Description
The Ultimate Sand Sifting Powerhouse (2"+ Average Size)
Meet the workhorse of the clean-up crew with the heart of a showpiece invertebrate: the Strawberry Conch. This essential sand-sifter is renowned for its tireless dedication to keeping your sandbed pristine and healthy. It diligently consumes detritus, uneaten food, film algae, and even nuisance cyanobacteria, making it one of the most effective and popular sand cleaners in the hobby.
But the Strawberry Conch is more than just functional. It's a creature of surprising beauty and character. As it moves, it reveals a stunning, vibrant, strawberry-red muscular foot. Instead of gliding like a typical snail, it moves in a unique "hopping" motion, using its hardened operculum to pole-vault across the sand. With two long, expressive eye stalks that seem to observe everything, the Strawberry Conch brings personality and utility together in one perfect, reef-safe package.
Why Every Sandbed Needs a Strawberry Conch:
- Superior Sand Sifter: Constantly turns over the top layer of sand, consuming waste and preventing unsightly algae buildup.
- Aerates the Substrate: This constant motion helps to prevent compaction and toxic gas pockets from forming within the sandbed.
- Stunning Appearance: The brilliant red foot provides a shocking splash of color, and its expressive eyes add incredible personality.
- Stays Off the Glass: Unlike other snails, conchs spend their lives on the sandbed, meaning they won't be constantly cleaning your viewing panes.
- Completely Reef Safe: A peaceful herbivore and detritivore that will not harm any corals, fish, or other invertebrates.
Care & Specifications
The Strawberry Conch is incredibly hardy and self-sufficient, provided its single most important requirement—a proper substrate—is met.
Tank Requirements:
- Minimum Tank Size: 10 Gallons or larger.
- Substrate: A Sandbed is Essential. This is a non-negotiable requirement. The Strawberry Conch needs a fine to medium-grain sandbed of at least 1-2 inches deep to sift for food and feel secure. They cannot survive on a bare-bottom or coarse gravel substrate.
- System Maturity: Best introduced into a stable, mature aquarium where a supply of detritus and algae is readily available.
Feeding:
- Diet: Detritivore / Herbivore.
- Primary Foods: This conch is a self-sufficient scavenger. It will find all the nutrition it needs by sifting through a mature sandbed, consuming algae, diatoms, and organic waste.
- Supplemental Feeding: In brand new or exceptionally clean systems, its diet can be supplemented with high-quality sinking pellets or wafers, but this is rarely necessary.
Water Parameters:
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Temperature: 72−78°F (22−25.5°C)
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Specific Gravity: 1.023−1.025
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pH: 8.1−8.4
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Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate: As close to 0 ppm as possible.
Compatibility:
- Temperament: Extremely peaceful.
- Tank Mates: Safe with all reef-safe fish, corals, and invertebrates. Its hardened operculum provides some defense against inquisitive tank mates.
- Avoid: While hardy, it can be vulnerable if it gets flipped over. Avoid housing with overly aggressive hermit crabs or other predators that might attack it in such a state.
Acclimation: IMPORTANT: Like all gastropods, the Strawberry Conch is sensitive to changes in water chemistry. To ensure a smooth transition, slow drip acclimation over a period of at least 60 minutes is highly recommended.
