Snails?

[Oscar]

snails

There is no such thing as a pair of snails. From what I have read they are asexual. As far as mating goes, as two snails slide past one another they spear eachother with "love darts" which fertilizes the other snail.

The various Apple snails do indeed require a male and a female to reproduce.

 

[TankGirl]

A very informative site for snails is www.applesnail.com, where they have info on apple and other types of snails.

 

[TankGirl]

Sorry, it is www.applesnail.net, not .com!

 

[Solid_Snake]

Prolly a black Mystery Snail, and a Yellow Mystery Snail. Oscars are the best freshwater fisher EVER!!!!!

 

[HOLLIEO]

Socal, you mentioned that you feed your snails cucumbers and melon. This stuff just floats on the top of the water. How do you get the snails to notice ait and actually eat it? And how long do you leave it in the tank for?

 

[SoCal]

Your LFS should sell veggie clips, they are like closepins on a suction cup. I made my own feeding device. I have a cobble stone in a little mesh bag with a piece of fishing line tied to it, then I tie the veggie to the other end of the fishing line. It's a little ghetto but it works.

 

[SoCal]

I leave it in the tank until they stop trying to eat it. My snails stay on the piece until it is gone or they have had enough. The melon is done when the skin is the only thing left and the cucumber is usually all gone. My pleco's help eat the stuff too.

I went back to petsmart and got some more snails because my my tanks are outside and the algae is too hard to control. Now all they do is climb all over each other. I hope I will have lots more snails soon. The snail eggs that I noticed where not from my apple snails, they where from a smaller unknown snail I have in the same tank. So when the apple snails have eggs I will document everything and post it.

 

[HOLLIEO]

Cool. Can't wait to hear about the apple snail story.... keep us posted.
I hear ya' on the ghetto thing. I too ended up rigging something up as well. I had a suction cup left over from something and it had a little plastic piece coming off of it. I stuck the cucumber on to the plastic thing and.. walla.. it stayed at the bottom.
The only thing is I didn't know youwere supposed to boil them for a few (blanche.. learned something new) and then stick them in the tank. I ended up with a little bacteria bloom. I am not sure if it was because I left the veggie in the tank too long (about two days) or if it was because I didn't boil the veggie.

 

[tkos]

Snails also love brocoli, peas and celery. I normally throw my veggies in a little boiling water for a few minutes and they will sink themselves. Plus the snails seem more interested in it if it has started to decompose (ie cooking). Spinach and lettuce are also great foods for them.

I have found that even if my veggies do float the snails will get to it. The smaller ones are quite good at "walking" on the surface of the water. Very interesting to watch.

 

[HOLLIEO]

Thanks for the suggestions on what to feed them.

 

[SoCal]

WOW, ya learn something new every day!! I never even thought about bacteria on the veg. I too will start boiling my snail snacks.

 

[TankGirl]

You can also rubber band the veggies to a plastic fork and stick the fork into the gravel.

 

[SoCal]

LOL x2, I knew there was a reason I saved those forks!!!!! I saved some forks from my mexican take out the other day because you posted the fork method before. They sat on the counter so long I couldn't remember what they were for so I threw them away. HA HA HA time to make another trip to the taco shop.

 

[HOLLIEO]

Dang tank girl!!! You are full of ingenious ideas!!! Love it!!