Apple vs Mystery and breeding ?

D

dewilde2

Illinifish
Aug 8, 2006
253
0
0
43
St Louis
I purchased either an apple or a golden mystery snail at the LFS a few months ago and love it. I'm unsure of the differences- all the pics look the same to me- gold shell, slightly smaller than a golf ball. He's in my 10 gallon and does a great job.
I then bought a blue one for my 5 gal betta tank and he's cool too.
Now I'm wanting to get one for my 46 gallon, and wondering if I put more than one in the tank if I will end up with hundreds of them. Do they breed easily? Is there a way to sex them? I just don't want them to not have enough food or mate like rabbits :-)
Any advice? Thanks!
 
A "mystery snail" is one of many different types of apple snail. Mystery snails are usually pomacea bridgesii. Its likely this is what species both your blue and gold are. They are sex specific snails. You could keep them together and remove any egg clutches that are produced. The egg clutches are laid above teh water line and are over an inch long and pinkish in color. These snails need added calcium to their diet in order to preserve shell health and promote good growth. Things like veggies are good or homemade foods. Also adding things like cuttlebone can help as well but I prefer to use homemade foods with calcium powder added. They are super fun to own and have huge personalities.
Each clutch of eggs can produce between 50-200 baby snails if you would not remove it, so its a good idea to freeze or crush any clutches produced. Also, if keeping them together in tanks its recommended to drop the water line to allow a few inches for them to lay the egg clutches or they will sometimes try and get out of the tank resulting in them falling and damaging their shells. Its also a good idea to cover your intake on your filter as they sometimes are tempted to eat the goodies that grow in the intake and get stuck and injured.
They can be sexed, but its not particularly easy to do.
 
Thanks everyone for all the info! It's not as important to me what species they are per se, more so that I can provide them with a good home and not end up with too many of them.

Any thoughts on how many would be appropriate for a 46g? I don't really have an algae problem, but it seems like a big space for such little guys.
 
I have 4 in my 60 and I think its perfect.

Depends on what else is in there. I got 5 kinds of snails in mine.
 
dewilde2 said:
Any thoughts on how many would be appropriate for a 46g? I don't really have an algae problem, but it seems like a big space for such little guys.
Click to expand...

Snails need 2.5 gallons each, on average. When calculating how many can fit in a tank, take into account any fish in the tank as well. Their bioload is similar to that of a tropical fish.
 
The best way to sex an apple snail is to roll the snail onto its back out of water. It will eventually emerge from its shell, at which point the male should have a visible penile sheath near the upper right portion of mantle cavity. The male should also have a more rounded shell aperture, but unless you have several snails for comparison, this is a poor method.

heres a link you can read for more info on them.
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile92.html
 
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