wolfe4372's blog on Babylonia Spirata

[wolfe4372]

blog created for wolfe4372

[wolfe4372]

Keeping the Babylonia Spirata in Captivity
Synopsis
I by far am no doctor and certainly no expert in keeping saltwater invertebrates, I’ve killed more than I have saved, with that being said I would like to note that anything that is written here should be taken lightly and individual experiences will vary.
The common name for the Babylonia Spirata is Spiral Babylon. The Babylonia Spirata mainly found in the shell trade as its shell is very ornate and often used in jewelry and by keepers of hermit crabs for the crab’s home. The Babylonia Spirata is also often treated as a food animal, though not commonly in the states.
The region in which it usually occurs in is Tharuvaikulam, Vellapatti and Thirespuram and Harbour Beach in the Tuticorin coast of Southeastern India.
This article I am writing is inspired by the fact that these are beautiful creatures that are almost nonexistent in aquarium culture, except when used as housing for hermit crabs. It is also inspired by the fact that there is very little literature on them as far as behavior goes. This is a journal of my observations. The first week I will be going day by day then I will be going as I see fit with my reports.
My tank statistics and contents
1 Four stripe damsel
1 Royal gramma basslet
1 tomato clown fish
10 bumble bee snails
Brown zoas
Toadstools
Button polyps
3 turbo snails
Mushroom corals
1 Pincushion urchin
Bristle worms
Aptasia anemones
Feather dusters (small cluster variety)
Small algae grazing starfish of unknown classifications
12 gallon nano cube, heater set at 78 degrees, ph 8.2, Kh 11 degrees, nitrates 0, nitrites 0, specific gravity 1.022, ammonia 0, crushed coral substrate, 9 pounds of live rock.
Day 1
This individual was sold to me by the local fish store as a reef safe sand sifting snail of unknown variety.
Acclimation on this individual was simple and did not require a drip to keep the individual from being stressed. During the entirety of the acclimation the individual remained out of it shell with its probe fully extended while cruising the inside of the bag that contained it. No color was lost in the foot during acclimation. I also noticed that the trap door is free floating from the shell and not a hinge type. This snail looks rather large to fit in the shell that contains it. I added calcium to my water to keep my calcium readings with in range of what would be required of normal invertebrates. Since not much is known about keeping this species alive I thought that this would be a wise idea for the promotion of new shell growth.
Once acclimation was complete I scooped the individual in my hand, which never retracted into its shell and continued to cruise my hand while I transferred it into the tank. Once removed from my hand very gently as not to damage the foot, the individual remained in the same spot it was placed. It soon wedged it self in the crushed coral substrate that I use in my tank, making a more solid assumption that it is indeed a sifting snail and not a grazer.
This snail is incredibly fast at cruising but has issues cruising the glass in my tank, and keeps falling down the sides when it tries to climb. The individual has made it to the top a few times just to stick its probe out of the water and observe its surroundings, soon to fall off the glass and go drifting towards the substrate.
I have yet to figure out if this snail is indeed reef safe, which will be tested in the next few days as I have a wide selection of corals for this snail to choose from if it does indeed decide to get hungry and make a snack of my corals. I will be keeping a close eye on every thing in my tank as this snail could also easily eat sleeping fish or other invertebrates as well.
For the most part this individual plants itself in my substrate and doesn’t move anything but its probe. When food is added, however, the probe starts move to rapidly and the snail comes to life cruising around and eating the left over food that my fish have not eaten.
Aptasia in the tank seem to affect this animal as it flinched when it encountered one, unlike the turbo snails in my tank who cruise right over the top of them unaffected.
This snail appears diurnal.

[wolfe4372]

Day 2
This morning when I woke up my clown and gramma were dead. Pending an investigation it was not the snail’s fault even though the snail was nibbling on my dead clown, the dKH was at 20+ degrees and my PH was at 7.2. The snail was still alive, amazingly. Today I added another Babylonia Spirata as I am hoping for baby snails, but not till my water balances out. I buffered the water and was told not to do a water change as it may be bouncing due to too frequent of water changes. As of 9 pm both snails have buried themselves with only their probes sticking out of the substrate.

[wolfe4372]

My tank is still evening out PH and dKH wise. the two snails stayed close to each other as well as being burried. they didnt move all day and all i could see were the probes.

[wolfe4372]

either way both of the snails stick close together. under the substrate. for days. i haven't seen them much except when i drop food in.