Pond Snails

[lilacamy931]

I seem to be having much more success with some pond snails. There are egg sacks in the tank on the bottom and a couple attached to some snails (looks like jelly with egg dots in). How long do snails take to hatch and grow and is something wrong with them being in the water as oppossed to above the water line? I know certain species but unsure if this was one of them.

Thank you

 

[Gilli]

Pond snails are hermaphrodites. This means that each and every one of them has both male and female reproductive organs, and is therefore able to mate with any other snail of the same species. The snail lays eggs in strips of tough, transparent jelly on various surfaces underwater, (not above the water line or they would dry out), and will hatch in about a week.

They are prolific breeders and you will soon be over run with them if you dont watch out!

 

[lilacamy931]

Im breeding to feed my dwarf puffers so that is perfect. Snails do't seem to have gotten the hang of laying. Just laying anyway! LOL Well the jelly appeared over the weekend so fingers crossed for the upcoming weekend.

 

[saltynay]

Pond snails are excellent for puffers as they have relatively weak shells and are steady breeders. The eggs take 3-4 days to hatch in my experience (my tank is kept at 27C) and are soon cruising around the tank quite rapidly. I recommend you leave one to grow especially large (not sure how you would id it mind) as they grow larger they will lay more eggs and more often.

 

[lilacamy931]

Ah that is good to know on the sizings! Have tried on or two of the adults (smaller) for the puffs, they are still a little unsure, will wait till start to get a good batch to try them on next. Thank you

 

[OldMan47]

A good productive pond snail would probably measure a cm across or even a little more. If you are raising the pond snails in a tank of their own, feed them well and they will expand to cover every bit of glass or gravel that you have. To a pond snail, eating well means it is time to breed to use up the excess food. I work the other side of this equation by limiting feeding to keep the population of snails under control.

 

[lilacamy931]

I feed them on a supplement of veggies, mainly lettuce though going to get some cucumber of them, I layer the bottom completely, good enough?

 

[OldMan47]

I am not up on the snails favorite foods but mine end up with fish food leftovers. I would be happy to give you as many as you want just to reduce the population in my tanks.

 

[lilacamy931]

Aw thank you for offering OldMan47, I live in the UK though (really need to update my specs) Thank you very much for the offer though

 

[lilacamy931]

Just a quickie anyone how long do pond snails live? I have had a couple die off the last two days. (From what I can see the larger ones..) Or at least I think they are dead, I put them in a separate container and look again the following day to see if any movement.

Have two egg sacs floating around slightly darker. There is a egg sac attached to one of the snails that is a dark opaque colour... it has been there the day after since I got them. The snail has appeared to Kaput now (though placed in tub by self just in case).

I have them on the windowseal in the kitchen which gets first morning light for a good few hours. They have had lettuce and today will be having cucumber. Do water changes every 3-4 days and change veggies as they are used. Any tips that going wrong would be great

Thanks for helping me this far!

 

[lilacamy931]

Right so down to 5 snails. Dettached the egg sac from the dead snail, the eggs inside look clear with nothing in them, should i chuck them?

The other two are slowly turning golden yellow colour, can see the eggs inside but not a clear picture if anything in there. Did a water change, added some bloodworm, lettuce and cucumber today..

I have had them,...about a week and a half now, not sure if doing right?