Apple snails eggs...what to do next?

[Alexandrian]

OK.... I am very exited
I was cleaning my American cichlids tank today where my wife put a couple of Apple snails there to keep them safe from the Lochs in my other tanks, Most of time i forget about them, But today while i was cleaning the tank i found a wonderful surprise my snails had eggs, Two clutches of pink eggs sticking against the glass in the back of the tank, By all means i am planing to keep them for a while and for sure i want the eggs to hatch, What shall i do? shall i move them? to a small tank?
I wonder if it will work if i put the clutches on a peace of foam floating on water on a smaller tank till they hatch?
Any advice please?

[Lupin]

Alexandrian, congrats!

First of all, please make sure the snail who laid the eggs has been copulated by mals prior to laying her eggs otherwise the egg clutches will certainly be infertile. Infertile eggs smell too pungent. The first clutch of my diffusas was quite pungent that I almost vomited from it. I gave it 3-4 weeks before it could have possibly hatched but I was baffled why the next clutches have already hatched while the first remained the same so I decided to crush the whole clutch with not a single egg successfully hatched at all.

I assume these are canas considering the bright pink eggs, right? Canas are just too prolific. Please be sure you plan on accommodating dozens of snails. I regret ever attempting hundreds because by that time, I realized the canas don't mix well with other snails I keep especially as juvenile canas are very aggressive to the point they harass other snails constantly by copulating and outcompeting them for food. The adults on the other hand are quite passive and are less problematic.

If you do plan to hatch them, leave them alone where they are assuming the area is quite humid. If not, scrape them off after twenty four hours prior to them being laid using a razor blade or credit card and place them in a container to seal the humidity. Leave a few holes for air exchange. There are plenty of methods written in one of the links sealed in a sticky thread of this section.

Hope this helps!

[Wycco]

--- I removed my comments it could turn into a thread jack and that isn't my intention ;) ---

[katana1200]

Congrats on the clutch. The sticky at the top of this forum is full of hatching strategies, but I can tell you from first hand expierence that removing the clutches and floating them on a piece of foam works just fine. I had a small plastic critter keeper, used to house crickets for my frog. I filled it half way with established tank water, cut a small piece of styrofoam to fit inside, set two clutches of eggs on it and placed it on top of the light fixture where it stays nice and warm. Once the eggs started looking milky and brittle I barely scraped a fingernail over the outside edge and the outer shell came off. I did this to all the eggs that looked ready to go and left them set. A few hours later the babies came crawling out and I ended up washing them gently down into the water. This was last night mind you so they are all very very small. Today the second clutch hatched out as well. This is my first attempt but I know we have, I'd say, an 80% survival rate at this point. I've done a small water change in that tank, placed a single flake of fish food in there, and a very small piece of snail jello. Don't know how it will go from here, but as to your question of incubating, I wouldn't place them in a tank with fish if you want to keep them. They are smaller than the diameter of the lead of a pencil when they first hatch out. Fish food sized, you could say.

[Alexandrian]

Alexandrian, congrats!

First of all, please make sure the snail who laid the eggs has been copulated by mals prior to laying her eggs otherwise the egg clutches will certainly be infertile. Infertile eggs smell too pungent. The first clutch of my diffusas was quite pungent that I almost vomited from it. I gave it 3-4 weeks before it could have possibly hatched but I was baffled why the next clutches have already hatched while the first remained the same so I decided to crush the whole clutch with not a single egg successfully hatched at all.

I assume these are canas considering the bright pink eggs, right? Canas are just too prolific. Please be sure you plan on accommodating dozens of snails. I regret ever attempting hundreds because by that time, I realized the canas don't mix well with other snails I keep especially as juvenile canas are very aggressive to the point they harass other snails constantly by copulating and outcompeting them for food. The adults on the other hand are quite passive and are less problematic.

If you do plan to hatch them, leave them alone where they are assuming the area is quite humid. If not, scrape them off after twenty four hours prior to them being laid using a razor blade or credit card and place them in a container to seal the humidity. Leave a few holes for air exchange. There are plenty of methods written in one of the links sealed in a sticky thread of this section.

Hope this helps!

Mostly they are a male and a female, they were with another pair till a month ago, This morning i found another clutch of eggs on the edge of the tank hood, I wonder how many more shall they give me
eggs still smell ok so i think it is mostly alive

The lfs i am dealing with will be more than happy to trade them for some fish and what ever will left will go to my Loaches dinner
Thanks for your advice Lupin, You were really helpful as always :thm:
I'll post some photos tomorrow

[Alexandrian]

Congrats on the clutch. The sticky at the top of this forum is full of hatching strategies, but I can tell you from first hand expierence that removing the clutches and floating them on a piece of foam works just fine. I had a small plastic critter keeper, used to house crickets for my frog. I filled it half way with established tank water, cut a small piece of styrofoam to fit inside, set two clutches of eggs on it and placed it on top of the light fixture where it stays nice and warm. Once the eggs started looking milky and brittle I barely scraped a fingernail over the outside edge and the outer shell came off. I did this to all the eggs that looked ready to go and left them set. A few hours later the babies came crawling out and I ended up washing them gently down into the water. This was last night mind you so they are all very very small. Today the second clutch hatched out as well. This is my first attempt but I know we have, I'd say, an 80% survival rate at this point. I've done a small water change in that tank, placed a single flake of fish food in there, and a very small piece of snail jello. Don't know how it will go from here, but as to your question of incubating, I wouldn't place them in a tank with fish if you want to keep them. They are smaller than the diameter of the lead of a pencil when they first hatch out. Fish food sized, you could say.
Thanks katana1200
I'll go for it and move them to a small small plastic can and wait to see what will happened
I need some good reading about those snails specially their growing rate
Thanks for your advice

[katana1200]

Well, I have moved my survivors to a 2.5 gal. eclipse mini-bow tank. I think we may be down to about a 50% survival rate right now. I'm sure my inexperience isn't helping. I stretched a piece of the wife's old nylons over the filter intake to keep anyone from finding their way in. After only 3 days the babies are noticeably bigger. In good light you can really make out the shell details and the spider web - thin antena. I don't notice them actually eating anything that I have put into the tank but all seems well. Hope your clutch comes along nicely. As far as how many you can expect.....well, I have 4 females and a male, and as of this moment I've had 2 hatch, 2 are in the incubator, and 7 more are in the tank, including one new one this morning lol. This has been in the last 3 weeks. The one's in the tank are going to be left to hatch without incubation. I'd like to see the survival rate in the community tank. I've placed a few of the obvious non-survivors in the tank and they are quickly picked off by the Zebra danios and Harlequin rasboras. I feel I will have no problem keeping the population in check. I hope not to hijack your thread, but only to give a bit of insight into the rookie snail breeder expierience. If you'd like more responces along this line let me know. I'll keep you updated on how its going.

-Jeff

[Alexandrian]

By all means please do
I have no experience with snails at all, I use to keep the common terrestrial ones when i was about 13 years old but never the aquatic snails, I just had them because my wife loved how they look, In fact i did't help them by anyway the water level in the tank is as high as it can be and i never offer them special food they had to take what ever i am feeding my American cichlids
But i guess they are much tuffer than they look like

[addicted2fish]

what I DO . I take a small container *( food contanier) with lid, I cut small holes all in the lid , I then put tank water in the bottom a little less then halfway , I float a pc of stryo foam, AND I put wooden skewer sticks on top the other way , I lay my clutches carefully on top of the sticks , I then place this contanier on top of my light over my 55 , it gets hot , but not too hot :) ~~ they usually hatch fast this way , and when I see atleast 20 babies, I just throw them in with thier parents and other mystery snails in a sponge filtered tank . I then change out the old water, and put in some freash . I leave my clutches alone, I dont take my finger nail or any device to get them out, I am scared I would squish them, they are the size of a pin head when they come out !!! So I think its best to let them break out on thier own, now I will take the old clutch AFTER all babies have stoped appearing every am, and put it in a coffee cup and swirl it around, then I can find any babies stuck in, and I leave them in teh coffee cup till they start sticking to the sides, or moving around, then I know' they are alive and can be placed in grow out tank . YOu may want to make a tank with a sponge filter, it could even be a small container ( rubbermaid etc. ) for awile, (big enough for a small sponge filter . ) just hook a air pump & small heater and here is a make shift tank :) they can grow out in , and you can always use this tank later, for more snails, OR as a hospital tank, Q tank / whatever you will need it for . HTH ~~ good luck with your mysterys I LOVE mine !!! BTW ~~ what colors do you have in the big tank ? that would help you see what babies you will have .

I found my sterlite contanier at walmart on sale this week *( back to school sale) fro 3.00 !!!~~ I think it says 58 Q , high enough sides, that I think It would hold about 6 gallons of water, IDK yet thow, have not filled it yet :) ~~ Mine will be for baby marmokrebs to grow out in, also as a hospital tank or Q tank when needed, I am going back to get the shallower one's ( i need 2 atleast ) so my marmokreb babies will have lots of surface' area not to get in each others hidey spot' ..LOL ~~ sorry more info then needed. I tend to alwasy type TMI ~~ well good lucki and let us know how it goes !! ~~ are your white foot or black foots ?? I used to only have white, now that i have blacks WOW ~~ they are truly cool snails ~~!!!!

[Alexandrian]

Thanks addicted2fish (http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/member.php?u=83808) for the detailed information
I put them in a plastic food container as you mentioned
It is around 25 C here so i think it is worm enough for them
If they will be that small i am a little worried that i won't notice them when they hatch, But i'll do my best
Thanks

[Alexandrian]

For who asked about what kind and color i have
here some pics for my snails

Climbing in middle of night

http://i684.photobucket.com/albums/vv209/syrapees2/AS-3.jpg

On glass with my Oscar

http://i684.photobucket.com/albums/vv209/syrapees2/AS-2.jpg

Resting

http://i684.photobucket.com/albums/vv209/syrapees2/AS-5.jpg

Didn't want to leav the wood

http://i684.photobucket.com/albums/vv209/syrapees2/AS-1.gif

[Reframer]

Looks like a golden brigs/diffusa to me. Very nice.

[DoN_WoN]

golden apple snail

[Wycco]

I'm not convinced it's a brigg... where are the experts?

That doesn't look a 90degree angle between the whorls. It looks "channeled" to me.

[Lupin]

Brig/diffusa to me. The spire isn't sunken from that angle. Alexandrian, could you please get more shots of the spire in various angles?

[Alexandrian]

Thanks
Reframer,DoN_WoN and Wycco for the debate
Ok Lupin i got some more photos, I hope they are better than the previouse ones

http://i684.photobucket.com/albums/vv209/syrapees2/NAS-6.jpg

http://i684.photobucket.com/albums/vv209/syrapees2/NAS-1.jpg

http://i684.photobucket.com/albums/vv209/syrapees2/NAS-2.jpg

http://i684.photobucket.com/albums/vv209/syrapees2/NAS-3.jpg

http://i684.photobucket.com/albums/vv209/syrapees2/NAS-4.jpg

http://i684.photobucket.com/albums/vv209/syrapees2/NAS-5.jpg

http://i684.photobucket.com/albums/vv209/syrapees2/NAS-6.jpg

And how i keep the eggs

http://i684.photobucket.com/albums/vv209/syrapees2/SAS-1.jpg

As an update:
Today i noticed a fourth clutch of eggs on the back side of the tank
Those guyes won't stop it any sooner as i guess

And....I found few hatched today :drool: they are like a super tiny golden snails, I'll move the whole thing to a 8L food plastic container and try to feed them the mix i use with my fish ( fish meat,shrimp and vegetables), I think maybe adding some egg shells may provide them with the needed calcium, What do you think?
By the way how fast they grow?

[jackiomy]

Those are absolutely stunning snails. I left my clutch where it was laid in the community tank and it looks like I have about 50 peasize little ones now. Here is a pic when they hatched. Also a pic of my female and one of the babies from the first clutch.
101652

101653

[katana1200]

Well, my third clutch hatched out today. Between the three small clutches I believe I have over 70 little ones. They all seem to adore the snail jello I made for them. I used the recipe from the sticky with stage 3 greenbeans, unflavored geletin, crushed up a few tums, aslo about 1 tsp fishfood flakes etc. There is pretty good calcium in the greenbeans and the tums but I also zip tied a small piece of cuttlebone to a piece of slate and put it in the water for them to munch on. It is amazing the size difference from when I originally replied to this thread till now. The ones that hatched out first are already at least 6 times bigger than the ones from today. They're about the same diameter as a standard bamboo skewer. I use these to stir the sand with etc. and I really love shishkabobs, so I have them around. (not that it has anything to do with fish really) :grinno:

Congrats on the new little ones. Mine seem to be pretty self sufficient. Already learning the fine art of parasnailing.

[Lupin]

These are certainly Pomacea diffusa, not Pomacea canaliculata. The egg clutch color is not even from the canas but diffusas. Good job with the pics, Alex!:thumbsup:

[Alexandrian]

Thanks jackiomy
You have such wonderful snails yourself,And i may say a wonderful cam
:thm:

[Alexandrian]

Thanks katana1200 for sharing your exprince

[Alexandrian]

Thanks Lupin

[Alexandrian]

As an update
1- Two clutches hatched and two more still waiting
2- The babies loved my Cichlid mix and boiled cucumber slices, Today i fed them grind boiled shrimp and it seems they like it as well and it looks like they doubled their size in just about 10 days
3- I noticed a fifth cluch of eggs on the tank side and mostly i'll move it tomorrow to the hatching tank
4- I noticed some things look like flyes larva in the tank, I am wooried they may feast of the eggs, I wonder if they may do that

[Lupin]

4- I noticed some things look like flyes larva in the tank, I am wooried they may feast of the eggs, I wonder if they may do that
Any photos? Google dragonfly nymph and damselfly nymph. Remove them though if it's either of them. They might eat the baby snails but not the eggs. I have not seen any record of these nymphs eating apple snail eggs. Only the fire ants have been known to eat the apple snail eggs so far as the eggs are allegedly disgusting to taste.

[Alexandrian]

Any photos? Google dragonfly nymph and damselfly nymph. Remove them though if it's either of them. They might eat the baby snails but not the eggs. I have not seen any record of these nymphs eating apple snail eggs. Only the fire ants have been known to eat the apple snail eggs so far as the eggs are allegedly disgusting to taste.

Thanks Lupin for beeing so helpful
In fact i didn't see a dragon fly for years, It is kind of rare in a big city like Alexandria- where i live- I don't know about fire ants but never heard of them in Egypt befor again thanks for the big city :)
i belive what i have is the common flies
It looks something like this
http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/course/ent525/soil/soilpix/images/flylarvae_jpg.jpg
i can't get a clear photo for them with my cam
I am kind of disappointed because i thought i'll have something like 200 baby snails,Till now all i got not more than 30 but they are eating and growing well.