selective breeding ramshorns

[Gypsy125]

I recently found 1 white (albino?) ramshorn snail in one of my tanks. It is really pretty - kinda looks like a pearl. I want to selectively breed it to get a white line of ramshorns (I am a geneticist...apparently with too much free time...lol). So my question is - do I need 2 ramshorns for breeding to happen? I know they are hermaphroditic, but not sure if they need another individual to breed. Thanks!
Monika

 

[MoonstruckMuse]

Hermaphrodites can't usually breed with themselves (there have been a few odd records of it, but basically, even though they could self-fertilize, the actual fertilization act would have to be done by you if you wanted them to do that, aka, you'd have to take sperm out and insert it in appropriately).

Your best guess is to probably hope that it plays nice with Mendelian rules and cross to either a related snail (may have F1 that express it), or cross it to any snail and then have the F1 offspring breed amongst themselves to produce nice white F2s. There are a lot of potential genetic things that are going on though, so the setup described above is assuming it's a typical recessive trait with a single allelic polymorphism, but um, good luck otherwise! It'll take some playing around with is all.

 

[j0onahra3]

Yeah, I would get that snail and interbreed it or wait for the F2 generation to pop up.
Talking about genetics always reminds me to study for my genetics exam coming up on monday!
Hahaha but it is quite fun to learn! : )

 

[Buff]

Put an ad in the Classifieds here asking for albino/white ramshorns. Maybe an AC member would give you one for the cost of shipping...

 

[frothhelmet]

Wow that sounds really cool. I have never seen an albino ramshorn before. Could you post a pic of it so we can see what it looks like? Plenty of people would be interested in buying some if you can start breeding it...