nassarius snail acting strange

[taemujin]

Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but it seems that one of my nassarius snails has been acting strangely. Usually they are all buried under the sand until they come out to eat.

One of my snails keeps crawling to the same spot on my live rock and just sits there (possibly on a sponge? i'm not entirely sure what sponges are yet though...) out in the open.

I've removed him 3 times now and he keeps going back to the exact same spot! The area I remove him from is kind of slimy (not snail slime lol.. something on the live rock).

I just find it strange that he is out in the open when the others all are all buried in the sand (instinctively..)

[jbc123]

Could be laying eggs. Or maybe there is something tasty there.

[VacavilleFC3S]

they do leave a nasty slime trail, but they only eat meaty dead/dying stuff so he must just like sitting on the sponge or whatever you think it is, i really wouldn't worry about it.

[taemujin]

very strange.. yeah i'll just leave it alone i guess. maybe laying eggs, for some reason i hadn't thought of that. i wasn't aware that snails had any memory of where to go unless it was instinctive like laying eggs... cuz he keeps going to the same spot.

[Jcrash]

My nassarius snails are always acting strange. I have two of them in my 12g nano.

When the lights go out, they meet up on the right side and race up the glass. When they reach the top they jump off, land on their backs, flip over, and do it again. They do this for about 30 minutes.

Once they've gotten that fix they get to work and patrol the bottom perimeter in a counterclockwise direction.

Sometimes they'll both reach an uneaten flake and they'll fight over it. The snail that gets there first gets smothered and pulled off by the second one and they "wrestle." They kick up sand and all the other stuff that's settled it's freakin crazy.

Other times if there's a flake on the rock a snail will grab it, "jump" off the rock, and eat it while it's lying on its back (shell).

It's like my snails are on crack. My wrasse even watches them fight. :lol:

[taemujin]

It looks like my nassarius was actually laying eggs, kudos to whoever thought of that.

Here's a pic! there's actually a lot more on the rock, but it's hard to see. I've circled the area where u can sort of clearly see the rows of eggs (very tiny).

Since i still only have a damsel and a cbs in the tank (the cbs never wanders into that area of the rock) i hope i get a bunch of baby snails one day!

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a393/taemujin/DSC00997.jpg

[cichlid333]

thats pretty cool now await more of them for a more of a clean up crew