Put on some Barry White, I think we have some snail love.

[katana1200]

So, I purchased 2 apple snails (mystery snails) for my 72 gallon community tank a few weeks ago. Both of them were about the size of a quarter when I first bought them and never bothered to try and i.d. the sex of either. Since then they have both shown growth, one moderate the other has doubled in size. He is HUGE! Beautiful color lots of movement. They get a pretty good diet of fresh veggies such as raw romain lettuce, rinsed canned green beans, and blanched zucchini. 3 or 4 times a week I feed the whole tank a little cocktail of frozen bloodworms and frozen brine shrimp. I always make sure to put in extra bloodworms as the snails seem to run around the sandy bottomed tank like little vacuum cleaners and eat bloodworms like little red spaghetti. (The rest of the tank being 12 zebra danios, 5 panda corries, 2 SAE's, 3 Agea eating shrimp, 15 or so ghost shrimp, and 1 male crown tail betta).

Today the wife pointed out that the larger of the two had climbed up on top of the smaller and they've been locked together for about an hour. Looks to be some definate snail penatration going on, right side of shell to right side of shell...I didn't get too close 'cause that would be rude. Will post a few pics here in a minute.

Is it natural to get that kind of growth out of a snail in about a month? Is this snail mating behaviour? What the heck am I going to do with 200 baby snails lol? Will any of the current tank residents present a problem to a clutch of snail eggs? Thanks for looking, pics to follow

 

[Lupin]

You've actually seen the snorno ritual! That was a perfect description of snail sex.

If your snails are growing quickly, your temperature there must be high. I'd keep it to at least 76 degrees as the max. Make sure their shells are not ridiculously thin because constant copulation will result in V-shaped mantle fracture of the female's shell. If your snail begin to lay eggs, either crush or freeze the clutch. If you want to try raising some, cut a portion of the clutch, wrap it in damp paper towels and place it in a container with humid conditions (see sticky thread). The rest can be crushed or frozen.

 

[AquaGem]

Just to warn you... you might not get any clutches. Both of them may still be boys. I'd keep the water line a little lower just in case. I've had a snail fall to the floor looking for a place to lay. Congrats and looking forward to pics!

 

[katana1200]

Ok, a few quick shots. Please excuse the poor picture quality, I'm not real pleased with the Fuji finepix A820 we bought last. Or, it may be my very poor picture taking skills. Either way here's a little idea of what was going on in my tank a bit ago.











Thank you for the quick feedback. Lupin, I actually do not have a heater in my tank at the moment. The water temp stays at a constant 71 deg.F. I have never tested my tap water for calcium but I assume that the water is fairly hard, as I get calcium and lime scale at the evaporation point. I recently found that sticky on snail jello recipes and will be trying that out with a little extra calcium for shell growth. Other than that I cant explain the extreme growth. The strange thing is, it was only 1 of the 2 snails that took off like that. They both seem very healthy. They love the driftwood, plants, and sand.

Aquagem, a good suggestion about the water level, I'll make sure to lower it on the next water change. How soon should I expect the clutch, assuming they arn't homosexual snails? (not that there's anything wrong with that) If they are, I'm just glad they've found each other. Not enough love in this crazy world....even if it is just snail love.

By the way, he was quite the gentelman, after they "parted" he cleaned her/(his?) shell and then went on his way. I hope this doesn't make things "wierd", you've had those friends before that just shouldn't have but did and then things got wierd. Will keep you updated.

 

[Lupin]

The shell looks thick to me. I guess this comes down to genetics rather than temperature as the possible cause of it getting that growth spurt.

Give it a few days before you expect the eggs. Usually changing the water with new one a tad warmer than the tank's sometimes trigger them to lay eggs assuming of course, you have a female, not a male. And enough snorno details please.erv: :silly:

 

[AquaGem]

Too true! Nice snails! Sadly gold and chestnut are the only colors I'm missing. It's hard to say when you might get eggs, since they can store sperm for something like three months! I have a snail that's laying a clutch every week now (or more if they're small). If/when you get one, it can hatch in 2-4 weeks depending on temp (faster if warmer). They should stay moist. You can move the clutch if you want or leave it. I float mine on a piece of styrofoam (those that I don't freeze and crush). They get moldy looking before hatching.

Lupin doth protest too much erv:

 

[katana1200]

Well, I think I have my first clutch. Its very small, only about an inch long and smaller in diameter than my pinky finger. Its just above the water line and there are definately some spherical shapes going on there. I'm planning on taking these out and removing them to a small acrylic tank with some paper towls in a warm spot as per Lupin's suggestion. The eggs came after a 2-3 degree warm up in the tank after I shut off the A/C for a few days. I'll post some pics of the clutch when I move it.

 

[Lupin]

That's great! Looking forward to the photos!