So i got myself an apple / golden mystery snail today, brought him/her home. and introduced him to my extremely docile community tank consisting of a few platy's some ghost shrimp and some algae eaters. the water quality is great, theres plenty of chow, set him down on top of a bridge which has a light coating of algae (green and brown) and is shadowed from the light a bit.

And the bastard still wont come out, he was alive when i got him, next to NO algae on his shell, he was on the side of the tank when i chose him. and now hes home, in my tank and an hour has passed and hes not said boo.

i understand that were a snail to actually SAY "boo" i would not hear him, but i would like to think hed poke his head out to at least give me the chance to hear him.

Like i said, im pretty sure hes doing it out of spite

Any ideas anyone else?

A pomacea can be stressed out by a move and actually its not too unusual to see them go into hiding for a few days in a new tank.

I have tried Mystery snails. MIne were the same. They were stressed a few days. Its like taking home a new puppy. THey can be stressed and just want to sleep.

Indeed its been the better part of 3 and a half hours now, and hes just letting himself go, not moving at all yet, but letting his business out of his shell, testing the waters so to speak.

I got one last week, and he only just came out today. He was moving around in the tank when I picked him out, to avoid a repeat of the dead snail I bought a couple months ago. I was afraid he was dead, but read that as long as his shell is clamped shut, he's alive (if he dies, the muscle holding it shut should relax).

He was really going, today, too, covered just about the whole length of the tank twice in the half hour I watched him. My cories were pretty curious about the newcommer hogging their food and kept spooking him back into his shell, but as far as I could see, they weren't hurting him.

One of my otos has been riding around on his shell, too. Not sure if that's a bad thing or not, but the snail doesn't seem to care.

So what I meant to say before I babbled about my snail, give him some time, they do seem pretty shy at first, but he should come around eventually.

This post has been edited by Corleone: May 21 2008, 04:45 AM

Snails usually become reclusive after being added to a tank, just like with fish.

If you think he may have died, take him out and try to open his operculum(trapdoor). If it does easily he's dead.

The snail is just fine hes cruising about and has actually already cleaned my entire algae covered bridge ornament.

which brings about another question, i have the snail, 3 ghost shrimp and an algae eater.

Supplemental feeding for these guys... a piece of lettuce or cucumber on the bottom of the tank yes?

yes that's what ive heard. but my snail doesn't mind not having and greens.
he just eats left overs that my frogs leave. which helps with cleaning. i
ve actually seen my snail eating on the side of the glass. its pretty cool.