Male & female mystery snails in the same tank?

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KTYB

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jul 31, 2019
Messages
12
Location
Australia
I have a 60L MS only tank. I have recently checked the sex of my snails as they are now big enough to determine this! I'm fairly sure the count is 4 males and 2 females (not the best at determining the gender yet). Only one male is big enough to mate with the females who are quite large.

So, I've recently noticed that this male (who has grown a lot since I first bought him) is constantly mating with my largest female. I mean, everyday if not twice a day.. is this normal behavior? I have only seen him mate with the second female once, but more or less sticks with the larger of the two.

My question is, should I have my males and females in the same tank? Is this normal behavior - I don't really want to separate them as it will remove most of the inhabitants of my tank/don't really want 2 snail only tanks.. but I also don't want the female(s) to be stressed.. I'm sure I've seen Charlie (F) trying to 'get away' from my male's advances more than once. And once the other males grow I imagine it will only get worse. Could I buy some females to even out the ratio or am I over-thinking the situation?

I love my snails!
Any advice welcome !? Thank you in advance!
 
My pair of very "close" MS's mate constantly. Just got another clutch yesterday and video of the female laying eggs!

I have not noticed how much harrassment the females get. I can say the mating is usual behavior. Though my present egg/baby producing pair are more involved as far as I have seen than as any other MS's I have kept over the years.
 
Thanks so much for the response and sorry that mine is so late! Since my post, one of my females died :( so sad!! And my partner also set up a 4ft! So I've moved all the males bar one into there and left my breeding pair in the 60L which is now a small community tank with 10 ember tetras, 4 otos and a bunch of cherry shrimp!! MS are all going well I am happy to report and my breeding pair seem well. I have recently picked up a small female who I'm planning to add to the 60L also. Thanks again! I've added a photo of my 60L too this time :fish2: :D
 
Didn't upload the photo, woops. Still don't know how to use this website properlly apparently!
 

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