Surprise - I'm now an Apple snail breeder!

Few days ago, I moved one of my golden mystery snails (gigantic one) out of my 10G and into the 2G fry tank with the JD juvies because the snail was bulldozing my planted lava rocks.

This morning I turned on the light only to find a bunch of eggs at the top. Can they be fertile since it's been only 3-4 days since the snail was moved away from other snails? How long before hatch (if they're fertile)?

I have a 5G in storage at work, can bring it home and move JD juvies if you all think the eggs might be fertile.

The eggs can be fertile. I currently have (3) clutches of eggs as well.

You have a couple of options: (This information I just recently gathered)

1) Leave it as it sits. As long as the area is relatively humid, they should hatch out. Don't let it get wet as this will drown them.

2) Artificially hatch them. Carefully remove the clutch. In a small tupperware bowl, place a damp sponge or folded paper towel (not soaking wet) on the bottom. Cover with a couple folded dry paper towels. Place the clutch on top and cover the container. This will raise the humidity in the container. Every day, carefully remove the lid to remove any condensation and swap out the dry paper towels as needed.

I'm actually going to attempt the 2nd method with the latest clutch that I found yesterday.

I believe they say its up to two weeks for them to hatch. I'll do more digging to find out.

Good Luck!

Nice information thanks for sharing. My last clutch just hatched

Nice we want some pics!!

CajunGator wrote:

Nice information thanks for sharing. My last clutch just hatched

Did you leave yours where they were or did you do an artificial method? What's the humidity around the tank if you left them there?

Went ahead and took the JD juvies out and put the other two snails in. Here's a pic of the eggs.

Hard angle, so wasn't the best shot.
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Mine haven't hatched out as yet. I did remove two clutches and trying to hatch them out in a container. The color of the clutch had went back to a pink color so hopefully there is enough humidity in there for them.

Had another clutch laid last night too!

once they start they don't quite.

Did some research last night. It can take up to 4 weeks for hatching depending on Temp.

I've figured out which one is the male. He was all OVER the two bigger snails the second I dumped him in the fry tank! Horny little bastard!

Figure I can sell them to the little Dickson pet store for .25-.50 each once they're decent sized. He's always trying to get 'local grown' stuff. And lord knows I've got enough small tanks here at home between the kids and I to grow them from eraser-sized to 3/4"!

Here's the horny little bastard at work. Doesn't even wait until night when they are supposedly more active!

(BTW dead minnow is from the feeders I purchased sat. Snail info sight recommended feeding dead fish to breeding snails. So, there you go!)

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I was showing and discussing snail reproduction with my daughter today. When she saw the egg cluster she exclaimed 'so that's what that is in my tank!'

Sure enough, when I'd first moved the other giant snail from the planted tank and thrown it in hers - the snail had laid eggs there. So now we have two egg clusters!

One of the two clutches I found in my daughters tankand removed to a tuppaware container hatched this morning! At first I thought the dried-out looking egg case had split as it absorbed humidity - so I moved it further in two and little snails fell out. Didn't know if they were alive or dead - so I replaced the soaked cotton balls at the other side with some tank water and free floating Java moss.

Put the container back on the shelf (tilted so that water/moss was at bottom end - eggs on top)... Checked an hour later and all of the hatchlings had moved down into the water. I dropped one small shrimp pellet in the java moss.

So what do you guys think? Keep them in the tuppaware for a few days - or try and move them to the snail tank? Will they have enough to eat with the java moss/shrimp pellet?

I do open the container several times a day in order for fresh air.

Babies babies everywhere at my house today!

I get pics tonight after the battery is charged.

Cool. Love those snails

Gotta love them snails!

WooHoo! Congrats to you as well. You can either keep them in there for a spell or move them to tank. The one's that hatched out for me yesterday, I went ahead and put them in a breeder net for now to monitor them to make sure they will be ok.

congratz

Baby pics of the first group to craw down to the java moss. Sorry it's not the clearest pics, hard to focus that small! They are the light 'balls' on the green moss. Moved these guys to the snail tank right after the picture and put in a fresh piece of Java moss in the tuppaware for the stragglers.

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Excellent! I'll try and snap a couple shots of my wee ones today. I think they doing ok as they are all over the breeder net. Haven't seen any hanging out on snailo yet though.

I have a question. My snails were mating (all the time)so I lowered the water level and I came home last night to find the egg cluster in the bottom of my tank. I don't know if they laid them there or if it was laid on the glass and fell down into the water. I moved the cluster to the top of the water drain so it would be close to the water for the humidity but not in the water. I checked it this morning and it looks like it id drying out. I happened to come across this thread.

Do you think it's too late to move it to a container now or should I just leave it where it is?

My concern would be how long it was under water?

Definately worth a try to hatch it out and see. Go ahead and place it in a container

One other thing I have noticed is that my snails fall off of the glass quite often. Is this normal?

They well release at times but not often. Do you have some kind of slime on the inside of the tank? Try cleaning the inside with a razor blade.

Jennifer, the eggs were drowned. Don't bother with them now. In 2-3 weeks your female should try again.

An update on the 'classroom snail breeding tank': As of last Friday they had laid 6 egg clusters. Seem to prefer weekends for egg laying. Different colors have been noticed breeding, so some of the clusters will have gray and white genetics. Baby snails that I hatched out from first clusters are doing well, enjoying the growing moss, plants and bit of algae starting to show on glass.