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I went ahead an stuck some small pest snails in my breeding tank w/Smokey (the male) and he seems to ignore them. I wasnt gonna put any more with him but I took a trip to Owensburo (for some reason) and found white mystery snails at WalMart They are positivly beautiful! There shell color looks almost like a white / grey marble. So I bought them and got them home successfully (40 min car ride) They are currently in there a long with my gold apple. I only hope I didnt get all the same gender!

Inky

Yes, I got them from WalMart.

I feed my snails....


They get flakes, and I feed them when I feed my bettas (the bettas get pellets and for some reason wont touch the flakes) and I also stick freeze-dried worms in there...

Inky

If you got the snails from somewhere that knows little about their care such as walmart or alot of fish stores they may need fed really well for a few weeks before they start reproducing. Alot of these places think applesnails live on algae but in reality the snails you have are actually carnivorous and only eat algae in passing as an easy snack. They'll slowly starve to death on only algae and you'll find alot of dead snails in the store tanks. Especially if they've had the snails for any length of time.

I dont have an y eggs in there yet But I have had them for less than a week. ^_^

3x Apples (1x Gold 2x White)
5x? Pest Snails


Hopefully, In a few weeks I will know ther gender ^_^

Inky

Also, there is a phenominon called partheogenesis, in which unfertilized eggs can hatch in a form of cloning. leopard lizards (related to collared lizards, not leopard geckos) are famous for this, as all wild populations are female! Ants and other insects are also capiable of laying "unfertilized" eggs that hatch into clones of their parents. This could be what's happening with the apple snails.

So Apple Snails have distinct male and female genders, as opposed to being hermaphrodites like certain other snails? Hmm, interesting.

Only quite a few aquatic snails are hermaphrodites. You only need two to begin a major population explosion because they can cross fertilise each others' eggs. Chances are you'll find that the hermaphroditic species are the ones you don't want in your aquarium and which reach plague proportions in no time at all


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

they are gold mystery snails , and when they were sticking to the glass, i pulled them away, and peaked inside, the shell was "clean" there was nothing that indicated male

Applesnails rarely change gender. It's not unheard of but it's very very unlikely. It's even been debated on the applesnail.net board if it can actually happen because so few people have experienced it. Along with the fact snails aren't always easy to tell the gender of many of the sex changes turned out to be missexed in the first place. I also think it's only 1 sex that can change to the other and only a very few species. Canas are usually the ones I hear about. Females will often lay eggs whether there is a male or not so unless you get babies they can still all be females.

dunno. you might not have a species that *can* change. i don't think all species of apple snail will do this, but i know it does happen because mine did it when i started off with 3 females and suddenly there are egg sacs hatching around my tank

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"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

if thats true moondog, then how come i still have 2 female apple snails, i have had them for like a year, and they have always been together, i wanted to breed them, but they kinda cant

Hooray! These snails are *so* pretty


^_^ I wish I had a pic !

Inky

if you did they will change genders so that they can better cover your tank with eggs

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"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

I just have another quick question before I go out and buy my breeder snails:

Could I put them in a betta breeding tank with no problums? I keep my gold snail with a male betta (Klaus) who is too old to breed, with no problums. But if I move the gold snail into the breeding tank with a new male betta and a female would it be alright? If the snails multipy and the bettas multipy at the same time would this create a problum? The tank is a okay planted 10 gal, long, and filled halfway to the top with fresh distilled water...?

Inky

Yes, thats true. I could stick them in my other tank, but then it would get overcrowded (more so, as many people have told me) Guess I'll have to wait till my bettas are done

Inky

well, if your snail is so carnivorous then you might want to rethink putting him in with a breeding pair of bettas or else he'll eat their eggs.

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"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

Thats true... The tank is finnally ready for Smokey (the male breeding betta) to go in. Unfortunatly, his mate died while I was away....

My snail is actually bigger than smokey is. That snail has been known to eat guppies, so Im kinda afraid to move him in there... Klaus on the other hand is 3x as big as the snail, but pretty much ignores him...

Inky

well, if they're fine together now, then they could be fine with some female bettas too. but you can always try it out and take the snails out if the bettas are nipping their antennae

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"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

My male, Klaus (older, not going in the breeder tank) lives with an apple. I had to move the apple in there after he ate my guppies....

Inky

ah, that's too bad. some bettas might leave the snails alone, but i know the couple males i had would nip at anything that even looked like a worm, which is what they're thinking of when they see the antennae

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"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

Oh... I guess I'll just have to do the snails first.... My pretty female betta died while I was away


Snails are fun....

Inky