Help for newb here?

[Argongoner]

Hello Fine Fishlore Folks,

Southern Californian here. So…a couple of months ago, my wife and I received a batch of triop eggs through a subscription-based science site that we enjoy (although, admittedly, it’s mostly for young people).
We followed the rather meticulous directions (gallons of imported mineral water and esoteric feeding regimens), and the organisms grew—and perished—according to the stated expectations.
They shed their exoskeletons a couple of times daily, which was…odd. Still, we tried our best.
Research indicated that they like vegetables (cooked carrots and cauliflower), so we followed recommendations, only to find an excessive amount of algae.
I went to the local pet store and purchased 2 Inca gold snails to help out. Things were going fine, and the triops all ran their natural life cycles (with about 50 molts to clear up).
The Incas remained healthy for a long while, however. They gave birth to several offspring too! Wife and I were amped. The babies we so small and tended to ride the backs of the 2 golden Incas (both of whom we named Judy). But—due to the wildfires in socal, we were forced to evacuate for roughly 2 weeks.
Our house was fine, apart from some ash and terrible air quality, but, upon our return home, both Judys were dead. Interestingly, though, 4 of their progeny lived and, a month later, continue to thrive. In fact, there are about 15 tiny new babies as of last week.

The thing I’m hoping this community can help me figure out is why the 2nd gen snails look NOTHING like the gold Incas. They don’t even look like each other.

This is my first ever post, so I don’t know how it goes, but if anyone responds and wants pictures, I’ll provide them. I’m eagerly awaiting seeing what gen 3 looks like, but I’m lost here.
I was considering a possible contamination with eggs of another species attached to either or both Judy, but the triops really scoured for any organic material, and I did 70/30 WC almost daily.
Any guidance is appreciated and it’s wonderful to make the acquaintance of a new group of enthusiasts.

 

[kansas]

Did you ad anything to the tank like plants, that could have had snail eggs on it?

 

[EllisBell1845]

Hi welcome to the forum, so what you have are also commonly called mystery snails there is an older thread here where someone asks a similar question to you. Here is a link Mystery Snail Colors basically even though both parents are gold in colors they carry other color genes that can provide multicolored offspring. Hopefully this is helpful.

 

[Fishfur]

Hello Fine Fishlore Folks,

Southern Californian here. So…a couple of months ago, my wife and I received a batch of triop eggs through a subscription-based science site that we enjoy (although, admittedly, it’s mostly for young people).
We followed the rather meticulous directions (gallons of imported mineral water and esoteric feeding regimens), and the organisms grew—and perished—according to the stated expectations.
They shed their exoskeletons a couple of times daily, which was…odd. Still, we tried our best.
Research indicated that they like vegetables (cooked carrots and cauliflower), so we followed recommendations, only to find an excessive amount of algae.
I went to the local pet store and purchased 2 Inca gold snails to help out. Things were going fine, and the triops all ran their natural life cycles (with about 50 molts to clear up).
The Incas remained healthy for a long while, however. They gave birth to several offspring too! Wife and I were amped. The babies we so small and tended to ride the backs of the 2 golden Incas (both of whom we named Judy). But—due to the wildfires in socal, we were forced to evacuate for roughly 2 weeks.
Our house was fine, apart from some ash and terrible air quality, but, upon our return home, both Judys were dead. Interestingly, though, 4 of their progeny lived and, a month later, continue to thrive. In fact, there are about 15 tiny new babies as of last week.

The thing I’m hoping this community can help me figure out is why the 2nd gen snails look NOTHING like the gold Incas. They don’t even look like each other.

This is my first ever post, so I don’t know how it goes, but if anyone responds and wants pictures, I’ll provide them. I’m eagerly awaiting seeing what gen 3 looks like, but I’m lost here.
I was considering a possible contamination with eggs of another species attached to either or both Judy, but the triops really scoured for any organic material, and I did 70/30 WC almost daily.
Any guidance is appreciated and it’s wonderful to make the acquaintance of a new group of enthusiasts.

Welcome to Fishlore.

Pictures of the little snails, nice & clearly focused, would be helpful to see.

Did the golden Incas (mystery snails, Pomacea diffusa) both have the same colour foot?

P.diffusa has a number of variant shell & foot colours in captivity & their colour genetics haven’t yet been decoded, so their colour inheritance isn’t very clear.

 

[Phormist]

Like the above posts, I'm assuming the snails you had, had a recessive gene to give them that color and the 2nd Gen you currently have expressed a dominant trait in both of the snails giving you the different colors and variations.

I tried doing some research to see if water condiions can/would affect their colorations but it looks like that is not the case.

It may be safe to assume they retained a dominant gene to give them the colors versus the recessive gene of their parents.

But, you'd think with the 2 parents having supposed recessive genes, the offspring would be more likely to express it.... Do you have pictures of them by chance?

And welcome to the community!!