View Full Version : Snails that need another snail to breed
ArkyLady
06-10-2003, 6:48 PM
I'm looking for some snails that I can keep in betta jars to help keep them cleaner (eating extra food, etc) and that won't just multiply when kept singly. Preferably a very small snail (1" or less).
*EDIT* Oh forgot to add that I'll need snails that won't tend to eat plants since I have live plants in there as well. Thanks!
wetmanNY
06-10-2003, 7:34 PM
A virgin snail eh... none of the snails I know... certainly not Melanoides tuberculata
.
.
...that tramp!
elgecko
06-10-2003, 9:04 PM
Apple snails. Pomacea bridgesi. They will not eat live plants, I was worried about that myself. They are only 1 sex so you must have a male and female for them to reproduce. Female can store sperm and lay eggs without a male. The female lays eggs above the water line and can be discarded so you do not have hundreds of snails. Here's a web site on them.
http://www.applesnail.net/
The Apple snails are several fold too large for a betta jar.
ArkyLady
06-11-2003, 1:12 AM
Yeah, I've looked and looked for a nice, small apple snail, but they all get so large that's out. Unless there is a species out there I'm unaware of.
I'll keep searching, there has to be a nice, small, non-plant eating snail out there that can't reproduce on it's own!
How fast do snails grow? Maybe I could breed my own apple snails and when they outgrow the betta jars I could just feed them to my clown loaches and put a baby one back in the betta jar :)
dave76
06-11-2003, 2:00 PM
Depending on the amount of food you give apple snails they can grow at an alarming rate. Mine grew from the size of a dime to the size of a half dollar in about 3 weeks, Course I got lots o food in my tank as well.
elgecko
06-11-2003, 2:26 PM
I have seen some Apple Snails that get huge. The one's I keep only get about the size of a walnut. Now that I think about it my adults probably do push close to 2".
dave76
06-11-2003, 2:28 PM
the one I have is now about that size.
Xeider
06-11-2003, 2:31 PM
I had a 1" apple snail in with my betta and he didn't grow much at all. I didn't really feed him as he eat off the little algae that grew in the tank. My betta would flare up at him, though I doubt the snail saw him. The betta also took its eye stalk a feelers a few times, but they grew back. Only noticed growth when I dropped food in specifically for the snail.
Another snail to look at is the ramshorn, though like the apple snail it will grow bigger then what you requested.
dave76
06-11-2003, 2:38 PM
ramshorn are hermaphroditic, I would not suggest them for what she wants as they will reproduce asexually........
ArkyLady
06-11-2003, 3:45 PM
This one looks promising:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=21&pCatId=1076
Are the betta jars in question 10 gallons? A chunky 1" snail is more bioload than a betta.
ArkyLady
06-12-2003, 1:04 AM
The jars are around 1 gallon. Sounds like maybe my idea won't work anyway then. I just thought it'd be interesting and I'd not have to worry so much about overfeeding especially when people help me feed them :)
Thanks for the info RTR.