Sudden Baby Snail

Hello everyone!

I'm really stumped and need some advice. From what I understand it's rather difficult to breed Nerite snails in anything other than brackish or saltwater. I have a freshwater tank, and I kid you not, I watched a baby snail drop from her that is about the size of a pinky nail. I had thought that they lay eggs on other stuff in the tank...not on their own back. Not too mention, I looked at her earlier today and she didn't have anything growing/coming off of her...

I've had Nerites for many years, never had this happen, so I'm rather stumped and perplexed.

Regardless, I want to give this little baby a fighting chance (again the size of a pinky nail - not sure if that means it's past the larva stage - again clueless about baby nerite snails).

Any tips on giving this baby guy a fighting chance of survival are greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

10 Gallon Planted Tank
1 Nerite Snail (2 now...)
1 Dwarf Gourami
7 Cardinal Tetras

 

That looks like a Ramshorn Snail.

 

That looks like a Ramshorn Snail.

Not a clue where a ramshorn snail would have came from though. We've had this tank established for quite some time and the snail in the picture I posted was hanging by a thread from our nerite snail... :-/

I've included a picture of the nerite snail that the tiny snail was dangling from before it finally dropped (not the best pic...our Gourami is a camera hog :joyful. Should also mention, the tiny snail's shell is a bit translucent, although the pic I attached earlier doesn't show it well.

 

It looks like a ramshorn to me, not a nerite he probably hitchiked on a plant or something and you never noticed him before.

 

So bizarre because I bought my newest plant several weeks ago and emptied all the water from the bag and rinsed the plant...he must be a sneaky little devil! Well I certainly appreciate the input from the both of you!

One last question, if it is a Ramshorn, do they reproduce like crazy? Not wanting a tank with a ton of snails...the reason I've always gotten Nerite snails.

 

So bizarre because I bought my newest plant several weeks ago and emptied all the water from the bag and rinsed the plant...he must be a sneaky little devil! Well I certainly appreciate the input from the both of you!

One last question, if it is a Ramshorn, do they reproduce like crazy? Not wanting a tank with a ton of snails...the reason I've always gotten Nerite snails.

After doing some research, I see that ramshorns do reproduce like crazy. I don't have the heart to kill him (I refuse to even kill spiders or any bug for that matter, except for mosquitoes and ticks, lol) so I'm not sure what to do...we will be soon upgrading to a 45 gallon tank but it will be a few months before it's up and ready to go and I don't want them overpopulating my 10 gallon in the meantime. :-/

 

After doing some research, I see that ramshorns do reproduce like crazy. I don't have the heart to kill him (I refuse to even kill spiders or any bug for that matter, except for mosquitoes and ticks, lol) so I'm not sure what to do...we will be soon upgrading to a 45 gallon tank but it will be a few months before it's up and ready to go and I don't want them overpopulating my 10 gallon in the meantime. :-/

Snails tend to breed to whatever numbers the tank can sustain. If you start to see a lot of them, you can try cutting back on your feeding and make sure to clean out any leftovers carefully and see if that helps.