So I have my one beautiful purple mystery snail, Happy the Fearless. Today I discovered a clutch of eggs under the lid. Happy has been n the tank for 6-8 weeks at least, maybe 12? I take this as a sign that Happy is... Happy. Questions: 1: does this mean Happy is female? 2. Am I safe to assume the eggs are not fertilized since I only have one? Can they store sperm the way live bearers can? I was just going to leave it for now. Thanks.
Yes Happy is a female. I have had a mystery snail before that was alone for 3 months and had a clutch of eggs so yes, they can store sperm. You will be able to tell if the eggs are good in a few days ( about 8-10 ) when the middle of them start turning dark. They usually hatch between 10-16 days in my experience. If you do not want the babies ( they usually have about 50-100 depending on the clutch size ) you can take it down and dispose of it now. If you do want the babies, keep the clutch moist by squirting it with tank water once or twice a day. Good luck!
I would love to keep them... however, we leave Monday for a week vacation... so I won't be here to mist them. I will just leave them be I think, and if they are still the same when we get back from vacation, I will remove them. If they have hatched I will deal with that. Do fish eat the babies the way they do with fry? If eggs were to hatch 50 babies, what is the likely survival rate?
Well then let nature takes its course Yes, fish have been known to eat the babies - the babies will crawl out of the broken shells and slide down or fall in to the water. Some fish will think its food. As for survival, it depends on if this was her first clutch to probably her age, etc. I know my first clutch out of around 60+ babies, I think about 50 survived.
