Mystery Snails - Why?

[realdeal]

I've read alot of people talk about Mystery Snails on these forums and my interest is peaked.

What are they?

What makes them special?
How many should one buy?
What are the pros and cons?

I have a 36g FW tank.

Thank you

[WaterPond]

They are Pomacea bridgesii, Pomacea Haustrum, or Pomacea canaliculata. Bridgesii are cool because you can have them in planted tanks. The other two are plant eaters.

What atrracts people to these snails is the variety in colour and just how interesting they are. What amazes me about them is how they lay their eggs. Look at how they lay them in the wild: http://www.flickr.com/photos/geekmom/1021523743/

They are just so interesting and fairly easy to breed.

I would suggest buying more than three, just because then you can see them interract with each other

As i said, some eat plants, but the brigs do not. They also need water rich with calcium for healthy shells. Most snail keepers will dose their snail tanks with liquid calcium *like the kind used for SW corals)

[tropicfishman]

IMO snails are just fun to watch cruise around the tank, they do some funny stuff sometimes too. Becareful buying them though, some fish will pick at and try to eat them. Also as Waterpond mentioned some species do eat plants...I found that out the hard way! lol btw you can get mystery snails that have some really sharp looking shells too, my favorite one I've ever seen was this dark blueish black colored shell it was awesome looking.

[plecoperson]

Brig (mystery) snails have such great colors and are fun to watch. I loved breeding them, but had to take my dedicated snaily tank down for reasons of space. I did have to dose with calcium and pay special attention to feeding. The water in my other tanks is too acidic for snails, though I still have a dozen or so.

A warning about breeding them, though-be sure you have a place for the babies to go. You need a permit to ship them out of state, and you have to get a permit for each state you send 'em to!