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Odd snail behaviour | |
desiredusername Enthusiast Posts: 182 Kudos: 99 Votes: 36 Registered: 26-Sep-2006 | I got 2 pond snails from a freinds tank and am keeping them in a small triangular tank. One of the snails is always trying to get above the water line. Is he suicidal or just natural behaviour? How can i ensure they breed? |
Posted 11-Jun-2007 06:03 | |
ImRandy85 Enthusiast Bleeding Blue Posts: 254 Kudos: 137 Votes: 75 Registered: 19-Dec-2006 | It may just be going up to breathe. Some snails also lay their eggs above the waterline, so watch out for that too. |
Posted 11-Jun-2007 06:05 | |
jasonpisani *Ultimate Fish Guru* Posts: 5553 Kudos: 7215 Votes: 1024 Registered: 24-Feb-2003 | It's normal with snails. If they are pond snails, just don't worry about their breeding....... they will breed like crazy & you'll soon see alot of small snails running up the tank glass. ATM i'm trying to get rid of them from one of my tanks. http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/ Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970. http://www.maltaaquarist.com |
Posted 11-Jun-2007 06:40 | |
sham Ultimate Fish Guru Posts: 3369 Kudos: 2782 Votes: 98 Registered: 21-Apr-2004 | Feed them and they'll multiply. The more food the more snails. Keeping the tank warmer also speeds up how fast they grow and produce eggs. It will shorten their lifespan but that doesn't really matter with pond snails. By the time the first ones die you'll have a few hundred new ones. Snails may go to the surface if the tank is low on oxygen or has really high levels of ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate. Otherwise it's normal. Pond snails aren't as bad as applesnails since they don't lay eggs out of the water but they will still wander out of the tank on occasion. I suppose just looking for new areas of water to populate. |
Posted 11-Jun-2007 22:51 | |
desiredusername Enthusiast Posts: 182 Kudos: 99 Votes: 36 Registered: 26-Sep-2006 | oops i didnt know snails needed a heater... good excuse to go to LFS though Thanks for advice everybody |
Posted 14-Jun-2007 10:08 | |
sham Ultimate Fish Guru Posts: 3369 Kudos: 2782 Votes: 98 Registered: 21-Apr-2004 | They don't require a heater to live but if you want lots of snails quickly for some reason then the hotter the tank the faster they multiply. Pond snails will actually continue to live and reproduce in temps below 60F. Most other snails will also do fine into the high 60s and some will survive near freezing for a few days. |
Posted 14-Jun-2007 23:36 | |
desiredusername Enthusiast Posts: 182 Kudos: 99 Votes: 36 Registered: 26-Sep-2006 | Do they need to be a certain size before they are able to breed? Also, how long do they take to grow to a visible size? Finally, how big do they get? |
Posted 15-Jun-2007 08:47 | |
sham Ultimate Fish Guru Posts: 3369 Kudos: 2782 Votes: 98 Registered: 21-Apr-2004 | They can be fertile while still tiny little dots. Even if you seperate them at that size they will still start laying eggs in at least a few weeks. 1 snail can lay several clutches of eggs before it needs to be in contact with another snail so it's very easy to end up with several 100 from 1 and several thousand from those. I'm not sure what you'd consider a visible size. You can see them from the time they come out of their eggs. They are just miniature adults. Adult size does vary depending on exact species but they get around 13-20mm. I've never paid attention to how long it took them to grow because they reproduce so fast you quickly end up with too many of varying sizes to keep track of any 1 individual. It's probably in the range of a couple months to go from dot to full grown. |
Posted 15-Jun-2007 18:36 |
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