Baby MTS? Or Assassin? ID? Where from?

[Linwood]

I had a surprise. The last time I added plants was 7/2, an Amazon Sword.

Today I found a bunch of little snails wandering the tank. This is a surprise in two regards -- I have Ghost Shrimp and Angel Fish both of which I've seen eating snail eggs as well as babies. And a pleco that I've seen eating eggs.

I have Ramshorn snails that prolifically lay eggs, and not a single one has hatched in 6 weeks or so, something always gets them.

MTS are live bearers, and I'm sure there are no adults in the tank, it's not big enough to have missed them. Could young have come in 4 weeks ago on the plant and still be this small? These are VERY tiny, about 1.5mm in longest dimension (in that second photo that's a tiny grain of ecco-complete).

I also have Nerites in the tank, but these look too elongated, plus I understand they won't hatch in fresh water (plus they have only been in the tank 11 days).

What are these? And any idea where they came from after so long?

I have three of them in a breader box, hoping they will survive, to see what they really are.

 

[Linwood]

No one? I asked the LFS where I bought most stuff. Their answer was "cone snail" but that appears to be a descriptive name rather than a real one.

I asked somewhere else and was told "definitely not MTS" but no one seems to know there either.

I'm trying to keep them alive in a breeder tank until they get larger to see then. There's 4 in there. I see one now and then popping up elsewhere, but they get eatten very quickly in the main tank.

None of this surprises me other than where they came from given the circumstances. They seemed to have been inert quite a long time.

 

[Fishdude3233]

That looks like a Pond snail
It's defiantly not mts

Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

 

[Linwood]

That looks like a Pond snail
It's defiantly not mts

Well, the eyes fit (they are at the base of the stalks not tips). I didn't think the shells matched but the more I look at images the more variation I see.

If they are, I assume they will die soon, as the breeding tank won't let them get to the surface (my understanding is pond snails are air breathers). Which is OK, I don't need pond snails with plants.

I only see one moving around (the others must be under the thin substrate I added at the bottom).

So how long can a baby pond snail live without reaching the surface?

 

[Fishdude3233]

Yah the shells don't match but, mts the shell is more pointed


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

 

[Linwood]

It's been a solid 4 days. They are not as active, but at least one is still alive (they spend a lot of time inside the rocks where i cannot see them).

If it is a pond snail, can they live 4 days without access to the air? I see they are air breathers, and get some tissue oxygen absorbtion, but can't see anyone saying how long they can live (in warm water -- 88 degrees) without air access?

If they are pond snails I plan to dispose of what I can find anyway, but this has me curious now, so I wanted to see it play out.

 

[Brookster123]

Almost looks like a hybrid mts/pondy..

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Linwood]

Almost looks like a hybrid mts/pondy..

Unlikely, different genus entirely: Lymnaea vs Melanoides, or so I read.

I did an almost unrelated experiment but that turned out interesting. Our irrigation water here has been besieged by snails for the last few years. The city provides it (it is a separately piped water to homes), and has been embarrassed by the snails clogging everyone's lines, so they actually provided individual filters at each house if you ask. They will even install them.

They claim they are Malayan Snails, their words. I assume this is the same as Malaysian Trumpet Snail, but their press releases always just say "Malayan". And indeed sometimes you get really big ones in the line that look just like the ones in aquariums. The big ones are usually dead, the small ones not so much.

So I went out this morning and cleaned out our irrigation filter into a glass. It had been cleaned about 2 running days ago, so it had very little in it, but it did include three live, tiny snails.

Here are a those three:

I am far, far from being a snail expert, but to me they look just like what magically appeared in my tank (there have been zero reports of snails in the potable tap water, which is how I filled the tank - plus that was two months ago.

Don't they look alike?

Anyone ever heard of "Malayan Snail" vs MTS?

So for whatever it is worth.

PS. Here's one of the original news articles -- it's old news now so not talked about much:

Irrigation pipes flooded...with snails - NBC-2.com WBBH News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral & Naples, Florida