Snail question.

[Hopey22]

Hello. I'm new here so I don't exactly now how this works. I've been trying to find the answer to this question and while I was looking I found this website!


We have had 1 mystery snail for the longest time. We started seeing little eggs everywhere. A couple of days later we saw little snails..then those grew a little and we seen more and more snails!! So now we have a mixture of sizes of baby snail. There is about 50 babies/eggs in there. We are so confused as to where they came from and why there are so many!

 

[Morgie]

Did you recently purchase any live plants?
What did the eggs look like? Were they layed above the water line or were the little jelly like eggs in the water?
Your apple snail could have been pregnant when purchased or you could have some hitchhikers!

 

[CatmanDru]

Hopey22, My short answer is that you likely have Pond Snails and/or ramshorn snails.

They likely came in on a live plant you recently introduced. This is very common and happens to 'everyone'.

There are so many snails because Pond Snails reproduce like crazy.

I don't think your Mystery snail has anything to do with it. Female Mystery snails can hold sperm from mating with males for one month for sure, possibly longer, but that doesn't seem likely. And you said you had your mystery snail "for the longest time" which I assume is longer than a month. Female Mystery snails (pomacea difusa) lay large clumps of eggs above the water, never below, which makes the clutches very obvious. Also, if you had a female Mystery snail she would have already laid unfertilized clutches/clumps of unfertilized eggs and you would have already noticed them and been familiar with them and known that they came from your Mystery snail. Therefore your Mystery snail is probably male.

 

[Hopey22]

They are jelly-like eggs under the water. We haven't purchased any live plants, we have only 1 mystery snail and we know for a fact it's a mystery snail, and we have a variety of sizes of snails that look just like the one larger mystery snail. We also have a variety of colors- cream colored, blue ones and black ones.

 

[CatmanDru]

How many months have you had your Mystery snail?

 

[Hopey22]

About 2 months and we haven't bought anything new.

 

[Morgie]

If they're jelly eggs then you have pond and or ramshorn snails.
They are likely ramshorn since you said they look similar to your apple snail.
If you seeded your tank they could have come from that media.
They usually sneak into tanks one way or another

 

[CatmanDru]

Hmmm, then some of the snails could indeed be Mystery snails from your Mystery snail, especially since cream and blue are typical Mystery snail colors.

Are the eggs that are under water several little clearish dots contained in a transparent/clear sac that looks like a breast implant? that would be Pond snails.

If the eggs are underwater and are several little clearish dots contained in a clear flat disk, that is ramshorn snail eggs.

Are the eggs single, or in a group or cluster? If the eggs are single and not in a cluster, then they are not Pond or Ramshorn.

Have you ever seen a clump of eggs above the water on the glass or stuck to the hood or by the hood lights? Those are Mystery (pomacea difusa).

 

[CatmanDru]

It's also possible you have both Mystery snail babies and ramshorn and pond.

Ramshorn snails come in blue and black, but 'cream' is very, very rare, so it's unlikely all of your baby snails are ramshorns.

 

[CatmanDru]

Also, do you have live plants in your tank?

 

[Hopey22]

The eggs are in clear/transparent sacs underwater. They are a light pale cream color. We have no live plants in our aquarium and we haven't seeded it either.

We did purchase the aquarium from someone else but it was empty inside a laundry room for about six months. We cleaned it good before using.

Are these pond snails the pesky snails everyone says are really hard to get rid of?

 

[CatmanDru]

yes, Pond snails are the dreaded pesky snails.

 

[CatmanDru]

What color is your big Mystery snail?

 

[Hopey22]

Black with cream colored stripes.
that's not good!!

 

[CatmanDru]

"The eggs are in clear/transparent sacs underwater. They are a light pale cream color."

In my experience with my snails, Ramshorn egg sacs when freshly laid are very clear and then get darker to almost a very light amber color as they age before they hatch. On the other hand, my Pond snail egg sacs remain clear like water. That makes me think your egg sacs may be Ramshorn.

Some people consider Ramshorns pests, but they don't reproduce anywhere near as fast as Pond Snails.

 

[Hopey22]

Well all of these babies have appeared within the last week or two..before these we had no babies. That's why were so confused!

 

[CatmanDru]

yes, this is very puzzling

 

[Hopey22]

I agree!

 

[CatmanDru]

And the babies' shells are shaped just like your big Mystery snail?

Or are the babies' shell shaped like a cinamon roll donut (Ramshorn)?

 

[Hopey22]

Well I'm not at home right now so when I get home I'm gonna try to upload some pictures of them and maybe you can tell then. Because I can't really tell. Is that okay?