How hard is it to hatch Zebra Nerites?

[millphoto]

Howdy all! I've got a ton of nerite eggs all over some rocks in my freshwater aquarium! What do I need to do to hatch and grow these little guys and gals up? I've heard that they need to be in a saltwater tank to hatch but other than that i'm lost. What's the simplest way to get this done? Or am I just wasting my time in trying?

My water is a very consistant 8.2 ph, 8 degree hardness.

[Sounguru]

Wasting your time I do not know anyone that has bred them in aquarium conditions.

[petluvr]

I agree with sounguru. They need to go from full marine to full fresh something like twice a day in their natural environment to hatch.

[jamesstill84]

Those snails are crazy!

[Cuvier]

I agree with sounguru. They need to go from full marine to full fresh something like twice a day in their natural environment to hatch.
I'll look into it, but I doubt this is literally true.

[Sounguru]

Basically they need to be laid in fresh. Shortly after hatching while still in the larvae stage they need to be moved into brackish and then to full salt. Once they drop and become snails then you have to slowly move them back into fresh (very slowly) to get them to be acclimated back to FW conditions. I'm not sure if they are kept in full SW if they can be bred there or not that is a point that is not clear. The biggest problem in raising the larvae is a food souce from what I understand that is what is very hard to reproduce in any tank conditions.

Basially think along the lines of them living in frsh and the larvae being swept down stream to the ocean then them crawling thier way back up stream. A long, slow and hard journey.

I have thought about giving it a try but the return on the investment and time would not make in viable to do comapred to the ease of finding wild caught. Now if I can get my hands on some of the really rare species I might give it a whirl but zebras are a dime a dozen and selling tank raised at $15 a pop I don't think would go over that well.

Someday I may try it just to say I did it not that day has not come yet.:thumbsup:

[millphoto]

whoa! Sounds like absolutely zero fun. Maybe I'll just stick with breeding guppies! :)

[vampie]

I'll look into it, but I doubt this is literally true.

I agree. They might come from such areas, but it'd be impossible for the larvae to actually stay in such an area.