Old DIBS Turbo Information Thread

[BrianPlankis]

DIBS Turbo sp. Information Listing

Original Source: KarenB from MARSH, hitchhikers on Fiji live rock.
DIBS ID #: 1

Identification: I met with Tina Petway of the Houston Museum of Natural Science and she believes this snail could actually be 1 or 2 species with the candidates being Euchelus atratus (Gmelin, J.F., 1791) or Turbo bruneus (Roding, 1798). Until we have more and larger shells it will be difficult to decide between the two. Tina also pointed out that there are many species that look very similar and are currently under revision. Identification discussion thread on Marine Depot.

Size: Typical aquarium size depends on size of the aquarium and number of reproducing competitors. Typically a reproductive adult will be around 18-25mm in diameter (The size of a USA Dime to Quarter).

Reproduction: These snails mate and then lay egg masses on the glass or rocks, typically in dark areas of the tank. These snails will reproduce very rapidly in the absense of predators, I have witnessed egg masses estimated up to 750 eggs.

Lifespan: These snails appear to be short lived with an adult living anywhere from 1.5-2 years. However, I have found no research that backs up this claim. This is an area that could be researched.

Sexual Maturity: It is unknown how long it takes these snails to reach sexual maturity. Early reports from DIBS Breeders seem to indicate only 3-5 months (assuming the original snails were 8+ mm). This is an area that could be researched.

Potential Benefits:
1. Due to their rapid reproduction they are excellent for starting new Breeders fast.
2. The competition from the babies keeps the adult sizes smaller than the typical cold water turbos so they rarely disturb or dislodge frags.
3. They spawn frequently and the sperm released could possibly be food for filter feeders or corals.
4. One of the best snails for grazing settling tiles in the Breeder Challenge experiments. Snails larger than a nickel should not be allowed to graze settling tiles as they could potentially eat any newly settled polyps that many smaller snails will not eat.

Potential Problems:
1. They can get stuck in SEIO or other narrow powerhead intakes with strong suction and perish.
2. They are small enough that any top-off devices will need snail guards to prevent the top-off device from sticking in the on position and overflowing the tank.

Known Predators:
Peppermint shrimp have been observed eating the egg masses of this snail. More information can be found here.
Many hermits are suspected predators of snails with a shell the size they need. There has been one 1 confirmed report of blue leg hermits and 1 confirmed report of zebra hermits (reeformadness) attacking the snails.

Diet:
Unknown. DIBS Breeder Garrick reported excellent consumption of what was assumed to be a diatoms spike soon after the end of his tank's initial nitrogen cycle. Mainly feed on algal films on rock and glass.

Images:




Egg mass: (This picture contains 254 visible eggs and this picture shows only 1/2 of the egg mass)


Newly Hatched DIBS Turbo with copepod in bottom of picture for size reference. This baby snail is probably on the order of 1-2mm in diameter.




Additional Information:

T. bruneus: http://www.gastropods.com/8/Shell_248.html
E. atratus: http://www.gastropods.com/5/Shell_8265.html

[BrianPlankis]

I had a really good question from DIBS Breeder wwest. I thought I would post it here so everyone could understand some differences between the "DIBS Turbo" snails and the "Turbo" snails typically found in LFS.

ok i have been doing some reading on turbo snails in general. I also have two in my tank. ( mexican turbo's )
Now im assuming that "DIBS Turbo" is the name you named that species? Also what would be diferent with breeding two turbos bought from a LFS?

Excellent question Wesley,

There are actually many differences between a LFS Turbo sp. and the DIBS Turbo sp. Yes I named it, because I want to try to make it sound different from wild caught turbos, because it has many differences from wild caught cold water "Turbos".

The major differences are:

1. The vast majority of LFS Turbo snails are cold water snails that do not survive long and are stressed from the higher temperature so they rarely attempt to breed. DIBS Turbo snails are a warm water snail from Fiji more suited to our reef tank temperatures.

2. The DIBS Turbo sp. snail lays an egg mass that has direct developing larvae. This leads to very high survival rate in reef tanks. Many of the Turbo sp. snails available in LFS are broadcast spawners (release sperm and eggs into the water column). The sperm and eggs are either taken out of the water by the skimmer or the babies that hatch do no have enough food (phytoplankton) in the water to survive. This leads to very low survival (essentially zero) in reef tanks.

3. The DIBS Turbo snails stay smaller than many LFS Turbos so they do a lot less damage to and dislodging of corals. They also seem to be able to right themselves much more frequently than the larger wild caught "Turbos". Occassionally they are not able to right themselves, but since they breed easily, they are readily replaced.

They are really a fabulous snail, I just have to figure out a way that people know these differences. I'm going to start with posting your question in the DIBS Turbo snail thread

Brian

[BrianPlankis]

I gave some additional specimens for Tina Petway at the Houston Museum of Natural Science and she looked at the operculums under their electron microscope.

She now believes that what we have here is Turbo argyrostoma. She wants to do some additional searching and get a few more specimens but she thinks that after the electron microscope work this is the most likely ID.

Brian

[Melodyepta]

I have approx. 12 of these great little Turbos in each of my 29 and my 12 cube. I got them from Brian several months ago.

The cube had quite a bit of hair algae beginning to grow. The algae was not long and filamentious yet, but slowly covering all my LR. Within a month to 6 weeks the snails had cleaned up the HA in the tank and it looked great again.

Mind you, they are not the only snail in the tank. I have a large population of Collinistas, as well as half a dozen ceriths. I believe that the Turbos were the main source of the clean up job.

I'm not saying they would eat every kind of HA, but they sure did a good job on mine.

Also, in the 29 I've been seeing gelatinous egg masses laid in 2 specific places on my LR. The eggs were laid on 3 separate occasions roughly a month apart in batches of roughly 220, 300, and 340 eggs. I wasn't sure what was laying...so I watched and waited to see if any babies appeared. I've recently seen some teeny tiny snails, in 2 different sizes (different hatches?) that I believe are baby Turbos.

Brian, when you're heading this way give me a call and stop by...perhaps you can confirm that these are baby Turbos.

[BrianPlankis]

Mel,

Thanks for the report! This is a great example of the observations that Breeders can make to help out the project. Good warning on them not eating all hair algae either. I have 3 kinds of nuisance algae in my tank (not hair algae) and the DIBS Turbos don't touch it. I have seen them mow down some small hair algae patches on frags I put into the tank though. Only more observations will tell how good they are at eliminating hair algae.

The egg masses sound like egg masses from well fed Turbos, from your description I would suspect you have baby DIBS Turbos and I will be coming to your area of town in the next week or two, so I'll stop by to verify.

Brian

[BrianPlankis]

I was talking with some reefers in Australia and it appears that they have either the same species of snail or one very similar to this circulating in the Australian reef clubs. It is reported to reproduce the same way and they have been spreading it among the reefers down there for years. Here is a thread with a picture:

http://www.masa.asn.au/phpBB2/viewto...ht=turbo+snail

No picture of the egg mass, but sounds like a DIBS Turbo egg mass:
http://www.masa.asn.au/phpBB2/viewto...ht=turbo+snail

Brian

[Melodyepta]

I think I can safely say that I have baby DIBS Turbos in my 29. The largest of the bunch are now clearly identifiable as carbon copies of their parents!

I have these in 3 or 4 different sizes...so I'm assuming I've had 3 or 4 successful hatches at this time! I'm estimating that between all the different hatches I've got approximately 40-50 baby snails that I've seen. Who knows how many are down in the nooks and crannies and have not come out to be counted.

On a different note...these same DIBS Turbos are not reproducing at all in the 12 nano cube. However, I've got Collonista snails out the wazoo in that tank. It is possible that the Collonistas are out-competeing the DIBS Turbos, I suppose, for baby snail food etc.

[BrianPlankis]

I think I can safely say that I have baby DIBS Turbos in my 29. The largest of the bunch are now clearly identifiable as carbon copies of their parents!

I have these in 3 or 4 different sizes...so I'm assuming I've had 3 or 4 successful hatches at this time! I'm estimating that between all the different hatches I've got approximately 40-50 baby snails that I've seen. Who knows how many are down in the nooks and crannies and have not come out to be counted.

On a different note...these same DIBS Turbos are not reproducing at all in the 12 nano cube. However, I've got Collonista snails out the wazoo in that tank. It is possible that the Collonistas are out-competeing the DIBS Turbos, I suppose, for baby snail food etc.

Awesome! Could you post the date you first saw the babies here:

http://www.projectdibs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=245

Just follow the format I started. I'm trying to keep all births in one place so 2 years from now I can go to that thread and get an average.

I am wondering about the ability of DIBS Turbos to get enough food in small tanks (<20 gal). Having a heavy Collonista snail population definitely takes away food from the Turbos (assuming they eat the same stuff). This is why when a new Breeder approaches me wanting to breed 5 species of snails in a small tank I try to steer them to 1 or 2 species. Are the DIBS Turbos at least growing in the 12 gallon? Keep us updated!

Brian

[MattRichards]

G'day Brian,
Any chance I could use your Turbo sp. egg mass photo on my website?
I'd also like to link DIBS on my wesite.
cheers,
Matt

[BrianPlankis]

G'day Brian,
Any chance I could use your Turbo sp. egg mass photo on my website?
I'd also like to link DIBS on my wesite.
cheers,
Matt

You are more than welcome to use the egg mass photo as long as Project DIBS or I am given credit (the one above with the logo is fine).

Feel free to link to my website, thanks for asking.

Brian