I bought my first chaeto online

[Hetts]

So I bought some chaeto online for $10 and I got one tennis size ball one and one golf ball size one. I noticed some little snail looking guys on the chaeto when I stuck it into my refugium in the fuge basket of my bio cube 32. What exactly are these? Are they safe to be in my tank? Should I try to move them to the main part of the tank or just keep them in the fuge basket? Thank you!

 

[andrewey]

Are you able to grab a photo of these snails by chance? Cheato can harbor a ton of hitchhikers as you've seen- some are great additions, others can be reef pests. A picture might figure out if it's a friend or foe

 

[Hetts]

Are you able to grab a photo of these snails by chance? Cheato can harbor a ton of hitchhikers as you've seen- some are great additions, others can be reef pests. A picture might figure out if it's a friend or foe

This is about the best pic I can get, it’s hard to see. And I think this is the biggest one, I believe I saw other little ones as I was putting the chaeto in the fuge

 

[Hetts]

Are you able to grab a photo of these snails by chance? Cheato can harbor a ton of hitchhikers as you've seen- some are great additions, others can be reef pests. A picture might figure out if it's a friend or foe

Bit of a better pic here as well

 

[andrewey]

I don't know if you saw the underside, but does it have a foot like this?

Did you notice any antennae (long tubes coming from the head)?

 

[Hetts]

I don't know if you saw the underside, but does it have a foot like this?

Did you notice any antennae (long tubes coming from the head)?

No it was a longer underside and I didn’t see any antennas or anything. It was very small and just up against the plastic bag of the chaeto

 

[andrewey]

Did it look like this on the underside (disregard the thing on the shell)

Or maybe like this one?

 

[Savo]

What is the creature with no shell and are they bad?

 

[Hetts]

Did it look like this on the underside (disregard the thing on the shell)

Or maybe like this one?

Yes they looked more like that

 

[andrewey]

The top one is a nassarius snail. Very good!
The bottom one is a stomatella- Even Better!

Other options based on the shape of the shell alone include cowrie or conch, although these are pretty unlikely to be in your cheato and you usually wouldn't find smaller versions/babies. The one that fits your description best is stomatella, but I would google both and see if it looks like either. There are a couple other options, but most are going to be helpful friends to your reef!

 

[Hetts]

The top one is a nassarius snail. Very good!
The bottom one is a stomatella- Even Better!

Other options based on the shape of the shell alone include cowrie or conch, although these are pretty unlikely to be in your cheato and you usually wouldn't find smaller versions/babies. The one that fits your description best is stomatella, but I would google both and see if it looks like either. There are a couple other options, but most are going to be helpful friends to your reef!

So are they okay to just chill in my fuge then too? And thank you so much for helping!

 

[andrewey]

If it's a stomatella, they're fine to be in your fuge, display, or both! If it is a snail, they won't harm anything in the refugium, but they/you might be happiest if they were in your display. If it was actually a cowrie or conch, I would move them to the display.