# Semi-Impulsive Purchase: It's a Mystery to Me



## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

So my tank is fully cycled, and I couldn't wait to get my fish. I also had the idea of getting some cheap snails to clean up the decaying leaves in my tank. I went to PetSmart. I asked for snails. The supervisor/manager talked me into getting one Mystery Snail (he didn't have to do much talking to convince me =).

So now I own the largest snail I have ever owned. It is about a quarter of an inch big, and I see online that it gets bigger.

Any interesting stories on Mystery/Apple snails?


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

I heard they sometimes come ready to lay eggs, so you might end up a snail daddy.


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

Snail daddy? "These allegations are false"! "I did not have sexual relations with that [snail]."


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

foster daddy* lol


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

They need water with fairly high KH or a source of calcium in their diet, and a pH above neutral. If they don't get adequate calcium or are kept in acidic water, their shells deteriorate and it shortens their lives.

Don't keep them with aggressive, nippy fish. My little cichlids kept biting their tentacles until they were reduced to stumps!


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## h4n (Dec 23, 2005)

Like everyone said and they do lay egg above the water line.
Its like a sac of egg pretty neat when they are about to hatch


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

I noticed the snail was very active in the dark, last night, but I can't find it now that I've turned on the lights. Is it nocturnal?


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

They are actually crepuscular; most active in twilight at dawn and dusk. It will probably be more active during the day after it acclimates to your tank.

Can you tell I like these guys?


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## asukawashere (Mar 11, 2009)

Once they get really big, I've found they learn to eat duckweed. As such, I'm a big fan. I tend to throw one or two into every tank that doesn't have loaches.


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

Crepuscular suits me just fine. Last night with only the TV as a source of light, I could see the shimmery silhouette of the betta, and a continually moving black dot. I assumed the dot was the snail. It was actually entertaining me more than what I was watching on TV. Then again, I am one of those that can be entertained by floating lint for hours on end. I can totally see why you like them, Michael.

Asuka, I don't have duckweed. I just want it to clean up the decaying leaves. Since I bought a bunch of not-so-healthy plants, and they were immersed, I am getting more dead leaves than I care to pick out, one by one. So I thought a bunch of tiny snails would do the trick. Then I was convinced, the salesman almost broke my arm off, to buy this snail. I am so happy I did.


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

I want to get one of the big mystery snails too, maybe they will do a better job of eating the dead leaves than the rams horn and bladder snails that came on a few plants I found at the river. The bladder snails stay on the glass or sometimes hang upside down on the floating plants while the rams horns enjoy rasping the fuzz off my driftwood though.


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## Karl M (Jul 15, 2013)

pomacea diffusa is the snail that is often sold as Mystery Snails, Inca Snails or Apple Snails. I like them a lot. They can get pretty large. My largest one is at least 2 inches in diameter. For me that is one of the things I like about them. Unlike some snails they are male and female. So you need both or a fertilized female to have any eggs. The population is easy to control because, as has been mentioned, the eggs are laid above the water line. Mine are active most of the time but occasionally will sit in the same spot for a day or two. I used to think that something was wrong but the next thing you know they are back to moving around. I hope you enjoy you snail.


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

The mystery is over!

My snail is alive, and still wandering around my tank. I had not seen it since the night before last. I was wondering if it was so unhappy with the home I gave it, that it just packed up and left. I am SO happy to see it again. Though I'd rather see it cleaning up my Alternanthera, so long as it stays, it's okay to see it wandering through my HC. =D


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

Thank you, Michael, for that tip on their crepuscular behavior. I have seen been turning on my room lights two hours before turning their tank lights on. And then I turn their lights off, two hours before turning my room lights off. Even then, they still get about an hour with tv light on.

Since doing that, I get to see my mysterious, shelled rodent in the mornings, and in the evenings. I sometimes only get glimpses, but usually I get to see some activity, which is enough to keep me happy till the next sun set, or sun rise.

So... where does it go when I can't see it? Does it go under the gravel?


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

No, they don't bury themselves. He/she has just found an out-of-view spot.


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## Tugg (Jul 28, 2013)

Just as a note, females will lay unfertilized egg sacks. I had one that made it a regular routine to climb up my PVC overflow at night, lay a wad of eggs, and then have them bake under a 96w bulb the next day.

She eventually went up the wrong pipe and ended up IN the overflow. When I got home from work her shell was mostly dissolved. I moved her to a 10g where she hung out for a month or so before dyeing. They apparently store air in their shells, because she developed a hole from the overflow incident and small air bubbles would occasionally slip out of it.


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

Poor snail. I have seem lots of pictures where fish get caught in powerheads and stuff. I wonder if there is a way to deter them from going in there without severly blocking the flow of water and all the gunk to be filtered?


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

I think the first thing to be done is to stop letting our fish watch the movie Finding Nemo.


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

LOL! I agree...


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

Interesting side-effect: I increased the water flow, and now my Mysterious inhabitant is moving around during lights-on. Usually he's not out and about until after lights-off.

Thoughts?

Also, now that he's out in the lights, I notice there is about half an inch, to an inch of shiny, new shell growth. I don't remember noticing it before. There is a definite, marked line. The older growth past the line looked scuffed, and old. Did I not notice the new growth when I bought him, or is half and inch, to an inch of growth normal for a couple of weeks time?


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

Hmm, getting knocked out of its sleeping spots? Or more o2 and food flying around giving it more energy? My snails get knocked around and end up surfing desparately trying to grab onto something sometimes, at least the ramshorns do. I had to euthanize one whose shell was mostly crushed yesterday. Why they seem to gravitate towards the high flow I do not know. The pond/bladder snails can take the force pretty well though, but they can suck there shells down and lock on to objects and are hard to take off, much harder to pry off then the ramshorns.


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

Nope, he's not flying around. He's a bit big, and the flow is not that high.


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

My Mystery snail has climbed to the very top of the tank. My first thought was to run to check parameters.

Zero ammonia
Zero nitrites,
10ish ppm Nitrates

He's been there for a while now, motionless. I'm starting to think he just decided to sleep there, tonight.

What else could be going on?


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

Some snails go to the surface to breathe now and again, others lay eggs at the surface. Does it only do it at night? O2 levels are less at night when the plants are not making oxygen and the tank is filling with co2, so some snails might go to surface to get a bit more O2. I am not sure if snails truly sleep, but if they slow down enough it might be easier for them to get oxygen at the surface rather than using the energy to circulate their blood to the vessels that absorb o2 from the water as much as they would need too at night. That's just a guess, if it stays there all day and night you might want to do a small water change to see if maybe something built up in the water that isn't good to have too much of, like ferts or something.


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

It does go on the glass from time to time. It sometimes even goes over half way up. On those occasions I keep wondering if it's just entertainment for him, a game. Because once he reaches about half the distance up the glass, he doesn't just let go, and ride the flow of water. I can't say he jumps, but he certainly pushes away from the glass, and floats down. He'll do that a couple of times.

Last night, though, he went all the way to the top edge of the aquarium walls, and stayed there for about ten minutes, immobile. After about ten minutes, he started wondering along side the top, and then went for a net I have filled with backup HC. I wondered if he just wanted that as a snack.

I don't think he's laying eggs, because I've been told Mystery snails need a male, and female to reproduce. He's the only snail I have, and he's been alone for almost a month now.

He seemed fine. Once I tested the water, and saw that what I can test for is fine, I wasn't too concerned. I just wish I knew more about their behavior. He is really interesting.


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

they do lay eggs out of the water, so I guess coming out of the water from time to time is normal for them, I don't think those guys have gills or anything to allow them to stay under water indefinitely.


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

I thought Mystery snails needed a partner to procreate. I only have one. If they can reproduce asexually, or if they can hold either sperm, or fertilized eggs for a very long time, then that is probably what it's doing. I hope not.

Today I've been noticing that it keeps circling, and even getting on, the net in which I have more HC. I wonder if it's just trying to get to more food. If so, it's being picky. There is plenty for him to eat everywhere else in my tank, atm.


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

It could be looking for a snack. I don't know how long it takes for a fertilized female to lay eggs, or how to tell a male from a female. If you see a small 1 mm glob of eggs pinkish in color above the water line, scoop it out and you won't have any more snails. I know mystery snails breed slowly, a month might be too long of time to lay eggs in. Its possible your snail just likes the HC in the net for some reason.


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

Yeah, if that's the case, that it likes that HC over the one on the bottom, it's just being snooty. lol


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

And... I have baby snails.

I remember a couple of weeks after getting the the plants in, I saw some baby snails. I haven't seen them since, and I see no other adult snails. I figured they came in with the plants, and they hadn't survived. I'm now wondering if the betta ate them.

However now that I see two more baby snails, I tried to take a really good look at them. Their shell does spiral sideways, like the Mystery snail. They are still transparent so, if they don't become a betta snack, I will try to see if I can identify them, once their shells grow dark.


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

So you didn't try to remove as many as you could at first sight? I don't think you can get rid of them easily now lol. But, they will help keep the tank clean. If they came on the plants they are probably ramshorn snails, look like mystery snails but smaller and breed under water laying eggs on everything. These snails don't stay at the surface much so if you see a lot of them surfing the surface then you might want to do a water change. They don't have gills but absorb o2 through blood vessels in there heads under water when o2 levels from the plants are good they are happy (assuming there isn't high nitrogen or toxic levels of other substances). Or they could be mystery snails if they grow bigger and act like your mystery snail, there might be other differences you could look up that might help identify them. Some differences are hard to spot without good eyes or magnification in some species of snails. Have fun with your snails!


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

I saw only two new ones, this morning. The three I had seen previously I have not seen in a couple of weeks. So they are either ramshorns, and are buried, like you explained. Or the betta ate them.

Even if there are more of them, I don't mind them. I like the idea that there is something down there moving the substrate around. I do not overfeed, so they'll never be a problem in my tank, just like they were not a problem in my last tanks.

Mostly, I'm giddy that there is a full ecosystem starting to form in my tank. /big grin


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

Ramshorns don't bury themselves, trumpet snails do. Ramshorns clean the driftwood and glass and munch damaged leaves and excess food. I started with two ramshorns now have 200 or so, enough to cover glass and too many to keep track of. They get pushed off the driftwood and fly to the surface from time to time where I scoop some off before they find the glass and climb back down. I also have a bunch of bladder/pond snails, but they tend to clamp their shells tightly to whatever they are attached to and don't get disturbed by stronger currents.

ramshorn









trumpet









pond


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

Oh, I misunderstood what you had said.

Now that I see the pics, I do recognize them from the last tank I had. They were stowaways from plants I ordered, but I was happy to get a cleaning crew. I know I had lots, but I never did get as many as 200. For the couple of years I had the tank, I was happy with them. I did also have some trumpets, and something else, but I can't remember.

The ones I saw in the tank this morning had the spiral protruding to one side. So they could be pond snails.


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

I might not have 200 yet, it is hard to count, but enough to keep everyhting clean in a 29g. I even found a couple hijackers in my quarantine tank I set up that I removed (don't want an army of snails devouring a dead fish overnight before I notice it preventing any kind of return to lfs). They are pretty cool creatures and don't seem to affect bioload much. Mine don't touch the veggies I give them but put holes in my hygros and aponogetons instead, but don't do enough damage to really hurt anything though.


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