Scutus Antipodes [Black Limpet/Elephant Snail] Breeding

[Robotic Chimera]

So i've got four Scutus snails in my tank - 55-gallon, semi-reef tank with only other inverts (no fish). They're adorable and I love them.

I've heard they were likely to reproduce frequently, however it's been a few months and I have been unable to see any babies (i've seen all four at the same time but never a fifth).


The other non-coral tankmates are a Fire shrimp/Scarlet Cleaner shrimp (doesn't really leave his "cave" much though), about 2-3 peppermint shrimp, two Tuxeo urchins, a Brittle Starfish, a few blueleg hermit crabs, an electric blue hermit crab, and a few other snails.


Is there something i'm doing incorrectly that they need to reproduce successfully in captivity? Or is there a chance the babies may be hiding? Or are the eggs possibly being eaten by other creatures? I'm looking at you, peppermint shrimp.


Also, someone ate all of my caulerpa algae, so it might have been them. But that's cheap so I really don't care, I just got more today.

[Ron Reefman]

It's been 3 months... maybe you are being a bit overly optimistic?

So how did you come by the info that they reproduce regularly in captivity? And did they also say that they survive past the larval stage?

[Robotic Chimera]

Probably a bit overly optimistic hoping for teeny snails already, but i'd rather know if I'm doing something wrong early on just in case, and to see if anyone else has had success with them reproducing.

As for breeding, LFS stated it, although they were incorrect on a few things as they stated they were hermaphrodites (they aren't, but they may have assumed they were actual slugs) Someone claimed they found them before reproducing in their tank, but never saw the actual babies since they were "hiding" during the day, and just occasionally noticed a new, small version of the adult along with the others.

I did a bit of research on "scutus breeding" and a few sites have actively mentioned them reproducing well (i've heard stories of them "breeding like crazy" after coming in as hitchhikers). A few mentions of them being shown to release both eggs and sperm in the water.

I'd assume they survive past the larval stage for some people, but who knows? Maybe they had a specific setup.

I can't find much on what they normally like to reproduce, though. In fact i'm still a bit new to the saltwater hobby (tank has been up for a year and so far no disasters) so i've never learned much about snail breeding in general. I like doing as much research as possible though. I'm not sure if they're "sexually mature" either to be honest, two are much smaller than the others and there's two "larger" ones, but with no way to tell their genders I could just have 2 mature females and the only male be immature (or just all 4 be female or all 4 male, ect)

It's possible they may not even be reproducing, but just simply hitchhiking and growing where they already were before. It may be they might not even be S. antipodes they had, but another Scutus species entirely. In fact, I can't even be 100% sure mine are S. antipodes (they're pure black, but so are a lot of Scutus apparently, and a lot of the known species don't even have pictures that I can find), but it seems the most likely.

It's hard to get much source on them from simply researching the internet, so anything you know about these would help. Thank you!

[pagojoe]

http://www.sealifebase.org/summary/Scutus-unguis.html

That means there is approximately a zero percent chance that they will reproduce in your tank. You may already have some tiny juveniles in there that will show up later, though.

[Robotic Chimera]

They weren't hitchhikers on my rock sadly, got them from a store. So no juveniles would be showing up unless they were breeding.

[gogo7]

not sure if i have the same species, but i have at least two generations in my vase. one day alot of them but then there's an equalibrium die off. haven't introduced anything in years, so i know they're breeding... never seen any eggs like my nassarius, but they're definitely multiplying.
i'd load some pics but photobucket not's being kind today

[Robotic Chimera]

Could try imgur or prnt.sc. Photobucket is often a pain to deal with imo.

I'd love to see pictures if you do have some, though. And if possible some details of the "vase" you keep them in.

There seems to be a lot of similar snails (one I could find on Live Aquaria is called the "Keyhole Limpet Snail", but that's definitely not mine, as it lacks the black spot in the middle)

[gogo7]

i think this is the only way... imgur not working for me either.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/album.php?albumid=9215&pictureid=78149this is a pic with lights out.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/album.php?albumid=9215&pictureid=78150 this pic is the top fifth of my reef vase. you can see the limpits on the left.

the vase itself its nineteen and a half inches tall, nine and a half inches in diameter....lit by par 38 led .
there are five distinct sections to it... the sandbed which is five inches deep... fully tunneled by the pistol/gobies. the gobies breed weekly. there's about a dozen lps species in there, and one leather. plus the gorgs... there's an airlift tube system that everything uses ..there's a mysid group that shows up once in while... i think they stay n the tubes... the vase was to display coral polyps, not duplicate a reef.
the molluscs include turbs, nassarius, cowries and limpits. i got rid of my crabs and shrimps, (other than the pistols)
no filtration, i don't test, prolly never will...rarely do water changes anymore, every few months or so... feed like a madman... pellets for the nassars and the gobies and my acans, scolly and turbinara polyps eat culls from my fw breeds. i top up daily with fw nannochloropsis phytoplankton and dose a general nutrient reef formula i've forgotten the name of. ive got every pest known to rc and encourage them... hydroids? love em... flat worms, not so much... i syphon them out every once in a while... got flat worm poison but won't use it. i don't wanna upset the balance... i love my little vase.
to be honest, other than coral polyps and the fragging i've done, the limpits are the only thing that have successfully bred in my vase and actually lived...
there's not that many snail collectors in this hobby. and reef snail are so interesting...

[gogo7]

just thought i'd add to this.
i've cut back on feeding lately and these limpits have taken to munching on the base of one of my pterogorgia anceps...ive picked a few off but theres visible damage...luckily this gorg recovers well.....ill post a pick when i can

[Robotic Chimera]

From what I can see, definitely not the ones I have (scutus antipodes probably) as those as black, but they're definitely limpets. Good to know there's some species that can breed at least.

I just added a fifth Scutus to my tank. Found a giant one in the LFS.

[pagojoe]

Probably not Scutus antipodes, because of their Australia/New Zealand range. More likely Scutus unguis, although I haven't seen a pic of a Scutus on this thread yet.

[Robotic Chimera]

Oh, that would make sense. No idea if they got imported though but apparently people end up with them frequently. I can't really tell the difference between S. Antipodes and S. Unguis from googling images, though. It was another one I considered actually but S.Antipodes seemed to be the one people mentioned more often.

Here's a few pictures of mine:

http://i.imgur.com/lpyl0U8m.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/4uD0iKTm.jpg
You can see the white part of the shell

http://i.imgur.com/j6xvDJLm.jpg
White "foot"

[gogo7]

yeah, sorry guys. i think i have a different genus, let alone species.

[Notathumpa]

Enjoying your discussion!