Tiger Cowrie, Cypraea tigris

Tiger cowries are stunning large molluscs with an extremely desirable shell pattern, Cowries can extend their mantle to completely cover their shell, folding out from underneath them, it is this that keeps their shell in such brilliant and shiny condition.

Tiger cowries are omnivores eating both algae and meaty scraps they can forage. Adult tiger cowries will eat condylactus anemones so must not be housed with them, there are a few reports of them occasionally eating soft corals although we've not witnessed that ourselves and it may be that damaged or corals that are near death are a target. There is no suggestion of them eating stony corals.

Cowries are voracious algae eaters so can be a useful tool when trying to control algae growth.

The diet of cowries is easy to provide in the form of meaty frozen marine foods, scraps of fish or cockle and most importantly dried algae if not naturally present in the aquarium.