Mystery snail eggs?

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Venturer4life

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
May 11, 2013
Messages
59
Location
South Florida
Hi, so I am guessing these are mystery snail eggs??? Went to do a water change and there they were in the underside of my hood! They are so large and there are so many!! What do I do with them? I don't really want to kill them... But the tank is only 10 gal and that is a lot if snails!!! Anyone have any advice?
 

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Also, one is purple striped with a black foot and orange dots (I am assuming that this is the male as it is far to small for all if those eggs to have come out of), and the other is a chestnut/brown stripped with the same foot ( assuming this is the female because it is much larger than the other, even though this amount of eggs is still really surprising!). Does anyone with experience know what the babies will be??
 
If all of those hatch you will be in for a lot of work. They will soon over tax the filter in a 10 gallon. I tried that. I had 100 snails from one clutch. My 10 gallon turned into an ammonia bath. I had to put them in plastic storage containers and do daily water changes. Not fun. I would cut the clutch down to just a few eggs with a sharp knife and then crush and dispose of the remaining. Or if you let them hatch, I would suggest offering them for sale on the classified section here. With the pairing you have a large color variety is possible. I had the same type of pair, a wild type male (brown to chestnut colored with dark foot and stripes) and a dark purple female. Most of the babies will be wild type because it seems to be dominate. You could also get some ivories, dark purples, olives, blues, or light purples. More than likely you will have wild type and dark purple stripes. I hatched 6 clutches and got mainly purple and wild type. The males are usually smaller than the females. When they mate the male climbs on top of the female so whoever you see riding the other is the male. You can also see a penis sheath on the left side of the body under the shell edge if it is a male. Females have a slit opening on that side. Sometimes the male will have both his breathing organ and his sex organ out when getting air and you can tell that way.
 
Thank you so much!! I did not consider to cut off some! I would not mind a couple, but I am not sure I really want to sign on for 100! Will the section I cut off to keep still stick to the top of my hood? Or will I need to move it somewhere else?
 
I would take the eggs off of the tank. Just take a stiff piece of thin cardboard of plastic and slide it under the egg sack. Then you can cut off what you want to hatch. Place that piece in a plastic bowl on top of a damp sponge or some damp paper towels. You want it damp, not wet. The eggs will drown if they get submersed in water. Then you can float it in the tank or lay the lid on top and sit it beside your tank or any warm place. The warmer the eggs are kept, the quicker they hatch. Check it every day and re moisten as needed. When the eggs look moldy white and you can see the baby snails inside, they will look like black dots, they are ready to hatch. If they do not emerge on their own in a few days you can gently break open the egg sack and swish in some tank water. That should release the baby snails. It is best to keep them in shallow water until they get a little bigger so they can get to the air and food easier. They can eat the same thing as the adults. Be sure to provide some calcium in the form of tablets, the kind for humans, or antacid tablets like Tums. You can also add broken up egg shells. They need lots of calcium to build their shells.
 
Thank you so much!! And I already have calcium in the tank for the 2 I have, in the form of crushed cuttle bone.
 
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