Do anemones clean snails?

Auqaman

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
May 26, 2020
Messages
214
Reaction score
127
Location
Victoria BC
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I know this sounds ridiculous, but do anemones clean snails?
It’s become like a car wash for me Trochus snails. They’re covered in fuzz/algae, then they move themselves into the tentacles of my anemone. After a few days of hanging out in the tentacles (while they’re inflated), the snails come out looking clean and fuzz free.
Is the anemone really eating the fuzz? Or is it the friction from the tentacles that cleans the shell? Anyone else experience this?
For reference, the snails crawls onto the down pipe of the tank. And the anemone is on the back of the rock structure

22D78DED-F7F0-411F-B125-7CB8EA867DE0.jpeg
 
Lol you may have just discovered a new symbiotic relationship...
 
That's a good question. I don't know if they clean anything. Many, many years ago I wondered if their sting could kill algae. lol
NO, I did not pick up the nem and try to scrub the rocks and glass with it. It would be cool if we could though.
 
I thought it was a one of kinda thing. But there’s at least 3 snails that go in for a cleaning.
I’ll try and get some better pics tomorrow with the white lights
 
Could be that the fuzz is a photosynthetic algae and the tentacles are blocking the light which is killing the algae.
 
Do you have hermits or urchins? Mine clean the snail shells especially on the conches. Turbos become a meal.

I also notice snails clean each other often.
 
Could be that the fuzz is a photosynthetic algae and the tentacles are blocking the light which is killing the algae.
Yea that could be. I don’t think the anemone gets anything outta the relationship, but a couple snails definitely prefer hanging out around him.
The second picture is what the rest of my snails look like

90946E9B-D27B-4207-AC1E-5E18D51A9B2D.jpeg 3F4C817D-F8DF-4364-8887-931F80D125AF.jpeg
 

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%
  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%
  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%
  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
Back
Top