Odd snail behavior

[Fishyfanatic]

This weekend I moved my snails from the 5 gal to the 10. I noticed some odd behavior from the largest snail in the tank. I don't know if he didn't like the new snail or what but I noticed that the big snail crawled ontop of the small snail and put him in his mouth. It was weird to watch. It's like the snail was eating him. I asked the lfs about it and the woman said that she didn't know what it was doing but the snails don't have the capacity to eat each other. Should I be concerned about this? I pushed the larger snail off of the small one and it hasn't happened since. What was going on?

 

[Fluff]

Are you sure they weren't mating? Sounds like it to me.

 

[frog girl]

There are carnivorous snails that specialize in eating other snails but I'm pretty sure Apple Snails aren't so I would agree with the mating thing.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Hopefully they were mating. I was actually beginning to wonder if they were going to ever start mating. Everyday I check the tank to see if I can find any little snails on the glass, so far none. But now i know to look. If they were mating, and one day I find little snails at the top of the tank (above the water line) what do I do? I've never dealt with mating "fish" before except for my mollies and I don't think I need to get a breeder net and toss em in it.

 

[Fluff]

If they mate, you'll know. Apple snails are egg layers and they will lay their eggs above the water. You should lower the water level about three inches. I've had mine lay their eggs on the underside of the hood also. If you haven't already, check out applesnail.net. I found this site invaluable when I got my first snails. Good luck.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

The water level in the tank is down about 2 inches. I try to keep it down so they can get out of the water (I've heard that Apple Snails need to have it down so they can crawl to the top and out of the water). I love my snails! I didn't think that I would love them all that much until I actually brought them home. Idealily snails would be in all of our tanks but, of course, he doesn't like them. It was hard enough to get him to put MTS snails in the 29 gal. I heard that the MTS snails will reproduce like crazy. It's been about a month and a half, and still no new MTS snails.