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Mystery snails

15K views 23 replies 5 participants last post by  Lupin 
#1 ·
So I wanted to put some snails in my 30gallon, and I was looking around at the local petco and petsmart. All they had were mystery snails of a few different colors that looked like they were just shells. I would think with about twenty in each display that I would see at least one out of its shell. I was thinking about getting four or so, but how do I pick the best ones to get? Will they become more active in my tank? Do I acclimate them any differently than a fish? Should I put some veggies down there as soon as I put them in? Sorry there are so many questions, I don't have a clue about what to expect when it comes to snails, I just thought they would look good in my tank.
 
#3 · (Edited)
I know of a few people who are members here but don't frequently post who breed quality Pomacea diffusa. Let me know if you prefer the other breeders than the store yourself. Take note the name Pomacea bridgesii is outdated and has been replaced with Pomacea diffusa. I agree with ghreed. Normally, I try to pick ones that cruise around. I would be more convinced that way that they are in healthy condition. There are those that remain in their shells and may be asleep. If you want to determine if they are dead or not, smell them. If the specimen has a really foul smell, then it is dead. Make sure the shells are not dangerously thin nor damaged.

Your pH should be no lower than 7.0. Why? Acidic water erodes their shells severely. Thin shells are more prone to major damages such as cracks and fissures which could endanger the life of the snail. They rely on their shells to give them protection.

As far as tankmates, be very careful when selecting fish for tankmates. A lot of fish nip their eyes and antennaes. Apple snails have been known to be one of those with very weak defenses. Despite losing their eyes and antennaes, they can still regenerate their lost parts but that is no reason to continue keeping them with aggressive tankmates as they will eventually die from stress. I don't mix mine with anything except MTS, nerites, bristlenose plecos and the Rineloricaria parva. The plecos and nerites clean up their shells of any algal growth so efficiently.

Apple snails require calcium rich foods. Make sure you are feeding them calcium rich veggies such as collard greens. Cucumber, lettuce, squash, carrots and many others are taken well. Avoid ones with high phosphorus content as this may cause consequences to the tank such as green water phenomenon. I feed my snails snail jello which contains honey, crushed calcium pills, baby food (i.e. Gerber) and unflavored gelatin. I also add broken eggshells for constant calcium supply. Another alternative is cuttlefish bone. You could also place crushed corals or oyster shells in your filter. Here's a bunch of snail jello recipe.
A couple more recipes for snail food - Aquaria Central

If you wish to try calcium pills, try Caltrate or Tums. I use Tums with flavor added. It is just pure calcium carbonate. The flavor added tends to attract the snails quickly and prompt them to eat. Their faces get doused in white powder.:lol: Caltrate without Vitamin D is best recommended. If you can't find one without Vitamin D added, you can use the one with Vitamin D added but I wouldn't recommend using it long term s Vitamin D is an oil soluble vitamin which if not excreted may become toxic in high levels. I believe in another forum, a member may start conducting an experiment on the effects of Vitamin D. I may do so as well if time permits but not now especially when finances are involved.:? I dose Tums daily in my snail tanks to continuously supplement the snails with calcium for optimum healthy shell growth.

Regarding acclimation, treat them like you do with fish. Give them a few hours to recover before they pop out of their shells and roam around. It took my last blue diffusa two hours before he finally roamed around.

Lastly, if you do plan to breed these snails, please plan out your stocks and prepare for some spare tanks. Usually, it is advisable to keep one snail per 2.5g. They lay clutches of peach colored eggs above the waterline. My snail tanks have 2.5 inches space above the waterline so they can lay eggs there. Males tend to copulate with anyone reardless of their sexes and are distinguishable immediately if found clinging on the right side of another snail. Another way to determine their sexes is by looking for their penis sheath which females don't have. Cover your tanks and make sure all gaps are closed. They tend to escape especially when they loom for areas to lay their eggs on. Each clutch has 50-200 eggs. Not all eggs will hatch though. Some will fall to the water and drown. If you find some eggs fall to the water, you still have time to fish them out and put them in a breeder box provided the environment is warm and humid. The warmer and more humid the environment is, the faster the eggs hatch. Wait for 5 weeks. After 5 weeks, if none of the eggs appear to have develop a moldy appearance, crush one egg and see if it has gooey stuff. If so, dispose the clutch as it is infertile. Females can store sperm for a few months after a male copulates with her. The clutches laid each month tend to become less fertile than the previous ones though.

Be warned that there are over hundreds of species of apple snails. Several are voracious plant eaters most particularly the Pomacea canaliculata. I had massive dieoff with babies of mine due to inadequate food supply following my vacation for a week so I'm left with over 70 of these. These grow to baseball size and can mow down a planted tank in hours. Diffusas are different. They prefer dead and decaying plants rather than the healthy specimens although occasionally, they may eat ones with soft foliage.
 
#4 ·
I might add that selling brigs to other states require a permit. You can ship juveniles to adults as long as they are distinguishable enough to be brigs and not the other species and as long as you have permit already from the USDA/Aphis to ship to a certain state. Clutches are banned for shipments. Many apple snails are banned from shipping due to their potentials in destroying foreign ecosystem such as the Pomacea canaliculata and Pomacea haustrum. They can still however be obtained legally through hobbyists within your state.

Here's a list of snails that are legal and illegal for shipping.
Responsibility as a Hobbyist - Aquaria Central

The USDA/Aphis are quite within their rights to confiscate and destroy your stocks if found you are engaging in illegal activities unless proven otherwise.
 
#5 ·
Wow. Thanks for all the info lupin. I didn't plan on breeding them, but I know that I may not be able to control that. My plan was to add a few snails and some ghost shrimp to the tank to give it diversity. I am mainly going with just fancy male guppies, but possibly dwarf gouramis as well. I was planning on putting a few dwarf hairgrass plants in 2 of the corners and 1 anacharis. My problem is that I have very hard tap water and my ph stays around 8.0. So I don't know if plants are going to work. I just might end up not planting.

I went to another lfs today that deals mainly in marine products, but I did find one freshwater snail there that was moving around. I don't remember the name, but it was a blue snail in a gold and blue swirled shell about 3" big. The price on the tank said $19.99, and I thought that was a little high compared to the $1.99 price at petsmart/petco for mystery snails(It could have been for a fish that was no longer in there). But everytime I go to one of the chain stores the snails are all hiding in their shells.

If you know of breeders in Washington state, I would love to buy from them. I really only want four at the most, so I think that getting them via mail isn't really worth it because of the shipping costs. Say I do end up finding some snails for my tank, how do I keep them from breeding and/or what is the best way to get rid of the young? Will pet store usually accept them? I know that it is against the law to release them, so what are my options?
 
#6 · (Edited)
Actually, with all apple snails of the Pomacea genus, you can control their populations quite easily. They lay their eggs above the waterline. If you don't want to hatch them, freeze or crush the eggs when disposing them. If you do plan to breed them, you can sell them legally without permits within your state. Permits are required only for state by state shipping. Diffusas are sexual. If you look carefully enough, males have a penis sheath. More information can be found in www.applesnail.net about sexing them. I'll find a blog link for you when I have time later. It has pics of how to distinguish their sexes. Males will copulate on anyone regardless of their species and gender so it doesn't mean the snails they are trying to copulate with, are all females.

Your water being hard and 8.0 is just right for the snails which means you don't have to use cuttlefish bones and eggshells although any calcium dosing actually thickens their shells making them more glossy and clean in looks and less susceptible to any injuries such as fissures on shells or chipped parts which may need patching up by epoxy. Any plant will work fine there.

Any pics of this snail? If it is 3", it is not a Pomacea diffusa. It could be other species but only the diffusas have color variations, nothing else.
 
#7 ·
#9 ·
I have a question. I didnt want to start a new thread for this, but I have a black mystery snail.

I know its not the best pic, but you get what it is. Anyways, I was curious if anyone knows if their "poop" is red? I've been seeing a bunch of tiny red strings around, and they werent there before I had him. Anybody have any ideas?
 
#10 ·
I have a question. I didnt want to start a new thread for this, but I have a black mystery snail.

I know its not the best pic, but you get what it is. Anyways, I was curious if anyone knows if their "poop" is red? I've been seeing a bunch of tiny red strings around, and they werent there before I had him. Anybody have any ideas?
As far as I know, there is no 'black' mystery snail. The color appears to be dark green to me. 'Black' mystery snails often end up with dark green or dark purple colors perceived as black. What do you feed your snail? I sometimes see red and orange poo but it's from the snail jello I give them.
 
#12 ·
The snail can look like it is hibernating when it does the 'hamburger face'. Hamburger face refers to them retracting into the shells but leaving some of their body exposed. They sometimes float to the water surface when they do that. This is not something to worry about though unless the snails stayed in their shells unusually for a long time. The only way to really know that the snail is dead when it smells very nasty. If the snail appears to not move at all with its body dangling from the shell while the shell is floating, it could also be dead. Just give it a whiff and see if it smells bad.
 
#13 ·
I was in a small lps the other day to get a new filter bag, and I was looking at some extremely small snails when a clerk came over and asked if I wanted any, because he would give me a couple just to de-populate the tank they were in. I said sure! Now I have two snails that I don't know what they are, but I am trying to get some pictures and absolutely failing at it. I believe that they are apple snails based on them making the trek at least once a day to the top of the tank, but I just don't see the siphon that they are supposed to have to breathe air.

Since picture taking is not working out, I am going to try a video. I shall be back.
 
#15 ·
Ok, so I can't upload videos because of comcast right now, but here is the best picture I could get. Are they mating? What kind of snails are they if you can tell? Is it the standard Pomacea bridgesii? Also I put some green beans in the tank and after a couple days I finally moved them to the beans myself. They each made one pass at them, but then went on their ways. Is this normal, or did I not have the right veggies for them?

One cool thing is that almost 25% of the shell of the the one on the right in the pic is new. It looks a little clearer, and doesn't have any white lines right now. Let me know what you think about species and feeding. Thank you!

 
#17 ·
those look like ramshorns. I dont know too much about them. Lots of pest snails can reproduce singly. I believe i read somewhere ramshorns need 2 to reproduce but are both sexes? I'm not 100% sure. Anyway, do some research on snails and see if your picture matches any. However, im pretty sure those are not apple snails.
 
#18 ·
Ramshorns (Planorbis sp.). They nevertheless look cute though. I'd keep them.
 
#19 ·
Yeah, I like the way they look, and I think I will try to pay enough attention to control the population, so that I can keep them. I have a couple more questions. I was thinking about adding two dwarf gouramis to the tank, will this affect the snails? I have heard that gouramis are like loaches and will eat them, but does this apply to the dwarf gouramis as well? Also is there any problem to add a nice apple snail when I do find one, or will there be interference with the ramshorns?
 
#20 ·
Ramshorns and apple snails are fine together but I wouldn't try dwarf gouramis with any of them. Most gouramis love to harass the snails.
 
#21 ·
Ok, I wont do the gouramis then. I went out and bought a pomacea bridgesii tonight along with an angelfish. It was labeled as a "black" mystery snail. It was very active at the store, and has been that was so far here in the tank. I already put some green bean halves in the tank a few inches from where it was. It immediately went to them and has been devouring them for the last 30 minutes or so. This is exciting! I might add in another next week if I find one more that I like. Thanks!:lol:
 
#22 ·
There's no such thing as 'black' when it comes to these mystery snails. Chain stores often can label their stocks anything that strikes their fancy.:roll: I suggest you examine the shell under different light spectrums. It is either dark striped green or dark striped purple. No solid black P. diffusa has ever been produced. Someone in another forum bought a mystery snail alleged to be black. I can see why it was considered black. Lighting conditions and shell conditions often are very important to determine the correct shell color.

Collards may be the best veggies you can give as they have very high calcium content. Happy sliming. :wink:
 
#23 ·
I put the "black" in quote because I knew it was incorrect. After closer examination it look to have a mostly brown shell with purple stripes. It is sort of hard to see becuase it looks like there is quite a bit of green algae growing on the shell. Should I brush this off? I really don't want to disturb it right now, but if I need to, I can after work tomorrow...
 
#24 ·
You can use a soft toothbrush to wipe off the algae. Try adding some nerite snails. They love to eat algae all the time and I have several Clithon corona mixed with my P. diffusa.

Here are some color charts.



 
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