I think. Here are pictures of mine.

 

[saltyhog]

Not sure why the pictures didn't come through.

 

[reef lover]

+1 eyes are def conch eyes.

 

[OrionN]

That is two different species of conch. The larger one seem to be the species sold as "Tiger conch" while the smaller one is the one sold as "Fighting conch"

 

[Sonam]

Here’s a better photo. He definitely comes up at night. But hopefully this shows the spiral forming on the back end. It’s nocturnal apparently.

 

[Sonam]

Here’s an updated photo. The baby is up early today!

 

[Sonam]

Our new baby whelk, which is a baby conch, and our regular adult conch are getting to know each other while the baby is sexually immature. Let’s see what happens as it matures!

We have another that is sexually mature, and they actually did have sex, but it tired him out so much he’s gone under the sand to sleep for a long time.

You know, the roll over and go to sleep bit! They do not cuddle!