Mystery Snails Breeding.

[MamaSueD]

Hi, It has been a while since I posted once again. However, I do follow the threads and read what I can. My question is how often do Mystery snails breed? I have had one mystery snail for close to a year now but did not know it was a mystery snail because I had bought nerites that don't breed. Anyway, about a month ago I bought two yellow mystery snails. I was told, I now realize wrongly, that they do not breed easily either. However, in the last couple of weeks I have seen them mating and I now have two egg sacs attached to the tank. I seperated these two for now but have since seen the yellow one breeding with the purplish one that I was not sure was a mystery snail. So far no egg sac from those two and I have no way to seperate them unless I put the purple one with the other yellow one. My question is how often will egg sacs be produced if I leave these snails together in one tank? Also, how do you tell females from males? Third, I have no experience with the egg sacs or what to do with the babies once they hatch so can someone tell me what I need to do with the egg sacs and babies, if anything, and how long it will be before they start to breed also. I have three tanks a present a 33 gallon, a 35 gallon, and a 10 gallon. The mystery snails are in the 35 gallon and 10 gallon because of a treatment for the 33 gallon tank that contained copper so I can't put any of the snails in that tank. On top of the two known mystery snails I have in the 35 gallon tank, 4 danios, 3 large Amano shrimp, (excuse my spelling please), 3 small nerites and 2 small ghost shrimp. the 10 gallon contains, 1 mystery snail, 3 small nerites, and 2 gold fish. The egg sacs are in the 35 gallon and are on opposite sides (long ways) from each other. Also, I am leaving on a trip this Thurs. and may not be back for a couple of weeks. The person feeding my tanks, knows nothing about fish other than feeding them. Sorry for the long post but I need to know what to do about these snails, and egg sacs. BTW, paramaters for water are all good and snails are all growing nicely. How big do mystery snails get? Thanks for any help you can give me.
MamaSueD

 

[Raleighfishnerd]

How to breed mystery snails (Ampullaria) with pictures

 

[MamaSueD]

Thanks

I actually ran on to this website the other day. However, it does not answer the questions I had above like how often they breed, and what I need to do to care for the babies other than remove them and put them in another tank. Is there an easy way to do this? I imagine there are several of them and catching them individually isn't going to be an easy task. Also, since I may not be home it may be something that I am not home to do right when they hatch. Will that be a major problem? I've read that if you don't want the babies to remove the egg sacs before they can hatch but I really didn't want to do that unless it is harmful for the other snails, shrimps, and fish I have in the tank already. I am trying to go about this responsibly and since I didn't know they could breed like this I don't even know how long the egg sacs have been there for sure. I thank you for the website link and I reread everything there but it just has not answered my questions completely.

Here is what I need to know in a nutshell
1. How often do these snails breed?
2. What is absolutely necessary for me to do with the babies when they are hatched?
3. Will it hurt the other snails, shrimp, and fish that are in the tank if I am not home to deal with the babies right away? The article in the site above said they will irritate the larger snails but is this harmful to them or just a pesky nuisance?
4. Is there an easy way to catch the babies if I am home to do so when they are hatching?
5. Should they go in a small tank by themselves and can I feed them the same things as the adults? Suggestions on what to feed them if not?

 

[Raleighfishnerd]

it would prob be easier to remove the parents than the babies. I had 4 in one tank and would find an egg sack every other week or so. the babies will do exactly what the parents do, crawl around and eat from about the moment they hit the water. they shouldn't do any harm to any of the tank mates but like that article says may climb in the adults shells and annoy them other than that they are just mini versions of the adults