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Apple Snail Question

2K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  Pogthefish 
#1 ·
I recently got two apple (mystery) snails from Petsmart. One died so I went back to replace it and got a snail from a different tank. I just got this new one tonight, so I'm not sure if it's alive or not (it hasn't moved yet), but once I got it home and put it in a quarantine cup, I noticed something funny.
There was a very, very small snail attached to it, so I took it off and it started crawling around the cup. I was happy because I thought that it was a baby and I got a second snail for free.

I left for about an hour and then went back to my room to check on them, and there were two more tiny snails crawling around, but one was attached to another small one. They keep climbing on top of each other, and I think that they're coming out of the big snail. I'm not really sure what's going on. I don't know if they're a smaller species of parasitic/carnivorous snails that eat other snails, or if they're just baby snails (they're all the same color as the big snail), or if they're babies, but they might eat each other- I'm pretty sure that they're not cannibalistic, but I wouldn't know if the babies had a different diet from the adults. If they're babies though, it would be awesome, because I would have just gotten $10 worth of snails for free (from replacing the dead one)!

So what I want to know is: what could they be? I really think that they're just babies, but I want to be safe.
Also, is there any special care I should provide for baby snails? I have algae wafers that I'm feeding them, and I'm probably going to give them some lettuce or some other veggie that they'll like.

Thanks for any information you can give me!
 
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#2 ·
Hi! Not sure where the babies were hiding... However, appke snails like most snails I know of lay eggs. The eggs for apple snails are usually in the tank, at the top of the waterline.

Anyways... Baby snails eat pretty much the same thing. I've had a hitchhiker from a plant I bought online, from a "snail free" tank xDD He's been growing pretty good. I think he might me a mystery or apple snail...He's just in with my fry right now so he eats the leftovers, while the tank he was in before that had one betta, a little bit of algae...

Veggies and the algae wafers are fine :) Just remove what is not eaten to avoid fouling the water!!

I'd say they are just snail babies. Some eggs hitch hike on surfaces..including snail shells.
 
#5 ·
What color is the original snail? And can you get pictures? How big are the baby snails? Like... head of a pen sized or pea sized? It could just be a couple of hitchhiking ramshorn or pond snails, or it could be some baby snails that hitched a ride on mom/dad.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Most snails do lay eggs but some snails are live bearers.
I took some snails out of a lake - turns out they are trapdoor snails and they are live bearing snails.

How big is the store bought snail and how big are the babies?


The one on the right is a mystery snail from petco
The moss ball climbing up the tank is a trapdoor snail. I have seen them for sale on ebay but not in any petshop


alot of times I see the babies crawling on top of each other or crawling on top of the adults. I think its because there is something they want to eat on them - like some algae or a crumb of fish food.
 
#8 ·
OK.. now I want a trapdoor snail... or 6.... O.O wow so pretty...
 
#10 · (Edited)
are they naturally like that?
The trapdoor snails? When I found them in the lake they were covered with moss. I was getting annoyed because I wasn't seeing any snails and this lake had tons of them when I was a kid. Then my sister takes the net and scoops up this moss ball. The reason I wasn't find any was because they were all covered with moss and I though they were rocks!

The babies do not have the moss so I don't know if the adults do simply because they came from a lake or if the babies will get some as they grow?



From what I found online, most people use them in outdoor ponds for algae control. The big ones keep knocking over my plants/small decor though.

This guy is selling them on ebay - but
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-LIVE-TRAP...493?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c63c4d6f5
 
#11 ·
Well, the reason they get moss (like why my snails may get algae especially if there is only one of them) is because of the environment. Moss tends to cling to anything, and grow. The babies haven't been around long enough to have the moss attach :)
 
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