[dancelady]

Lately I have seen some babies on the glass in the tank with the Nerite snail. So it must be female. But after seeing maybe 5 of them on the glass, suddenly they are gone. Will a snail eat its young? Or is it the Mollies who find it on the glass and help themselves? I don't think they all went down into the substrate at once.

The other snail is called a blue snail, have no idea which snail it is, anyone know? But one is growing like wildfire, must have doubled in a few weeks. Do snails have to mate before they can have babies, I have not seen any eggs, other than catfish eggs? Do they carry sperm for a period and then lay eggs? Have no knowledge of snails, their mating habits, their behavior, and their needs. How about some info on them?

 

[jeaninel]

Nerites lay flat white eggs that kind of look like sesame seeds. They wont hatch though because they need brackish water to hatch.

Your blue snail is most likely a Mystery snail. They need a male and female to mate but the females can hold the sperm for months. They lay clutches of eggs above the water line. It will look like a little cluster of clear tiny grapes.
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[dancelady]

Then the baby snails were from where?

Since I have not seen any eggs (the tank is clear so I should have seen them), would the snails I saw on the glass be from some other source? I bought Hornwort, but didn't see any snails on that. That is all that could yield babies, I have glass beads on the bottom, not gravel. Where oh where could they have come from?

I did look at them with a magnifying glass and they WERE snails. But very tiny. So if they were Nerites, they would have had to be laid, then hatched, then climb up to the middles of the glass so I could see them. Seems like THESE should be the "mystery snails." I took a couple out and put them in the baby Molly tank, but haven't seen them since. Molly babies wouldn't eat them, but why did they disappear? Who would eat the baby snails -- the Mom or the Mollies? And all the water for the Mollies is brackish, too... Could they be hiding in the gravel in the baby tank -- I heard they can hide for long times? What a mystery!

 

[jeaninel]

Yes,.they probably came in on the plants. They could be in the substrate or maybe the mollies ate them. I doubt your other snails would eat them.
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[ZZD]

Do the shells of the baby snails look the same as the Blue Mystery snail you have? I have a handful of the itty bitty snails (usually ramshorns or bladder or pond snails) that hitch hiked into my tank. I've been moving a few of the prettier ones to my smaller plant only tank to help maintain it. They eat dropped food and algae, but the mini snails don't need mates to multiply, just food. Since the water is brackish, it could be the Mystery laid eggs and they hatched. Depending where you got the live plant from though it is likely to be hitch hikers. Unless you thoroughly wash new plants they are likely there, unless its specifically snail/pest free plants. They tend to hide during the day and come out more at night so if you only have a few you may not see them much. Good luck either way! I am very fond of snails and think they are fun to watch.

 

[dancelady]

I saw the snail EGGS!

Well, you know I am excited because I am seeing snail eggs for the first time. They didn't hitch in, they were laid, and I see the globulous blob that they are covered in. With the eggs in view... So my single Nerite snail laid them, and this morning a whole bloom of them hatched and are all over the glass. They are tiny Nerite snails and I have enough to last for a while. There is another one still on the moss for later hatching.

I do remember seeing this blob before, but didn't mess with it, thought it was something caused by the moss and was edible. Those young catfish need everything for food besides the mini pellets and baby bites I am feeding them. They spend a lot of time in the moss eating away. But today I see the baby snails moving around, and I looked closely at them with the magnifying glass and that is what they are.

Will these be good food for the catfish, or not? If not food, then I will let them grow and apportion them around in the other tanks. They will certainly keep the tank clean, if nothing else.

The purchased "Blue snails" are probably Ramshorn snails, because one is growing very large and has the Ramshorn shape to his shell. So not Mystery snails, but Ramshorn. It says they can be different colors, mine are softly blue or grey in color. It also says they don't reproduce in FW, so maybe mine will just be single. Those are monsters compared to the Nerite. So, y'all, I am a snail raiser, too!

 

[dancelady]

About those Ramshorn snails: will single reproduce?

[posted in 2 places partly]
About those Ramshorn snails: will a single one in a tank reproduce or will it need another one for this? Each has male/female parts so I am not sure why I need two together, but anyway what about this -- these are much larger and really do a great job with the cleaning. If I need another, how does one pick the "gender" out? Do they place eggs above the water line?

My baby Nerite snails seem to disappear from time to time, even in that small tank because of the moss and such on the floor. Today the sunlight streamed into the tank and I found them, and they hadn't been eaten by the baby catfish. They are growing, and easier to see in the sunlight. Look kinda odd at first like a smudge on the glass...

Read more: http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/catfish/new-babies-bronze-cory-cats-396161/page2/#ixzz35Nb6yZOs