aquapet
- #1
I had a (approx) 4 gallon custom acrylic betta tank with dividers that I experimented with, and in the end the water bowed the sides and the dividers wouldn't protect my lethal little killing machines from getting at each other.
However, a new chapter opened when I discovered various colored snails at walmart. I felt sorry for them (as we all do for walmart critters) and purchased one little yellow snail. Little did I know, that's what I've come to recognize as an Apple snail.
This site was incredibly helpful for raising this little guy:
Who grew into a BIG baseball sized behemoth. Over the course of that time, I acquired a a blue colored mystery snail. one with the typical dark striped markings (black mystery snail), and a reddish one. The big yellow daddy ate the red one and I learned that he must've been male, because lo and behold the other two snails began laying egg clutches, and he mated with them constantly. I was away in Japan when this first began, and my mom thought they were killing each other (like what had happened with the red snail) and tried separating them with a chopstick. When I returned, I was a snail grandma.
The first few egg clutches failed, as a water change (even with dechlorinator) killed the little ones, but holy man did they stink. I started buying plants, moss balls, anything for them to be happy, and I owe it to the snails for my interest in planted tanks. My betta loved the snails, he would heard them, and so I hoped to raise some of the babies.
I moved, and a water change proved that there was more chlorine in my new location, papa apple snail died, I aborted one egg clutch (I just didn't have time at that point, and no friends wanted them) I finally kept two egg clutches which she continued to lay for three more months before dying herself. I let nature decide as the abortion scarred me (scrapped the egg clutch off into the garbage thinking this is something all snail-keepers must come to terms with), and pretty soon I had about thirty marble-sized snails. My small 2.5 tank actually fostered healthier snails than the larger one, and it was interesting to see how their growth varied. I struggled getting them enough nutrition and calcium after fighting to survive against their hundreds of siblings their whole life, too much food and their shell grew too fast, but any other amount made a less-than pretty shell. I fed them algae wafers, weekend feeders, turtle block (calcium), carnivore sinking wafers (thought it might ward off cannibalism) and sinking crab pellets. Of course they ate leftover betta food (which is a mixture of dried bloodworms, flakes, and pellets) and got zucchini, cucumber, lettuce, broccolI leaves, and cabbage.
My puffer fish trimmed his teeth down on a few very weak-shelled snails, and now I'm down to about 10 golf-ball sized snails. None of them have produced eggs, and I'm just wondering if the equation is all wrong, sort of like how horses and donkeys can mate, but the mule they produce is sterile. Or perhaps, due to the same conditions in which they were reared, they are all female?
Pictured below are MY male apple snail and female black mystery snail. They are the same species, Ampullariidae. So supposedly their offspring can mate, but perhaps not?
Bellow are the babies, and it's hard to see their coloration, but they look just like their mom, or black mystery snails. This is them from a while ago. I don't have updated pictures of them as their shells clearly demonstrate the struggles of raising snails in a non-natural habitat. Some of them do not have fully formed siphons (air intake tubes) yet are among the biggest snails. Some of them eventually formed siphons and developed the pretty orange iridescence on their skin. Some have random darker patches on their skin, like age spots on humans. Some of their shells are very yellow, like their dad's, but all have stripes.
1. Do you think that the breeding has something to do with their infertility? As far as I know, this shouldn't have anything to do with it.
2. Are their conditions not ideal for breeding? (They've all been moved to a 25 gallon community tank recently, but has their environment determined their decision not to breed?)
3. Is it anatomical? Could they have all been born female (hence the reason they've stopped killing each other) or did I happen to only raise females up until this point? I haven't tried sexing them yet (they are too shy and I'm too impatient) but perhaps since some have deformed siphons, that other parts could've been deformed as well.
Just wanted to present their odd conundrum, and see if any snail-keepers out there have had any experience with this, or could offer a likely solution as to why my snails don't breed or if they ever will breed. There's plenty of space at the surface, food, and other snail pals, but it seems I may need to introduce a new snail or two to my population.
However, a new chapter opened when I discovered various colored snails at walmart. I felt sorry for them (as we all do for walmart critters) and purchased one little yellow snail. Little did I know, that's what I've come to recognize as an Apple snail.
This site was incredibly helpful for raising this little guy:
Who grew into a BIG baseball sized behemoth. Over the course of that time, I acquired a a blue colored mystery snail. one with the typical dark striped markings (black mystery snail), and a reddish one. The big yellow daddy ate the red one and I learned that he must've been male, because lo and behold the other two snails began laying egg clutches, and he mated with them constantly. I was away in Japan when this first began, and my mom thought they were killing each other (like what had happened with the red snail) and tried separating them with a chopstick. When I returned, I was a snail grandma.
The first few egg clutches failed, as a water change (even with dechlorinator) killed the little ones, but holy man did they stink. I started buying plants, moss balls, anything for them to be happy, and I owe it to the snails for my interest in planted tanks. My betta loved the snails, he would heard them, and so I hoped to raise some of the babies.
I moved, and a water change proved that there was more chlorine in my new location, papa apple snail died, I aborted one egg clutch (I just didn't have time at that point, and no friends wanted them) I finally kept two egg clutches which she continued to lay for three more months before dying herself. I let nature decide as the abortion scarred me (scrapped the egg clutch off into the garbage thinking this is something all snail-keepers must come to terms with), and pretty soon I had about thirty marble-sized snails. My small 2.5 tank actually fostered healthier snails than the larger one, and it was interesting to see how their growth varied. I struggled getting them enough nutrition and calcium after fighting to survive against their hundreds of siblings their whole life, too much food and their shell grew too fast, but any other amount made a less-than pretty shell. I fed them algae wafers, weekend feeders, turtle block (calcium), carnivore sinking wafers (thought it might ward off cannibalism) and sinking crab pellets. Of course they ate leftover betta food (which is a mixture of dried bloodworms, flakes, and pellets) and got zucchini, cucumber, lettuce, broccolI leaves, and cabbage.
My puffer fish trimmed his teeth down on a few very weak-shelled snails, and now I'm down to about 10 golf-ball sized snails. None of them have produced eggs, and I'm just wondering if the equation is all wrong, sort of like how horses and donkeys can mate, but the mule they produce is sterile. Or perhaps, due to the same conditions in which they were reared, they are all female?
Pictured below are MY male apple snail and female black mystery snail. They are the same species, Ampullariidae. So supposedly their offspring can mate, but perhaps not?
Bellow are the babies, and it's hard to see their coloration, but they look just like their mom, or black mystery snails. This is them from a while ago. I don't have updated pictures of them as their shells clearly demonstrate the struggles of raising snails in a non-natural habitat. Some of them do not have fully formed siphons (air intake tubes) yet are among the biggest snails. Some of them eventually formed siphons and developed the pretty orange iridescence on their skin. Some have random darker patches on their skin, like age spots on humans. Some of their shells are very yellow, like their dad's, but all have stripes.
1. Do you think that the breeding has something to do with their infertility? As far as I know, this shouldn't have anything to do with it.
2. Are their conditions not ideal for breeding? (They've all been moved to a 25 gallon community tank recently, but has their environment determined their decision not to breed?)
3. Is it anatomical? Could they have all been born female (hence the reason they've stopped killing each other) or did I happen to only raise females up until this point? I haven't tried sexing them yet (they are too shy and I'm too impatient) but perhaps since some have deformed siphons, that other parts could've been deformed as well.
Just wanted to present their odd conundrum, and see if any snail-keepers out there have had any experience with this, or could offer a likely solution as to why my snails don't breed or if they ever will breed. There's plenty of space at the surface, food, and other snail pals, but it seems I may need to introduce a new snail or two to my population.
