Question about Abalone... beh., sel.  11/26/08
Hi there,
<Hello Luis!>
I really appreciate your site. It is a great source of information.
<Ah, good. Glad you find it useful>
I have a question about my abalone. I bought it just over two weeks ago from my LFS. I had done some research and I was positive that it was a tropical abalone. The LFS confirmed this, but of course, they're trying to sell it to me so I took their confirmation with a grain of salt.
<Always a good idea... to be a bit speculative, tentative...>
After acclimating it to my tank I set it in the rock and he attached himself nicely. The lights turned off and the next day I noticed it was gone from the spot, which was expected. It took me several days to find it but I was finally able to spot him on the underside of a plate-shaped rock near the bottom of the tank. I was happy to see that it was still attached to the rock, with it's 'eyes' and antennae fully deployed. It was also encouraging to see it react as expected to stimulus from my flashlight by retracting whenever I'd shine the light on him. So far so good. My question is, he has not moved from that spot since he got there. I have checked on my tank at several intervals over a period of several nights (when they're supposed to be active) and he's always at the same spot, looking very much alive (fully extended eyes/antennae) and reacting to light stimulus each time. Is it normal for it to just sit there for so long? a few days I would understand, but it's been well over two weeks now and I'm beginning to worry. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
Regards, Luis.
<Mmm, well, both tropical to cooler water species of Haliotids "don't do much" moving about really... that yours is situated, reacting to the light as you state, is very good news. A common misunderstanding is that these Archeogastropods "do" cruise about, somehow munching on a wide variety of small algae, of a wide mix of Thallophytes, even BGA... This is not the case. Most are macrophagous herbivores, consuming larger thalli of Red and Brown algae, a good deal of which "happens by" that they "trap" and "grind" to feed on, w/o moving much at all... I would look to other species of animals for such actual "active" algal control... and more to the point, review what can/should be done to avoid noisome algal proliferation period.
Otherwise, keep checking on your Ab... it's likely fine as/where it is.
Cheers, Bob Fenner>

Re: Question about Abalone 12/2/08
Many thanks for the reply Bob. I am happy to report that my abalone has finally moved...yeay! I took a look at the tank last night (or should I say very, very, very early in the morning, in complete darkness...) and imagine my excitement when I saw my ab vigorously traveling down the back pane of the tank! upon closer inspection, that back pane is now squeaky clean (it had a hard-to-reach thin algae film before). So I feel much better now knowing that he is indeed the tropical ab type and very much the voracious algae consumer I had hoped for.
<Yay!>
Anyways, thanks for your advice and keep up the excellent work!
Best Regards, Luis.
<Thank you Luis... am endeavouring to do so my friend. BobF>

Abalone Color Change   12/11/07
WWM Crew,
<Steve>
The Haliotis asinina I bought 5 months ago appears to be shifting color.
<Mmm, does/can happen... different environmental and nutritional conditions...>
The soft body parts seem to have changed from a greenish-blue into the 'brown' realm. Shell development appears to be normal, it's added 2 "holes" since purchase.
<Normal... with growth>
It has recently started feeding on quite a bit of red macroalgae at one end of my tank... does their diet effect pigment?
<Yes>
Water parameters are good and consistent. Thanks in advance for any insight.
Steve
<Glad to share... this is a very good tropical abalone/Haliotid species for aquarium and aquaculture use. Bob Fenner>

Abalone Snail
My Abalone Snail has not moved in several days. He is on the back glass where algae is. Is this normal?  <They do just lay around one in a while and I would not be worried.  Cody>