The_rabbit

Freshwater 10 Gallon Tank, Black Skirt tetra, Balloon belly molly, Gold Inca mystery Snail, and an unknown snail.

I feel so silly. I got my stepdad a 10 gallon tank for his birthday in august. We had 4 fish and an african Dwarf Frog in there. Now we have two fish and two snails. I'm not sure why, but I didn't even think about the fact that the snails might mate. Awful dumb of me. Anyway, we got them a few weeks ago, for added excitement and to cut down on the algae.

So. The Gold inca, mated with the small brown snail. The brown snail has a light brown and dark brown striped shell, and a light colored body.

The gold one climbed on top of the other and then stayed there(after some wiggling around) for a long while. After some time he started sliding on top of the other (kind of foot to foot) and rubbing his eyestalks on the smaller one. We thought this was mating. I found a website on apple snails, and it showed pictures. It was the exact thing we had seen, so obviously they were mating, or at least the first part was mating.

The mating occurred about 4 1/2 days ago.

Before they mated they wouldn't hand around each other much. Now If I see one, the other is usually somewhere right behind.

The gold one has also gotten pretty big. bigger than the one inch petco said they'd be. A little smaller than silver dollar size.

I'm unsure of the brown snails breed. The receipt only says that I bought two gold inca snails. (One sure isn't a gold inca snail). I'll probably call and ask tomorrow.

What do I need to know about raising baby snails? how do I do it? when will I see eggs? I saw them mating 4 days ago. I'm unsure if this is the first time they did it, or if they have since.

I'm sure the amount of eggs, when they are laid, and how soon the babies hatch depends on the breed of the female, right?

the amount of babies they make won't be able to fit in a ten gallon tank, right? what should I do with them?

aquarist48

Welcome to Fish Lore Rabbit. Here are a couple of links you may find helpful:
Question: Mystery Snail Care?
Mystery Snails
How to breed mystery snails (Ampullaria) with pictures
Apple Snail Care Sheet @ petfish.net

I would just relax and let nature take it's course Check out the links, I found them very helpful myself. More than likely your snails will lay their eggs above the water line. It will look like a pink blob of eggs. If the sack is below the water line the eggs will drown. Too, once they start to hatch some fish may even eat them. It took mine 16 days to hatch from the day they were laid. They seem to be laying about every 2 weeks. She will lay when she is ready
Best wishes and have a great weekend!
Ken

The_rabbit

Thank you for the links. what should I do with the babies? they will keep mating. should I separate the mama into a smaller tank to lay her eggs?

Robin4

The_rabbit

I don't want a *lot* of snails, but seeing the whole process will be pretty interesting. So I probably will get something and keep the babies for awhile. After that, any eggs we won't be able to keep, because we don't have the space.

It's been about 8 days since they mated, and no sign of eggs yet. I haven't seen them mate since, but i'm no watching the every second. I saw some pictures and i'm pretty sure the girl snail is also a mystery snail. Since she's a striped brown snail, and he's a gold snail, will they have babies that are a mixture of the two, or will they have babies that are one or the other?

Hello. Since there were no responses between your posts I merged them to save some space.
Thanks!
Ken

aquarist48

Hello Rabbit. I would think it would depend on who has the dominant gene as to what they are going to look like. You may have a variety of different colored snails. Keep us posted.
Ken
I've moved your thread to the "snails" section of the forum.
Thanks!
Ken

The_rabbit

I think I might have found eggs, but i'm unsure. all the pictures I've seen show a bunch of little white balls or pink balls clustered together.

There are a couple (very close together) blobs of a clearish color hanging from the aquarium light. they aren't very large, and don't hang very low. when you look closely they have little black squiggles/dots in them, and I felt it (gently) and it's a bit gooey. I'm unsure what it is, but I think it might be eggs. I had noticed it the other day, and thought it was water spots, but since it's grown, and they are 3d now, i'm wondering.

it looks nothing like any pictures i've seen.

aquarist48

Mystery Snail Eggs/Edited w/photos
Scroll down to post #12
A photo of my snail eggs. They are actually pink. The camera flash shows them as white.
Ken

The_rabbit

The eggs are the pinkish white splotch near the rim on the last picture right? What i think might be eggs has the same shape as that but it's a clearish white color. I'll take some pictures.

either way i'm wondering what it is.

Edit: Also, it's growing, so if it's not eggs, is it harmful to the tank?

mizzoufan96

I have the same thing goin on. I got a strand of about 20 brown little sacs that i am debating are poop or eggs. I havnt seen my snail poop before and i have had him for 2 weeks. Ill post a pic and see if there like yours. I saw them come out of the snail also.
If the brown spots are expanding and growing its called diatoms. I have that also. It is an algae that goes away by itself so ive been told. It is still all over my rocks
here is the diatoms ill add snail egg things soon.
001.jpg