Scutus?

S

simontan

There seems to be a population bloom of these things in my tank. I used to only be able to see them after lights out using a flashlight, but now they're out all the time and huge! They're must be at least 2 dozen of them ranging from 1/4 inch to 2 inches. Can they replace snails as clean up crew? Any harm in having them?
 
Hi,

These are called elephant limpet's or something similar. You must have had a pregnant one or a male and a female. I bought one of these and they were not cheap(for some strange reason). They are film algae eaters and usually don't cause issues but you may want to thin out the herd so they don't start running out of food. [smilie=smile.gif]

Cheers,
 
What Ron said. I've also seen them called black limpets. I don't think they could replace all of your algae eating snails due to their preference for dark/rocky places. I don't see them keeping glass clean. Rock, maybe but they rarely seem to venture on the glass at the store.

Brandon
 
Whenever you are ready to start thinning them out I would like to get a couple of them.
 
@Lance6270 wrote:
Whenever you are ready to start thinning them out I would like to get a couple of them. said:
agreed! they are very cool, nice that you are having such luck with them...grats
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@hooterhead wrote:
What Ron said. I've also seen them called black limpets. I don't think they could replace all of your algae eating snails due to their preference for dark/rocky places. I don't see them keeping glass clean. Rock said:
These guys are actually on the glass quite a bit. In just that second pic, you can see four of them on the black glass - one is in the corner on the silcone (they're white on the bottom). I like them better than my snails because theyre so low profile compared to something ike a turbo with the same size foot. Everything I've come across seems to say they're just beneficial algae grazers. The reefkeeping article below says they're not known to reproduce in captivity, but over the last 3 years I've gone from maybe 3 or 4 that I'd find at night to the couple dozen I see out in the daylight now. If there's a demand for them, I can donate some to the co-op after I get back from vacation and give you guys first dibs. [smilie=wink.gif]

http://www.seaslugforum.net/scutus.htm

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/rs/index.php
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[/quote]
The reefkeeping article below says they're not known to reproduce in captivity, but over the last 3 years I've gone from maybe 3 or 4 that I'd find at night to the couple dozen I see out in the daylight now. [/quote]

looks like you proved them wrong huh.. there pretty cool looking creatures I would have one in my tank.
 
I had some come in on a piece of lr and have watched them multiply from the original 3 I noticed to over a dozen known in the past couple months. They seem to be giving live birth to one or two at a time, although I may be and probably am wrong about that, since I've never witnessed it! LOL! I just noticed in my 6 gallon nano that whenever a new one appears it has always been right about 1/4" long and always just one new one at a time. I've looked and never seen anything else that could be eggs or smaller juvies which is why I'm guessing that they may be live-bearing. Anyhoo, I love these things! Mine were a bit light shy at first, but, they are now out all day and they work the the glass and rock both. They have never been a problem in any way. [smilie=hi.gif]
 
Yeah, the article on them breeding was wrong as they get. I've had them reproducing at home for years. One of my tanks here has 2-300. A few at the store have thousands.

And I wasn't saying they won't venture onto the glass, but they sure won't hold their end up on that in any tank I've put them in. I still use astrea, nerite, etc for algae on the glass.

Brandon
 
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