Breeding Journal, Species: Columbellid cf. euplica

General
Species:  Columbellid cf. euplica
Social Structure:  group
Size of Individuals:  1/2"
Age of Individuals:  unknown
Date added to Tank:  March 2009

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  100 gallon cube
Substrate Details:  live sand
Filtration Details:  live sand, live rock, skimmer
Water Changes:  ~25% every other week or so
Water Temperature:  78-82
Lighting:  175w MH, VHO actinic supplementation
Lighting Cycle:  10 on, 14 off
Other Tank Inhabitants:  various fish and coral

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  algae
Feeding Schedule: omnipresent

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn: About a week after I got them 
Spawn Time of Day:  any time
Dates of Consecutive Spawns:  doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason
Courtship Details:  none really
Egg Size:  1mm or less in diameter
Egg Color:  white
Egg Count:  5-7 per capsule usually

Hatch Details
Hatch Date:  ~4 weeks after laying
Hatch Time of Day:  various, can be any time
# Days after Spawn:  28
Larvae Description:  hatch out as tiny versions of adults


Larval Tank Details
Temperature:  78-82
Size of Larval Tank: 100 gallon cube 
Substrate Details:  sand
Other Tank Decor:  sand and live rock
Filtration Details:  live sand, live rock, skimmer
Lighting:  175w MH and actinic VHO supplementation
Lighting Cycle:  10 on, 14 off
Water Changes:  25% every other week

Larval Feeding Details
Food Types:  algae
Feeding Schedule: omnipresent

Metamorphosis/Settlement
Date of Settlement Start:  all development occurs in the egg capsule, young hatch out as smaller versions of adults; for one batch of eggs, settlement/hatching occurred 1/6
Days after Hatch:  Actually occurs before hatching, but they're considered one in the same for this species, so ~28 days after laying
Date of Settlement End: 1/6/11 
Description of Fry: 1mm or so, tiny version of adults, but they're white with a small tan spot 

Grow-Out Tank Details
Temperature:  76-82
Size of Grow-Out Tank: 100 gallon cube 
Substrate Details:  live sand
Other Tank Decor:  live rock, corals
Filtration Details:  live rock, live sand, skimmer
Lighting:  175w MH, VHO actinic supplementation
Lighting Cycle:  10 on 14 off
Water Changes:  25% every other week
Size at Transfer:  not transferred
Age at Transfer:  n/a

Grow-Out Feeding Details
Food Types:  algae
Feeding Schedule: omnipresent

Additional Information
Miscellaneous Information:  The entire life cycle occurs in my reef tank.  There is no transfer and I do not feed these guys directly, they eat the algae off my rock and glass.  I purchased these snails from Indo Pacific Sea Farm in 2009 as "Strombus maculatus." 


You will be required to provide photographic evidence in this thread of each event submitted for the MBI Program.
If your thread does not contain these photos the MBI Committee will not be able to approve your reports.

Here is an egg capsule with some well developed baby snails inside...roughly 20 days old or so.
 

Adult:

 
Eggs, ~24 hours old:

The same two egg capsules as above, just 10 days later:

Looks like some are starting to get the mickey mouse ears. Cool! Only a couple of weeks to go.

--Andy, the bucket man.
"Not to know the mandolin is to argue oneself unknown...." --Clara Lanza, 1886

Yep!  I've had these guys spawn multiple times before, but in order to get a baby snail out of the case (for my report to be accepted) I have to watch the capsule like a hawk.

I'd imagine if you get proper shots of the empty capsule after the baby exited it would still count... though I'd expect you to be able to produce photo evidence of settlement later on   catching one of these guys actually exiting the capsule is tricky for sure.  With my Nassarius I was lucky enough to catch the capsule with one left in and the rest exited through a hole... yaay for me

Pelagically yours,
~J      

 
Or, catch 'em with the plug off before they manage to find their way out.
 
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2009/11/aafeature_album/Photo06.jpg/variant/medium
 

 
Chelsey, they don't move so very fast at first, but they head down for the sandbed as soon as they can. I've caught photos of tiny ones when taking macro shots of the life down in top layer of the sand grains. If that doesn't work, trap some nori behind a tank magnet down near the sandbed. They'll sneak into the space between magnet and glass to eat off the nori. Turn the magnet around and you should be able to see them.

--Andy, the bucket man.
"Not to know the mandolin is to argue oneself unknown...." --Clara Lanza, 1886

12 days:

Snails/egg sack is now 20 days old, and based on what I can see the snails are starting to leave the egg capsule?  Yesterday there were 5-6 snails, today there are 3. 

It definitely looks like the plug is dissolving (if it hasn't already). And the velar lobes have pulled around to become the ... snout? trunk? ... whatever.
 
I had some that I was keeping an eye on in a new tank and they seemed to come out early as well. Must be in the air.

--Andy, the bucket man.
"Not to know the mandolin is to argue oneself unknown...." --Clara Lanza, 1886

Guys (all you's with this snail) do me a favor in the future and try and keep tabs on the time they spend in the capsule, it's of great interest to me for some reason... lol.
 
In any case it does look as though you've got some benthic birth there!

Pelagically yours,
~J      

It seems oddly variable. I was paying attention to some in the new scallop tank I have and I believe that they came out about a week-and-a-half before I expected them to. But it may be that they were a degree higher in temp or something. Still, that's _way_ early.
 
Chelsey's group above was almost a week ahead of the eggs that I really paid attention to.
 
More mature parents? Warmer temps? No clue.

--Andy, the bucket man.
"Not to know the mandolin is to argue oneself unknown...." --Clara Lanza, 1886

those are really cool pictures, ive never really looked into the details of snail development. awesome stuff!!!!