Breeding Journal, Species: Cerithium atratum

General
Species:  Cerithium atratum
Social Structure:  Pair
Size of Individuals:  1.75"
Age of Individuals:  Unknown, have had them for about two years
Date added to Tank:  28 January 2013, 13 February 2013 

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  30 Gallon/150g reef 
Substrate Details:  Deep Sand Bed
Filtration Details:  AquaTech Power Filter 5-15/Biological
Water Changes:  Annually 
Water Temperature:  78°F
Lighting:  5 T8 Fixture designed for a sump tank
Lighting Cycle:  16 on, 8 off
Other Tank Inhabitants:  Various snails, a Bicolor Blenny/ Various Anthias and wrasses, A pair of purple firefish, Bicolor Blenny

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  Algae
Feeding Schedule: Any time throughout the day, the t8's make sure there is a constant supply of algae growing in the tank

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:  27 February 2013, 3/19/2013
Spawn Time of Day:  Around 6 am
Dates of Consecutive Spawns:  So far, every two days
Courtship Details:  Male and female meet and exchange sperm, male leaves and female lays eggs on glass
Egg Size:  1-2mm
Egg Color:  White
Egg Count:  + - 100

Hatch Details
Hatch Date:  3/23/2013
Hatch Time of Day:  From 10:00pm to 5:00am
# Days after Spawn:  4 days
Larvae Description:  They have a shell and a mouth, looks like a small snail


Larval Tank Details
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Other Tank Decor: 
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Lighting: 
Lighting Cycle: 
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Larval Feeding Details
Food Types: 
Feeding Schedule: 

Metamorphosis/Settlement
Date of Settlement Start: 
Days after Hatch: 
Date of Settlement End: 
Description of Fry: 

Grow-Out Tank Details
Temperature: 
Size of Grow-Out Tank: 
Substrate Details: 
Other Tank Decor: 
Filtration Details: 
Lighting: 
Lighting Cycle: 
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Size at Transfer: 
Age at Transfer: 

Grow-Out Feeding Details
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Additional Information
(No Pictures or Videos in the Section Please)
Miscellaneous Information: 
The original tank had to be shutdown due to a leak in it, and only the blenny lived through it, and I moved him to the 150 gallon. Then afterwards I setup the 150 and got a couple pairs (2-3) of cerith snails to continue my research


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.

First time they spawned, female is laying the last of the eggs in this picture:
 

 
Second time, which I woke up to this morning
 

I believe that the main trigger for spawning, is that I just let the algae grow crazy in this tank and there is not any flow at all throughout the whole tank

So, it seems like all my tanks are on "Snail Fever." Just last night, a group of 4 spawned 5 times in my 150g. I will attempt to raise the small snails with Isocrysis galbana.

After many MANY spawns, I finally managed to snag a photo of one newly hatched in my 150g, which could be any out of 5+ spawns and I could not figure out which one. But this is the only type of snail in the tank so it is one of their babies
 

Here is a higher quality macro shot of one. Lens arrived 10 min ago, and I was shocked by the quality. You can even see the, eyes? I think there eyes. But anyways this thing is so small that it's too small for me to look at for awhile, so around 1mm ish

I'm a little worried that the snail you have pictured there might be a hitchhiker. It's hard to see the whorls on the end of the shell, but it doesn't look like the beginnings of the cerith shell of the mother from here. The first few whorls on the end of the shell are really characteristic of the species and tell a lot about how the snails develop. Any possibility of getting another photo focused on the end?

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

I will try and get a better one tonight. I've had snails breed before and even when I had turbos breed, they started out looking like the photo, just the shell was a little different

Yeah, certainly. But those first few whorls tells you a ton about their juvenile development.

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

I have a feeling a good experiment could be developing in my mind.......

So Umm_Fish, pretty much what your saying is that the outside of the shell or the "whirling," can tell us the species as a juvenile? Can it tell us any more about the snail or is it just mainly used for that purpose?

It's not so much about species ID (that's more where the foot emerges from the shell), although the early whorls should be similar to the adults'. It tells you about early life history, so snails with a similar early development will wind up with similar early whorls, if that makes sense. My image server is down right now (damn video card and I don't really have time to mess with it) or I'd look for some examples.
 
Let me see if I can find some information and I'll be back.

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

Okay, so take a look at this image.
 
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2009/11/aafeature_album/Photo05.jpg/image_preview
 
These snails are still in the egg capsule and are already on the second whorl. That's a good sign. These are direct developers and have no pelagic phase. The first whorl is really small and right next to the second one.
 
Here's the adult of that species: 
 
[Edit: It's not going to work as a direct display. Maybe I can just make it a like.]
 
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2009/11/aafeature_album/Photo07a.jpg
 
Notice how there are just a couple of whorls that are small and close together (the ones that develop in the egg capsule), then you get a huge jump in size. Those are the characteristics of direct development.
 
Snails pretty much continuously grow from larvae to adulthood. If they spend a long time in the plankton, though, they are going through a period where they won't be able to get large quickly (or else they will drop out of the plankton). So they will tend to develop long, thinner tips (while still continuously growing) to their shells that correspond to their life in the plankton. Compare to image on the bottom here:
 
http://www.liveaquaria.com/images/categories/product/p-26100-snail-ca.jpg
 
See how that's a much more gradual gaining of size that looks like it took the snail a whole bunch of whorls before it got big? Also, those first few whorls are really, really small.
 
That's a cerith snail that likely spent a long time post-hatch in larval development. Not all ceriths do that, btw. I have one in my tanks that manages to reproduce. I think it has a relatively short, non-feeding planktonic stage. It hatches way small, though.
 
It doesn't always work out that you will see it this obviously. As snails get older, the tips of their shell tend to erode away. But the first adult photo above is a nice young adult so you can see it pretty well.

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

Sorry that all the images had to be put up as links. I'm not sure why it wasn't working.

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

That first image didn't really work. Wow thanks for all that info! That answered my question perfectly. I was shocked that they went through these whorles, or at least more than one! Thanks!

Sorry, the FIRST image didnt work

None of those image links are working...

Dang it. Sorry. Here's the original article: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2009/11/aafeature

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

No problem! Thanks!

Ok so now to update this again, as usual, these snails are acting like there on viagra with so many spawns in the 150g. I FINALLY figured out a way to get SOME eggs without killing them all by pulling on the strand keeping them to the wall. It was so simple but I never thought of it. I used a big cooking spoon, and put a lot of pressure towards me and scraped them out. I managed to get a good 20-30 viable "hopefully" eggs from it. They will be moving into a small one gallon container for hatching and photographic evidence and possibly for throughout larval stages as well. The eggs I took were laid 3 days ago on the 27th sometime around 5 in the morning.

Well it must have been the luck of reviving the thread! Now, no I did not get the eggs to hatch, but I did find another baby on the wall. The front side of it, or the mouth and head I should say, look exactly like photo #2, if you start from the photos of jouviniles. This photo:  is a definite snail by my looking, and I presume is a fry of these snails. Any confirmation Umm_Fish or Matt?

Well, it's possible. But it just doesn't look like a cerith to me. The problem--at least with mine--is that the juveniles are incredibly small. I've seen them (using an old mesoscope) but I've never had the camera around at the time.
 
Actually, I totally forgot that I have, in fact, gotten pictures of them. They are on my image server that's been acting up on me. I'll turn it on and try to grab them.
 

 

 
If the computer dies on me again, I'll try to figure something else out.

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

Dang it. The image server is acting up again. If it goes offline again, I apologize.
 

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

No problem! So are those just like fresh out of hatching? Or are they a few weeks or days old? (If you remember)

Honestly, I do not know. They've been alive long enough to have several whorls, though. Notice how quickly they elongate.

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

I see the whirls that you are talking about, but if these babies are not ceriths, there could only be one other species in which it MIGHT be, give me a sec to find the species

Ok well actually, I have no idea what the species is, any help Andy? Here is a few pic of the shell:


 

Wow. That's cool looking! I have no clue what it is, though.
 
That would be my bet for the baby. Congratulations! See how the baby's shell is already starting to look like it's getting that fluting to it?

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

Yes, now that I have noticed that, they do look INCREDIBLY similar...
So what i have decided to do is take three spawns of eggs, put them into a waterbottle full of tank water, and let them sit in there until they hatch, if they do. I will also be taking it up to michigan *I'm driving to the conference* and see if they hatch while I'm on the car ride (I leave tommorow.) IF they do, I will have my macro lens on me to snag a photo of the freshly born babies.

Andy, could this be some species of Nerite Snail??

Ok so after some more digging around, I believe I have a VERY possible suspect, Nerita tessellata

Looks pretty similar to me. Those are really pretty snails. You should work up a report on those.
 
If that is a juvenile of the nerite, it looks to me like it should be just about to where the really large flutes start on the adult photo. That'll be cool. It should really start putting on some size soon.

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

I started a journal, and I'll put in some more more details as to size and such when I can get my hands on another juvenile.

Nerita tesselata !!!!

Ok so my four egg nests that I took to Michigan with me. A few days ago I noticed a mass of "things" in the water colum that were not there before. I'm pretty sure that they are not Nauplii of a copepod, and I also do not believe that they are Cerith fry since they are pelagic. I believe that this is fry of tessalata. When I get back home I will take a microscope shot of these guy to know for sure, but that will not be for a few days since I forgot to take the microscope with me

Good. I'm looking forward to it. Snail larvae are very distinctive so you will know immediately. You say that they are pelagic. It would be good to know how long their pelagic stage lasts.

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

Well, finally have a proven Cerith spawn, an evidence for a hath report!! Walked downstairs and my guys spawned again! Here's a photo from midspawn:

Nice!

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

Thanks Andy! Round 107 lol, kidding aside this time, I will be raising them in a slightly bigger water bottle, a sparkling water one, and I will be putting in both Isocrysis and Tetraselmis in it. Hopefully they make it!

Well, I lost all my ceriths due to copper I think, and still am, so this may be a long project. On the plus side, I went to a local store on Saturday, their ceriths had spawned on the wall! I'm fairly certain that something wrong with my report, the string that these guys had laid look COMPLETLY different than my spawn image, I'll post up a picture when I can. They still have not hatched yet, but they should in the next few days. I have isochrysis and a "new algae" or something that I am going to try... It remains un-identified until we can manage to identify it.