Psychlist1972

My 55g tank has only a couple pond snails, but they are absolutely huge. I see large egg masses in there all the time, but not the typical mass of young pond snails that my wife's tank (the origin of my mutant snails) has. (something must be taking care of the snail eggs or young)

Are these truly pond snails? Their shell is at least 3/4" long, and the snails are an inch+ when on the glass. The largest I had ever seen before this was a fat 1/4"

The eggs they keep laying all over certainly look like pond snail egg masses, and the shells and translucent bodies look like pond snails. I just wasn't expecting any to get so huge. They're larger than the nerites in my tank.

Pete

Attached Images

	pmb_giant_pond_snails_01.jpg (118.3 KB, 30 views)
	pmb_giant_pond_snails_02.jpg (100.5 KB, 29 views)

sirdarksol

They sure look like it. I've seen a few that have reached 1/2" in my tank.

Psychlist1972

Thanks. These are absolutely enormous. The coin in the first pic is a quarter

Pete

Psychlist1972

Out of curiosity, any idea why I have no issues with other pond snails in that tank? I see tons of egg masses. Whenever I've had pond snails before, they usually explode despite keeping feeding down etc.

Residents of the tank include:
- Two mutant pond snails and one 1/4" one
- A bunch of actively beeding cherry red shrimp
- Danios including 3 danio dangila
- Two balloon mollies
- One apple snail
- Three nerite snails
- A ton of trumpet snails
- Three otto cats

I'm not saying I *want* a bunch of pond snails. I'm just curious as to what is balancing them out.

Pete

Annadvn

I have big ones like that! I even have one thats 1"

Anna

sirdarksol

If you're feeding the tank properly, that would explain why you're not having a snail explosion. You've got enough adult cleaners (snails, shrimp, otos) that the babies are going to be very hard-pressed to find food. That's why I actually like my pond snails. They tell me if I'm overfeeding a tank. If I suddenly have a huge surge of babies, I know I've messed up.

Psychlist1972

Thanks. I had assumed with all the types of algae in there, they'd have food to eat. Glad to see I'm actually doing ok on keeping this tank in balance

Of course, I *am* having a shrimp explosion...

Pete