Snail eggs gone missing

[DaisyWife]

Have had 2 groups of Apple snail eggs disappear. I don't know if the hatched or what. If they did hatch I sure can see any or the baby snails anywhere. Please help.

 

[Rivercats]

I'm sure they hatched. They are very tiny when newly hatched so seeing them might be hard. Do you have any fish in the tank that might eat newly hatched snails?

 

[DaisyWife]

I have neon tetras, black skirt tetras, guppies(all mail), and frogs.

 

[fissyfriend]

They probably either hatched and went under your substrate or the frog ate some.

 

[Rivercats]

I have neon tetras, black skirt tetras, guppies(all mail), and frogs.

My guess is they are hiding in the tank. If you have those Dwarf African Frogs they don't see well enough to catch anything that small. Black skirts might pick at one or two moving but I seriously think they are in the tank. Once they get bigger you'll see them and go... "what am I going to do with all these guys"!

 

[wildroseofky]

Yeah, probably hatched and hiding. They are really small when they hatch. However, they still need air so you should see them at the top of the tank. At least one or two. If you haven't found any in a week than they all died or were eaten. With two egg sacks you probably had over a 100 baby snails. Some might have made it. Like Rivercats said though, they will take over the tank. I hatched out 300 at one time and it was way to much work. I could not keep the water free of ammonia. I had makeshift bucket "tanks" everywhere. I never did that again. LOL

 

[Rivercats]

We had a male (thank goodness) apple snail for years that got as big as a baseball. We would put him out in one of the ponds for the summer and brought him in every winter. Funny thing was there were Japanese Trapdoor snails in the ponds and after he started being put out we started seeing yellowish Trapdoors. Never figured they would cross breed but they did. That snail was hard enough to deal with due to it's size much less having hundreds of them.

 

[wildroseofky]

Rivercats, do you know what breed of apple snail it was. Mystery snails Pomacea diffusa) do not get so big from what I have read. However, there is one called ampullarid Pomacea canaliculata that lays orange eggs and gets huge. It also has a rep for eating plants and being somewhat of a bully. Some have reported this type of apple snail killing other snails and eating them. They are supposed to be illegal in the US but people have been passing them off as diffusa to get rid of them. Snails are so fascinating.

 

[Rivercats]

Actually it was bought as a gold mystery snail which turned out to be a true Pomacea canaliculata. It was many years ago but that used to happen. He never bothered anyone nor killed other snails. He had plenty to eat in the ponds and he was fed in his own 20g tank in the winter. Plus all the other mystery snails we got that day really were mystery snails.

 

[Wiggles24]

I just inherited a handful of true apple snails. They have already grown so much! I too have heard they become bullies but im making sure they have plenty to eat so hopefully that won't happen. Right now they are very kind to their snail friends

 

[Rivercats]

I just inherited a handful of true apple snails. They have already grown so much! I too have heard they become bullies but im making sure they have plenty to eat so hopefully that won't happen. Right now they are very kind to their snail friends

The only problem is they like to wander when they get large. We had the hardest time keeping him inside his tank. He would bully his way out of every lid we tried. We would just follow his slime trail to see where he was at. He had quite the personality!

 

[Dreamroper]

The only problem is they like to wander when they get large. We had the hardest time keeping him inside his tank. He would bully his way out of every lid we tried. We would just follow his slime trail to see where he was at. He had quite the personality!

So mystery snails and apple snails are two completely different species, and the apple snails get much larger than the mystery snails? I just bought a golden mystery and then went back and got a blue one. The blue one is much shyer than the golden one.

 

[Wiggles24]

They are cousins. Yes apples get way bigger! Mysteries get decent sized too more like golf ball but i have seen bigger....

 

[Wiggles24]

The only problem is they like to wander when they get large. We had the hardest time keeping him inside his tank. He would bully his way out of every lid we tried. We would just follow his slime trail to see where he was at. He had quite the personality!

Lol. My mysteries do that too. I occasionally find one on my counter

 

[Rivercats]

Lol. My mysteries do that too. I occasionally find one on my counter

Now imagine one the size of a baseball on your counter

 

[wildroseofky]

There are many different types of Apple snails. Some are considered invasive and detrimental to the environment. Canaliculata is the main one that is not supposed to be sold in the US because it can destroy plants and out breed other local snails. Here is a good site about apple snails, applesnail.net. The ones sold in stores are usually diffusa because they come in so many different colors.

All mystery snails tend to wander. I have had two that I had to constantly look for. I do not keep a lid on my tank during the summer. It seems to be the females more than the males.

 

[Wiggles24]

Now imagine one the size of a baseball on your counter

Lol i would love it!!! (im odd like that)