zondebok Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 I know it sounds a bit crazy, but the conch seemed fairly active, was wandering the tank as usual, burying himself randomly, and then I heard him hitting the glass. Looked in and found a peppermint shrimp going for a conch ride, stabbing into any opening he could find while the conch was jumping trying to get him off. I chased him off and buried the conch a little, and the next morning the conch was rested vertically against the glass, with his underside showing. I thought he was dead, but started moving once I tried to pick him up, so I buried him a little and tried to see if he would pull through. Alas, no. I don't think the shrimp was hungry, I feed them fairly well (and neither of them was that interested in eating the conch, once it was dead). I also didn't see any reason to think the conch was dying, he had cleared most of my diatoms from my sand, but there were still plenty of areas with diatoms, at least. Perhaps I should have been adding algae wafers or something to supplement him? LFS said he has never heard of a pep killing a conch, and it seems reasonable to me also, as they are scavengers rather than predators, really. I am hesitant to put another one in if the shrimp may decide to attack it again. Hoping maybe some of you with more experience can put me at ease (or not, I suppose). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milesmiles902 Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 I think it is very unlikely that the peppermint shrimp killed the conch. It may have been eating it after it was already dead, but it wouldn't kill it. I have hermits gather on my conch and it jumps away without worry. Maybe the conch just died? Inverts are so hard to read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zondebok Posted January 17, 2017 Author Share Posted January 17, 2017 It was definitely not dead when it first started, since I could see the conch jumping, but he very well may have been dying for all I know. I may wait a month or two and pick up another one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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