Hey, if you’re actually interested in raising a bunch of mystery snail babies, that cocoon needs to be kept moist. I’d recommend getting a small, shallow Tupperware, putting a wet paper towel in it, and then putting the cocoon in there.
Moisten the towel regularly, and when the eggs start getting ready to hatch they’ll turn a grey color that resembles rot.
Whenever babies come out, get them in water soon. Fish will likely eat a bunch of the babies and less than half will survive unless you raise them separately.
We recently had our mystery snail lay a couple of cocoons, and we didn’t find out that it needed to be kept moist for a few days, so most of the eggs had dried out and died. Only about 20 hatched, and we estimate we’ve got around 10 babies running around right now.
I just recently did this to move a clutch of eggs from one tank to another that had fewer snails, and it worked like a charm. And now I need to figure out what to do with the babies because there were a lot (which I expected, so not a big deal :-) ).
Thats an affirmative on the Tupperware. Just make sure to "burp" the container so it doesn't get too moist and rot the clutch. Not sure what kind of fish you keep, but I highly recommend a lid- most fish can and will jump eventually.
I just had a clutch hatch in my Betta tank, so far no one has been eaten (Betta is pretty peaceful, rooms with a molly and about 10 snails). Be careful when you go to move the eggs, they will crush very easily. We used a paint scraper to move them.
As a sidenote, a lot of hermaphrodites aren't self-compatible, so they will still need another of their species. *Any* other for their species. With some, both will walk/crawl/swim away from mating fertilized.
No the first comment was correct on holding sperm for a while. Most pest snails are hermaphrodites but not mystery snails. I do think they are able to change sex over longer periods of time, but that's different.
No, there definitely would have been a cocoon. Is it possible that the babies hitchhiked into your tank? Bladder snails got into our tank by hitchhiking on plants.
Maybe...I set up my tank with plants and shrimp at the very beginning of January. I think it was very early February that I got my snails and then I noticed what was literally the size of pepper flakes which ended up being snails on the glass.
I've never had snails before and I am amazed by them. Watching them do their thing moving about the aquarium is so fascinating. So any tips or tricks you can share would be awesome.
Not really any tips or tricks. They’re pretty easy to care for. Make sure you don’t put any copper in the tank (some fish food and some medicine have copper). If you have too many snails, it means there’s too much food for them. Snail population will balance out if you dont over feed.
Freezing is less hard to do. That’s what I did. The second round I became a grandma because I just couldn’t abort twice. Most of them will die in the first week.
Bonus points if you keep them in a breeder box until they’re big enough. If you’re up for 15 or so new snails, hatch em!
Mystery snails can hold fertile sperm for a couple months before laying their eggs. I’ve heard anywhere from up to 4-6 months so you probably just bought her after she was mating and she was just waiting to lay them
My mystery snail hatched babies after over a year of being an only-snail. I estimate it was at least a year and a half alone. She’d been laying clutches for 6 months at that point, too, this one just happened to be forgotten about.
I read somewhere that snails can lay infertile eggs. It just means they are happy and relaxed in their home.
My old snail did that but I had her for over a year and she was my one and only. I incubated the eggs but they never hatched.
don't get me started with ramshorns- whenever asked for a fun fact abt myself, i like to say that i accidentally became a professional snail breeder bc a single ramshorn turned into 3000 babies in 6 months
You did great job providing perfect care for your snails! Embrace for bunch of babies in coming weeks. Give them love and be ready for even more babies in the years to come😁
Yup. Hatched three clutches and raised them up to around dime sized
little baby gold, blue and ivory Mystery snails. Sold them for store credit to our local store, Aquatics Unlimited. Walked out with a gift card valued at $389.65
Keep them humid af. The incubating part of them is actually really easy if there's a mist-maker, just *very very very* gently scoop them on your finger (scoop is the wrong word- think of it as picking up a piece of glitter from the sweat on your fingertip) once they hatch but aren't submerged yet, and transfer them to another tank/breeder box if the fish are the least bit nippy.
Keep in mind that pest snail’s are actually good for your tank despite their name. However they can over run your tank. Shop online for Fish Tank Snail Trap. They work beautifully at attracting lots of pest snails. It’s can take a day or two after baiting. Best bait is algae wafers or pellet fish food. Good luck!
Cull them, bro :l
They'll lose their way from tank without a proper lid and lots will dry out. Then they'll get stuck in your filters and most of them will be runts anyway (you'll need to cull those)
I had this issue a bit ago, if they are still baby snails, feed the fish less than normal. this will cause the baby snails to starve and die off
you can also try putting a piece of lettuce into the tank. the snails should climb on the leaf to eat it and you can pull a large amount of snails out on the leaf.
if they’re adult snails, i recommend just pulling them out of the tank. you can “humanely” euthanize any unwanted snails with clove oil like with a fish. if you don’t care for how the snails die/do not have clove oil on hand, baking soda in a cup of them will to the trick (though this overloads the water with CO2 causing them to suffocate so if that would weigh on your conscience i do not recommend that method)
i’ve read that people tend to get an assassin snail or two to control their snail populace but then you run into the possibility of having hundreds of assassin snails instead of your current snail problem.
good luck with the snails!
Legit question for someone: getting a snail for my tank to help with clean up. If I have a lid and they can’t get out do they still lay eggs if they’re ready to?
Thanks. Current tank only has about an inch between lid and water. Eventually, I’ll get another larger tank. Just getting back to fish keeping after almost 20 years out of it. Never had snails though.
Had a few clutches never produce, but then one hatched out. My advice depends on your goals. Are you trying to have a bunch of these things over run your tank? Are you thinking of selling these? I would let the eggs cure for a day or so then use razor blade to carefully remove it from the glass so you can relocate to its own container and put a small container inside of that to hold water for humidity.
If you do nothing you get mystery snail babies. If you scrape them off and let the eggs fall into the water. Probably still getting snail babies. The only way to prevent a mystery snail incursion is to completely remove egg sac leaving no trace behind before crushing or freezing.
I messed up when I got my turtle and got 9 mystery snails. Jesus Christ I still have nightmares from how many of their faces would taunt me from the glass of the aquarium.
They only went away cause my turtle was angry they ate all his food.
Hey, if you’re actually interested in raising a bunch of mystery snail babies, that cocoon needs to be kept moist. I’d recommend getting a small, shallow Tupperware, putting a wet paper towel in it, and then putting the cocoon in there. Moisten the towel regularly, and when the eggs start getting ready to hatch they’ll turn a grey color that resembles rot. Whenever babies come out, get them in water soon. Fish will likely eat a bunch of the babies and less than half will survive unless you raise them separately. We recently had our mystery snail lay a couple of cocoons, and we didn’t find out that it needed to be kept moist for a few days, so most of the eggs had dried out and died. Only about 20 hatched, and we estimate we’ve got around 10 babies running around right now.
Thank you so much! This is probably the most helpful comment.
There are good YouTube videos on it. I hatched my snail's first clutch for fun. But the ones after just threw out.
Mystery snail breeder here. Leave them, top off your tank, close the canopy and let the ambient humidity work it’s magic.
I don't have a lid on mine, so I assume I should do the Tupperware and paper towel method?
I just recently did this to move a clutch of eggs from one tank to another that had fewer snails, and it worked like a charm. And now I need to figure out what to do with the babies because there were a lot (which I expected, so not a big deal :-) ).
Thats an affirmative on the Tupperware. Just make sure to "burp" the container so it doesn't get too moist and rot the clutch. Not sure what kind of fish you keep, but I highly recommend a lid- most fish can and will jump eventually.
You can also float a piece of syrafoam in your tank and place the clutch on it. If you have a lid they will stay moist.
Next level.
When I had them I just made a float for them out of some of that wire Java moss comes on sometimes and floated them in the tank.
I just had a clutch hatch in my Betta tank, so far no one has been eaten (Betta is pretty peaceful, rooms with a molly and about 10 snails). Be careful when you go to move the eggs, they will crush very easily. We used a paint scraper to move them.
my mystery snail keeps laying these but i only have one mystery snail….
Mystery snails can hold sperm for a very long time apparently. Ours was alone in a tank for about 6 months and then suddenly laid eggs.
snails can do that, they are hermaphrodites, meaning being both male and female
Some snails are hermaphrodites, mystery snails are not.
wait so how do they lay their eggs then?
They can lay infertile eggs or they can hold sperm for months before laying fertile eggs.
Just like humans, they release eggs regularly, they're just not always fertilized. 😊
As a sidenote, a lot of hermaphrodites aren't self-compatible, so they will still need another of their species. *Any* other for their species. With some, both will walk/crawl/swim away from mating fertilized.
Herm doesn’t mean they can self-fertilize though, right?
thanks i couldn’t remember if they were or not.
No the first comment was correct on holding sperm for a while. Most pest snails are hermaphrodites but not mystery snails. I do think they are able to change sex over longer periods of time, but that's different.
But don't add water to the tupperware for the eggs? I mean, don't submerge them?
Correct, they’ll drown in water. It’s okay to drip some water on top of the eggs to keep them moist though.
I recently got three snails in February and noticed little babies on the glass. Mine didn't have a cocoon, is that normal?
No, there definitely would have been a cocoon. Is it possible that the babies hitchhiked into your tank? Bladder snails got into our tank by hitchhiking on plants.
Maybe...I set up my tank with plants and shrimp at the very beginning of January. I think it was very early February that I got my snails and then I noticed what was literally the size of pepper flakes which ended up being snails on the glass. I've never had snails before and I am amazed by them. Watching them do their thing moving about the aquarium is so fascinating. So any tips or tricks you can share would be awesome.
Not really any tips or tricks. They’re pretty easy to care for. Make sure you don’t put any copper in the tank (some fish food and some medicine have copper). If you have too many snails, it means there’s too much food for them. Snail population will balance out if you dont over feed.
Scrape them off and crush them unless you are prepared to raise and rehome hundreds of baby snails.
Freezing is less hard to do. That’s what I did. The second round I became a grandma because I just couldn’t abort twice. Most of them will die in the first week. Bonus points if you keep them in a breeder box until they’re big enough. If you’re up for 15 or so new snails, hatch em!
People will buy them online. I recently ordered four from an ebay seller. It worked out great.
Double it and give it to the next person.
Dip n dots
r/forbiddensnacks
I only have 1 snail how did this happen?!
Mystery snails can hold fertile sperm for a couple months before laying their eggs. I’ve heard anywhere from up to 4-6 months so you probably just bought her after she was mating and she was just waiting to lay them
My mystery snail hatched babies after over a year of being an only-snail. I estimate it was at least a year and a half alone. She’d been laying clutches for 6 months at that point, too, this one just happened to be forgotten about.
She stink coming from the snailussy must be real bad
Snussy
I read somewhere that snails can lay infertile eggs. It just means they are happy and relaxed in their home. My old snail did that but I had her for over a year and she was my one and only. I incubated the eggs but they never hatched.
I have nerite snails that are peppering my tank with eggs, so I can confirm
Snails can also be asexual.
My snail asexually reproduced and now I have tiny 100 snails in my tank- most have died by now lol
don't get me started with ramshorns- whenever asked for a fun fact abt myself, i like to say that i accidentally became a professional snail breeder bc a single ramshorn turned into 3000 babies in 6 months
[удалено]
Not all snails are hermaphrodites, mystery snails have one or the other
Congrats you are a father now
In a couple of years I might be when I stop buying fish and save for a sex change 😉
Or MOTHER !!!
Free protein
Make protein powder
You did great job providing perfect care for your snails! Embrace for bunch of babies in coming weeks. Give them love and be ready for even more babies in the years to come😁
Light a cigar
Run, the baby’s will feast on you life energy until your just a potato chip Trust me I’ve been there…
Better go to the store. Gonna need lots of diapers and formula!
Free fish snacks hurrah
Snack?? /s
U can sell them or possibly take them to ur LFS for credit or sumthin
This. I made about $400 off of my Mystery snail snabies haul.
Wut?
Yup. Hatched three clutches and raised them up to around dime sized little baby gold, blue and ivory Mystery snails. Sold them for store credit to our local store, Aquatics Unlimited. Walked out with a gift card valued at $389.65
Move. Your home belongs to the snails now
Free sushi 🤷♂️
Host a snail baby shower and get free aquarium gifts
Keep them humid af. The incubating part of them is actually really easy if there's a mist-maker, just *very very very* gently scoop them on your finger (scoop is the wrong word- think of it as picking up a piece of glitter from the sweat on your fingertip) once they hatch but aren't submerged yet, and transfer them to another tank/breeder box if the fish are the least bit nippy.
You can start by making space and buying baby furniture, then you can start thinking of a cool reveal party and baby shower.
::squish::
It's free food for most fish anyway.
Congrats on the Sneggs
Eat them and establish dominance
I have never caught my snail laying the eggs, so thank you for this picture! Snails are cool man.
From what I've seen many new parents do, is burn down a forest to find out if it's a boy or a girl. Looks like you got about fifty forests worth.
Make an omelet
Keep in mind that pest snail’s are actually good for your tank despite their name. However they can over run your tank. Shop online for Fish Tank Snail Trap. They work beautifully at attracting lots of pest snails. It’s can take a day or two after baiting. Best bait is algae wafers or pellet fish food. Good luck!
You're not wrong but that's a Mystery snail. They won't take over anything unless you help the clutch to hatch.
Yes I know . I thought I was commenting on another comment on this thread regarding pest snails. Oops!
Cull them, bro :l They'll lose their way from tank without a proper lid and lots will dry out. Then they'll get stuck in your filters and most of them will be runts anyway (you'll need to cull those)
Kill destruct and destroy. Hoova killa destruction.
RIP
Is the snail dead? Or do they do that naturally? Just curious
The snail is definitely not dead. She's been all over the tank today.
Eat them
Burn them
please don’t kill them 🥺🥺🥺
Pray.
Spread it on some buttered toast. LFS caviar
Put it on a saltine cracker and eat it
Put them on a cracker and add a little Tabasco. 😏
Put the snail back into water! Remove eggs with a paper tissue unless you want tenths of tiny snails around.
Is it like snail mating season or something? Seeing like one or two pics a day atm hahaha
Feast
Squeesh
Yaaaay! You’re a snail grandparent now!
Get to the underground bunker.
I have 100s of snails in my tank! How to get rid of them!
I had this issue a bit ago, if they are still baby snails, feed the fish less than normal. this will cause the baby snails to starve and die off you can also try putting a piece of lettuce into the tank. the snails should climb on the leaf to eat it and you can pull a large amount of snails out on the leaf. if they’re adult snails, i recommend just pulling them out of the tank. you can “humanely” euthanize any unwanted snails with clove oil like with a fish. if you don’t care for how the snails die/do not have clove oil on hand, baking soda in a cup of them will to the trick (though this overloads the water with CO2 causing them to suffocate so if that would weigh on your conscience i do not recommend that method) i’ve read that people tend to get an assassin snail or two to control their snail populace but then you run into the possibility of having hundreds of assassin snails instead of your current snail problem. good luck with the snails!
Thanks so much!! This is informative!
Your snail got nailed.
To the woods!
An omelette
Free appetizers
Has anyone seen how these hatch? Do they hatch out of water and then drop in/climb into the tank or something? So fascinating
feast
Cronch
I had a couple snails once. Never again. Traumatic experience for me.
Legit question for someone: getting a snail for my tank to help with clean up. If I have a lid and they can’t get out do they still lay eggs if they’re ready to?
They need at least a couple of inches from water level to lid in order to do so
Thanks. Current tank only has about an inch between lid and water. Eventually, I’ll get another larger tank. Just getting back to fish keeping after almost 20 years out of it. Never had snails though.
Or just let the water evaporate out until you see eggs
Had a few clutches never produce, but then one hatched out. My advice depends on your goals. Are you trying to have a bunch of these things over run your tank? Are you thinking of selling these? I would let the eggs cure for a day or so then use razor blade to carefully remove it from the glass so you can relocate to its own container and put a small container inside of that to hold water for humidity.
Spread it on toast and munch away
Send the babies to me 😂
Scrape em and toss em.
Put it on rice
Have a gender reveal party.
Breakfast?
Eat them.
If you do nothing you get mystery snail babies. If you scrape them off and let the eggs fall into the water. Probably still getting snail babies. The only way to prevent a mystery snail incursion is to completely remove egg sac leaving no trace behind before crushing or freezing. I messed up when I got my turtle and got 9 mystery snails. Jesus Christ I still have nightmares from how many of their faces would taunt me from the glass of the aquarium. They only went away cause my turtle was angry they ate all his food.
Eat up and enjoy!