my snail is crazy

[malloc]

I've had this little white apple snail for 3 or 4 weeks now (got him after losing a black mystery snail). I never expected him to be such an active & entertaining member of the community! He never stops crawling around the tank, every time I check he's in a different spot. He loves to climb to the top of my tallest plastic plants (near the surface) and then sort of jump off & glide back down to the bottom. He doesnt even suck into his shell when he falls, just lands right on his little foot & keeps going, it's hilarious to watch. Last night I was surprised to walk into my living room to see him floating in the middle of the tank among my hatchetfish! I would have been worried, but when I lost my mystery snail I read a lot about them, and apparently when a snail's lung is completely full of air, they are light enough to float. He kept drifting into the HOB filter output & getting blown to the bottom, only to drift back to the surface, LOL. Here's a pic I snapped of him a couple weeks ago when I caught him sitting in the middle of the glass slowly extending & retracting his breathing tube over & over.

 

[Zagz]

That's a great picture!

 

[leoslizards]

Isn't that an ivory mystery snail?

 

[malloc]

He was in a large tank of unlabeled snails at the lfs. I did some research & looked at the shape of his shell, and I'm pretty sure he's an apple snail.

 

[gwenavir]

wow that's really beautful!

 

[Jarred Darque]

most myseries are types of apples...they are ..for the most part...the same, or nearly, same thing

I am breeding them right now, and the 4 large ones (1 male, 3 females) are very entertaining

 

[leoslizards]

Yeah I agree. I once had 4 in my tank but they all passed away. One blue, one gold, one black, and one ivory. I really wanted a pink or purple one but they are hard to find. They where lots of fun to watch and pretty cool looking I must say.

 

[theotheragentm]

Breathing tube?! I never knew. I always though, "What a man!" Good to know.

 

[malloc]

the 4 large ones (1 male, 3 females) are very entertaining

How do you sex them? I had a hard enough time determining his species - Pomacea bridgesii is my guess from the shape of the shell.

On second though, maybe I don't want to know. Albert might be confused if he found out he was actually female =P

Breathing tube?! I never knew. I always though, "What a man!" Good to know.

Yeah, apparently it's so they can take a breath of air from below the surface to avoid predators like birds.

 

[courtnee]

That is a ivory mystery (apple snail) tech. word Pomacea bridgesii and IMO the best snails to have I love ours. Call them "brig" for short.

beautiful btw! I love the ivory ones. They are a ton of fun and play so much in the tank it is great.

 

[leoslizards]

That is a ivory mystery (apple snail) tech. word Pomacea bridgesii and IMO the best snails to have I love ours. Call them "brig" for short.

beautiful btw! I love the ivory ones. They are a ton of fun and play so much in the tank it is great.

That's what I said. I thought mystery snails and apple snails where two different species of snails though? I've seen the huge 5" baseball sized golden apple snails before but I never seen a mystery snail get that big before. I also agree that they are the best and most interesting snails. The blue ones are very beautiful as well. The golden ones where always a pest for me, they seem to be the only ones that eat my plants. Whenever one of my plants would sprout a flower, there would be the gold mystery snail eating away at the flower! -_-

I've never seen a snail use that thing to breath. I always see feces coming out of it.

 

[courtnee]

A few snails are grouped under "mystery snail" mostly you see Apple snail aka the brig. They can and do get the size of an apple. However, in a tropical tank their lifespan really goes down. They last about a year in a tank at 80F. Some have made it to 2yrs though and beyond. They come in so many colors. rainbowsnails.com has many color and they are stunning.

They do indeed breathe through the tube. In fact if they cant get to the top and have room for air they can drown. They will go to the surface and collect air. They are a nice addition to a tank because they are NOT asexual. They are male and female and mate.

http://www.applesnail.net is loaded with information and I love that site. I am on my second brig and just adore them. They can be out of the tank. You can hold them etc.