Fighting Conch
 

Anyone know where i can buy a fighting conch locally?

I've never seen one in a local shop, and I think we've all looked. Maybe a store would bring some in if you asked them - never tried that.

There were a few that came in with the mail-order last week...

Wai's had a bunch of empty shells a couple weeks ago :eek:

actually wais does sell them just who knows how often and they seem to go fast from there
speaking of coanchs my friend hasnt seen his for like to month and hasnt found the cshell yet is this a normal thing

Mine disappeared for about a month. I thought they were dead. Then lo and behold they appeared at the front of the tank again.

I hadn't seen the one in my 72g since April, so that's, what, 3 months? So I bought a strawberry conch from the Seacare order last week and guess who dug himself out of obscurity.. that figures.

Seems to me there's a lot of creative license as what we call a "fighting conch." The fighting conch that Sean has, for example, looks nothing like the fighting conch that I have, neither of which look anything like the so-called fighting conches that I saw at Wai's once. So ... three different vendors three different species one common name. (And of course according to the vendors, they're the only ones who have it right and everybody else is wrong. So you need to pick who to believe...)

A true fighting conch will not climb the glass or onto the rocks, but instead stay in the sand.

In my opinion, your best bet is to piggyback onto a MO from SWC or Seacare or some such. They seem to happen at least once a month or so, actually more frequently is likely, it's just that they're not always advertised in here. So if you don't see a pending order being organized in here just ask the vendor of your choice if there's an order going out anyways. If they're in a charitable mood they might ask the person if it's OK to have a person tack on a small thing.

I have one of the strawberry conches from Seacare and he's been toodling around on the sand since I got him. Hasn't burrowed deeper than half his shell yet either. I am really intrigued by these animals, as they seem to have a trunk, a foot, and a huge claw-looking thing that comes out the back that they use when they really need to move. I'm not sure if he's done much for cleanliness, but he's interesting regardless.

What I find interesting is the interaction between my fighting conch and the strawberry. Seems to me there is something going on ... at the moment I can't tell what it is, if it's just coicidences or if there is some kind of territorial behaviour to these guys. What happens is I find one on top of the other. Other than that it seems benign, but I'm keeping an eye on them nonetheless.

what would u choose then? a strawberry conch or a fighting?