Queen and Fighting Conch

[djpom1]

I have a good live sand bed. I want to stir it up, I keep hearing about queen and fighting conches. Which one is the best for me, and how many should I have.. I have a 155 bow front.
Thanks Dennis

 

[hondo]

fighting conch are great cleaners and will bury themselves in your sand bed. Also try nassarius snails as they do an even better job of digging in the sand bed and then they come up when the smell food. No experience with a queen conch as they get pretty big.

 

[barracuda]

I've got 2 queen conch in my 110gal. Both doing great job, cleaning the sand bed. Great addition to a reef tank with live sand bed.

 

[phoenix]

I have fighting conch in my tanks and they do a great job! I also have several other types of sand stirring critters and together they keep things pretty nice.

 

[wrassecal]

I have 2 queen conchs, can't seem to get the fighting conchs around here and they along with nassarius/cerith snails do a great job. I know the queen can get quite large but mine are only about 3/4 inch long and it must take a looong time for them to grow up becuase I've had them a month and can tell no growth yet. HTH I'd like to see a pic of queen conch and fighting conch, I'm wondering if we are all buying the same thing by 2 different names.

 

[ed r]

I don't have any decent pictures of my conchs, but the queen looks a little different from the fighting one. It also acts different. The fighting conch (1-1/2" long) has several subtle bumps protruding around the largest diameter point of its shell. The queen (1-1/4") has noticeably sharper points around the same area of the shell. The fighting conch never leaves the sandbed. The queen will at times go on the rocks or the glass, although it spends most of the time on the sand. Mine are growing very slowly, but I don't think they get much to eat. My sand has a lot of diatoms, but nothing else for them.

 

[wrassecal]

Thanks Ed, mine have fairly sharp bumps so queen it is and you are not going to believe this but they have grown 6 inches since my last post!

 

[ed r]

I bet those 6 inchers like to rearrange the corals, right? A 55g with a couple of those would be quite the sight.
I have heard others say they grow fast, but I am glad mine are still small. If and when mine get to 3 or 4", I would probably take them in and get smaller ones again. I hope yours do get bigger than 3/4", but I hope you don't really see 6" ones in that tank. (If you do, take pictures. )

 

[wrassecal]

Yeah I made sure I could trade them back when I bought them. They really help on the sand bed, mine haven't ventured off the sand bed - yet. If they start moving coral or live rock out they go