*I'm a snail MOMMY* PICS! HELP NEEDED!

[Becca3711]

Okay, as I was checking up on my aquarium tonight, I noticed something:

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j197/bek_kuh/IMG_0035.jpg?t=1180068096

A tiny SNAIL! YAY! (I have 5 mystery snails, 1 gold, and 4 blue) Now, here's the question, Is the stuff in the following photo fish poop or snail eggs?

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j197/bek_kuh/IMG_0042.jpg?t=1180068200

Because it wont go away.
Then I look, and I have found a total of 3! BUT Im scared! I don't want to do a water change/sand vaccum in fear of loosing the little buggers. I plan on going tomorrow to get one of those breeders nets perhaps, and putting the snails in there with algae wafers on the bottom of it to keep them out of the sand out of the way of the vaccum (AND my betta!!). Would they stay in the net if the holes are small enough? As long as I put the top part of the net a little out of the water, they probably wouldn't come out, right? Is that a good idea? Any other suggestions? I asked in a thread the other day when snails became sexually mature, because I had wanted them to breed so I could sell the cute little guys! I honestly think my snails have the cutest faces ever!!!

Okay, enough with the chitter chatter, here are some photos of my adorable parents!
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j197/bek_kuh/IMG_0057.jpg?t=1180068360



Such a cute little face, (down)!!!
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j197/bek_kuh/IMG_0048.jpg?t=1180068664

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j197/bek_kuh/IMG_0049.jpg?t=1180068577

[Becca3711]

Also should I maybe buy a sponge to put over my filter?

And, I never saw an egg sac above water. Not even in my filter. Why didn't I see it? I thought mystery snails were supposed to lay eggs above water?

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j197/bek_kuh/IMG_0038.jpg?t=1180069073
^AWWWWWWWWWWWW

[Becca3711]

bump

Anyone?

[Becca3711]

Also, my betta seems like he has been really not hungry lately. He hasn't been eating as furiously as he usually does. Do you think he's been eating all the baby snails?

[christopherhick]

I dont know anything about snails but I think I am going to go buy one now i think I would like them. Good Luck

[soobie]

The little snails are not baby mystery snails. Sorry. They are pond snails, and likely came in on some plants. If you have three, you probably have more (or will soon). They grow to about 1/4", so the ones you are seeing are probably already sexually mature. They are very prolific if there's extra food available. Their egg clusters are laid below the waterline (and yes, mystery snail egg masses are laid above the waterline), on any available surface, and look like tiny spheres in a blob of clear jelly. The jelly blobs are usually about 1/4" across or less. The stuff on your sand looks like snail poop, maybe fish poop. Hard to tell, though, because of the blurriness, so it may be baby pond snails. Are they moving?

I like snails too!

[Becca3711]

ARe you sure? Because 2 of them have blue bodies, like my blue mystery snails. The other one shown has a gold body, like my gold mystery snail. I checked all my plants before putting them in.....several weeks ago, and didn't hve any snails on them.

[Becca3711]

And no, the poop things aren't moving. You think it's safe to do a light gravel vac/water change?

[Becca3711]

oh no... i found another. that's 4. I hope they're not pond snails. That would suck. I really want baby mystery snails. And, the reason why I still hope they are mystery snails is because my snails have been doing it a lot lately =) If you know what I mean. Or at least that's what I think they've been doing, because this one, he's a male Im like 90% sure, he has been on top of this other snail for like 20 minutes at a time and ....yeah, Im not getting into details...

[soobie]

I'm pretty sure. Looks like the spire of the shell is too pointy and elongated to be a mystery snail, which would be more globular. Do they have an operculum? Mystery snails do, pond snails don't. Also, the outline of the foot is pointed at the back end, instead of the oval of mysteries.

Pond snail color can be variable. I have some that are completely golden, some that are spotted, and some that are completely dark gray-brown. I've never seen a blue one, though. Can you post a pic of one of those?

The plants could have had eggs- they are tiny, hard to see, and it would only take a couple. In my tank, it takes about 3-4 weeks from egg to egg-laying adult.

I think you'd be fine doing a vac. Maybe rescue a couple of the poop-things and look at them under a magnifier if you want to be sure.

[Becca3711]

Well, here's an attempt before my camera battery died.Ill get some more when it charges but this little guy was moving way to fast.

[Becca3711]

^the blue ones. It's sooo hard to tell if they have the operculum because they are so tiny. The one gold one, his shell actually looks iridescent and it looks like real gold because it is very shiney. Should I pluck them out, do you think?

[soobie]

That blue one does look more globular than the other gold one, unless it's the angle. They still look pond snails to me, though. Especially since you haven't seen a mystery snail above-water egg mass. Well, I guess time will tell! Separate them out and see if they grow any bigger.

[Becca3711]

Could I keep them in a water bottle? (LOL, don't laugh, I dont have a QT tank.) I can throw an algae wafer on the bottom? If I change the water daily? What do you think, honestly?

[Dwarf Puffers]

Sounds ok to me, but I just want to tell you something.


You prolly would have noticed the MTS eggs. What, with the sac being bright red, 2" long, 1" wide, eggs a bit bigger than thos pond snails...

[klfvilla]

Hi, I have a few pond snails in my 10g. They snuck in on a Hornwort plant. There must have been eggs on the plant because I inspected that plant closely and gave it a good haircut also and didn't see anything funny. I have one mystery snail also. I actually like having the pond snails. They're not fun to watch like the mystery snails are but I consider them bo be the maids of the tank. They do a really good clean up job on algae. They have real gold speckles on the shells and they are just small. They do little brown poops. Looks like pond snail poop on the floor of your tank to me. My vote is anything with shiny gold on the shell is a pond snail. I love the eyes on your blue snail! My only mystery snail is gold. I like yours better!

[rwilliams254]

First of all... I'm definatley getting snails now!

Second... SNAIL ****!!!

[HYLA WALDRON]

Those are pond snails. Your blue body guy, looks like an elephant, he is adorable! You Will most definitely notice the egg sack above water, not to mention there will be left over "residue" when it does hatch, you will be able to see where it was.

[Reefscape]

Some super pictures of the snails...

Niko

[RoseFishWatcher]

I agree about snail faces, so cute!

As said above, you have pond snails. You will probably notice your mystery snails mounting each other before you see eggs/ get babies.

Just for kicks, here's a photo I took of mine in the act of laying eggs. Enjoy. The eggs look white in the pic, but are light pink.

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/2876/copyofdscn0051pk7.th.jpg (http://img222.imageshack.us/my.php?image=copyofdscn0051pk7.jpg)

[soobie]

You can keep them in a small container, like a water bottle, though the tank would be better. Frequent water changes are important in a small unfiltered container, though snails are far more tolerant than fish. Make sure you get out uneaten food and poop before they mold. Turkey basters are good for cleaning and changing that water in small containers. A wide container would be better than a tall skinny one, for gas exchange, and if you can put an airstone in it, so much the better. Something like a margarine tub, Cool Whip tub, or Tupperware container would be fine.

[Woofy]

Very cute pics of the snails that blue one is wow u should enter a pic like that in potm. anyways , we have tons of mytery snails and egg are like bright pink , cant miss em ;) and the babies dont look like that though :( sowwy. look like pond snails .

[chris331]

pond snails... IMO they are more trouble than they're worth. they constantly reproduce and clog up filters.

we have them in our fish system at work and gave me a head ache when they clogged up our loc-lines and the return lines got clogged with dead snail shells. it's almost impossible to get rid of them...

mystery snails lay big egg sacks above the water line. you definately would have noticed that...

[soobie]

I have a Penguin biowheel HOB filter, and have both pond and Malaysian trumpet snails in my tank. I've never had a problem with them vs. the filter. Maybe different filter types are more susceptible, especially if there are long water lines. I've found that as long as you don't overfeed, they don't overpopulate, and it's pretty easy to thin the herd with a piece of zucchini. But yes, they would be nearly impossible to get rid of completely if I didn't want them! In the gravel, in the plants, argh!

[rbishop]

Nice shots!

[christopherhick]

I went to the lfs to pick up some female convicts and ended up getting a black mystery snail he is still small and not as cool as yours but here he is.
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z310/christopherhicks/070526093530.jpg
Bad news though when I got home my oscar was on the floor dead he was my favorite he would let me pet his head and would always come to see what i was doing he would even eat out of my hand :cry:
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z310/christopherhicks/ripbuba.jpg

[Becca3711]

Congrats on the snail! You'll looove him. They are so much fun to watch!

[msjinkzd]

sorry about your oscar

[SixLetts8]

yeah i say the bettas eating the babys but those do look like baby i breed those feeder snails for my puffer but i'v never had a mystery snail before i stopped doing the vac in there an just water changes