hungsta Posted November 23, 2003 Share Posted November 23, 2003 Just wondering if they require specific water conditions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
23Skidoo Posted November 23, 2003 Share Posted November 23, 2003 I've bred them a few times but simply by dumb luck! I had a couple in a tank. 25-26 degrees pH 7 (maybe a little higher). The two i had seemed to mate then one crawled all the way up the glass, and layed the eggs on the tank lids, they looked like a little bunch of pink grapes. A friend of mine said they take 4-8 weeks to hatch depending on humidity and temp. Inside two weeks they laid 3 more bunches, and we just left em to their own, most of them got bad fungus but when i removed one bunch from the tank, they dried out. One day i noticed 5 or 6 odd looking ramshorn snails in the tank, on closer inspection they turned out to be little mystery snails. I'm sorry that there is very little info in there but mine have always bred at random! Good Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hungsta Posted November 23, 2003 Author Share Posted November 23, 2003 4-8 weeks thats a very long time just for hatching...did u grow the babies up?if so what was the growth rate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
23Skidoo Posted November 24, 2003 Share Posted November 24, 2003 They had maybe 6 little ones that we saw, but they were in a heaily planted snail infested tank. And we had a problem with them when a bunch of trumpet snails died. But there is still one i'm pretty sure and he's 1.5-2cm (longest measurement)And it has been about 5 months since they hatched. (i think???)I have heard from a few people that they have found the eggs but they never hatched. So if you could find out the perfect humidity/temp conditions for the eggs, i'm sure you could incubate them for a better result. If you find out the info i wouldn't mind knowing myself.BTW I went out to look at my snails after replying the first time, and my dog was barking at them cos they were rolling around the sand sucking onto each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bijengum Posted November 24, 2003 Share Posted November 24, 2003 If you leave about a 2 inch air gap between the water level and the lids they will lay their eggs on the glass. This also gives them the perfect humidity conditions. They should hatch in about 3 weeks. They will fall from the egg casing into the water and you will soon have more snails than you know what to do with. The water should be fairly soft and neutral pH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hungsta Posted November 24, 2003 Author Share Posted November 24, 2003 thanx guys...seems like very slow growers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E4G13M4N Posted November 24, 2003 Share Posted November 24, 2003 Feed the young some boiled lettuce and zuccini , wont speed the growth up much but seems to certainly improves health and colour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edward Posted November 24, 2003 Share Posted November 24, 2003 would bass eat snails?just trying to vary his diet :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pride Posted November 25, 2003 Share Posted November 25, 2003 Can the mystery/apple snails reproduce by themselves meaning without a mate? I've had one in my tank now for almost 2 weeks and 3 times now it has deposited eggs ( I think they are anyway - white clusters all stuck together ) on the underside of the tank lids. I've been scraping it off each time as I don't really want a squillion of these things getting around in there. Its in with a breeding pair of convicts and everytime it trys to go in the nest area the convicts just nudge it out again. Pretty clever of them I reckon. BTW water pH is 7.4, temp 26C and they lay them on the lids underside which is about an inch and a half above waterline. CheersAdam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav Posted November 25, 2003 Share Posted November 25, 2003 I had mystery snails breeding about 10 years back. Made an absolute fortune from them. I am yet to see a shop that doesn't want mystery snails to sell. At $1 a go, and taking them in lots of about 100, its pretty easy to get some money going. I had mine going in a 2x2x2ft tank. started with about ten, had two lights on it about 15-16 hours a day plus any old vege left overs from the house. these things reproduce at a phenomenal rate, and if you have the space you can really get them growing. it was at the stage that I was using them to feed my ever growing clown and yoyo loaches. the main thing though is keeping that water high enough, cos if you don't those eggs dry out REAL fast.oh and make sure them lids are tight, else you get lots of crackles underfoot when walking up to your tank almost forgot, water conditions. I have bred them in everything from acid water through to tanks with shell grit as the substrate, so hard alkaline rift lake conditions. temp I never paid attention to, it was whatever I felt like setting the tank at, it varied really. but in two years they never stopped reproducing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazza Posted November 25, 2003 Share Posted November 25, 2003 Sounds interesting kinerata i think i may give it a go in the holidays. Can i ask how much they cost at a LFS? Do the shops still want to buy them off people? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav Posted November 25, 2003 Share Posted November 25, 2003 this was about 6-8 years ago so no idea any more. it would be easy enough for you to find though I am sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazza Posted November 25, 2003 Share Posted November 25, 2003 yep, ill go find out next time im near lfs.Thankswazza Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caty Posted November 25, 2003 Share Posted November 25, 2003 Hi guys,Here's a great site that has just about everything you need to know about mystery/apple snails.http://www.applesnail.net/Tammy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E4G13M4N Posted November 25, 2003 Share Posted November 25, 2003 an the mystery/apple snails reproduce by themselves meaning without a mate? I've had one in my tank now for almost 2 weeks and 3 times now it has deposited eggsUsually need 2 snails to breed although they are both sexes, probably had already mated before purchase.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted November 25, 2003 Share Posted November 25, 2003 Tammy oops sorry Caty, was onto this strand before me : and she has given you all the good oil, visit that site, it's a beauty.I breed snails in outdoor ponds but harvest the eggs every morning before the sun and heat of the day get to them. The eggs are hatched on trays in the fish room and sprayed with one of those trigger sprays when ever I think of it (couple of times a day ). Eggs take 3 weeks or so to hatch. Should be saleable size in six months (not a quick buck to be made there) I don't know about getting a buck each for them tho, I get $200 per thousand @ 3 - 4 cm Dia.Water:- pH 7 or above; moderate to hard or the shells will be too thin to transport. (we add Ag lime and Dolomite to our grow out ponds)Food:- They eat anything fish eat including plants (usually your prized center piece) fish food, letuce, zuchinni, pumpkin (gives added colour to gold and tortie coloured animals) our staple food is pussy bickies !! yep friskies !! nice and cheap and grows good strong snails.Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 A 10 cent sized snail will go for around $3 retail, which the breeder should be looking at getting about a $1 for. I grow them up to this size at a minimum, and if they are twice this size before I get around to taking them to a shop, then it's good luck to the shop for buying from me :rolleyes: They can be quite prolific, and be wary about raising the snails in with substrate spawners as the will get to the fish's eggs at night when the fish are asleep.Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magica DiSpell Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 Mystery snails are hermaphroditic (that is they are both male and female), but they can't mate with themselves. They still need a partner. But if kept in isolation they will lay eggs that are not fertilised. I kept a pair in a tank with hard alkaline water and ended up with hundreds in a matter of weeks. It is interesting that several people recon that they are slow growers. On a diet of spirulina flakes, NSWCS pellets (and anything else that was around at the time) these snails grew very fast. I have also kept them in soft acidic water and found that the shells of the adults that were brought up in hard alkaline water disintegrated relatively quickly (which wasn't very healthy for the snails), but their offspring that grew up in the soft water seemed to cope much better (but still had very thin shells).I think the trick is to feed them plenty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted December 6, 2003 Share Posted December 6, 2003 If you are going to try and breed Mystery snails you will need both sexes as they are not hermaphroditic as previously posted. You might get lucky with just two animals, (a pair), or if you score two mature females chances are they have already mated and are fertile.People ask questions on these forums to learn so please get it right ! Mystery snails, Ampulariidae, are dioecious! If you take the time to visit this web site, http://www.applesnail.net/ and go to anatomy on the menu you get the lowdown on sex differences.Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E4G13M4N Posted December 6, 2003 Share Posted December 6, 2003 Alan Thanks for the interesting site, i have always been of the understanding all snails were hermaphrodites.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted December 7, 2003 Share Posted December 7, 2003 As Sabine said, they eat like crazy, and have a growth rate to match. If you can keep the food up to them, not an easy thing to do, you will be astounded at their growth rate.You will probably have trouble growing and getting young from them in a tank with fish from Malawi, as from my experience the baby snails disappear (in a mouth I'm sure), and even the adult snails seem to take a pounding and their shells will be deformed. In a tank with Tanganyikans, you will have more luck.Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elise007 Posted December 7, 2003 Share Posted December 7, 2003 I started with 4 mystery snails about a year back now. Since then i have sold about 200 - 300 hundred at a guess in lots of 100 mainly for trade at the local LFS for gravel, coral sand, filters etc that i needed anyway.All my tanks are standard african conditions, at least they should be with all shell grit, coral sand, etc bottoms and using seachem buffers etc.I find it is just luck whether they breed or not, in my tanks low to the floor i find they lay eggs but they dont hatch just sit their for weeks and in my tanks near the roof line they hatch in 3 -4 weeks and i have hundreds of them.As i have actually been trying to cut down on numbers of them i put them all into a bottom tank and the fish have been eating them and they have not bred for the last four months. Not sure whetehr that is winter or because they are down low.Anyway down to my last couple of hundred now and doing a reorginaisation shortly so will throw a handful of big ones up top and see what happens.They are a great supply of shells for my shell dwellers and so far i have made nearly as much money form them as i have some of my fish and they cost very little to raise.Also due to the large size of some of them i find the Calvus seem to be able to just pick them up and move them out of the way, i have had three batches of Calvus babies in the last two weeks in my tank with all the snails. Maybe the batches would have been bigger with no snails?When i reorganise all snails will be coming out of this tank due to new fish going in.HTHMark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 :o Well blow me down !!! just today learned of a feral population of mystery snails in a Nature Reserve just down the road from me. Could not believe my eyes !! All the animals have gold shells but some of them have black bodies ! Never seen that combination before, and was surprised that they survive the winter here. Kids collect them and sell to the LFS.Well there ya go "Wild Caught" mystry snails. New blood to play with.Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efc01 Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 Sorry people, this might be a bit off topic but do you have any empty snail shells for my shell dwellers???I have ben after some for a long long time,Someone said $200 for a thousand snails, is this the going price???If so that sounds pretty good to me, so if you have any for sale could you please reply here and i will get back to you very soon!Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chorrylan Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 i,$200 for a thousand snails,I imagine that'd be about right for selling in quantities. The LFS around here tell me they buy 'em from the wholesalers for between $2 and $4 for 10 cent sizes (obviously varies over time and size... and that's not from me actually looking at a wholesale price list).I usually sell a bag of 'em at a $1 each whenever I take fish to an LFS. They're a bit like the obligatory bag of prawn crackers you get from chinese takeaway places or like bristlenose in the sense that they can always use 'em. Useful if like me you feel miserable if you can't sell 'em *something*Umm remember the snailshells come complete with inhabitants; If you're thinking of buying a thousand snails to get shells for your shelldwellers you're going to be very unpopular with your neighbours when they get to smell the aroma of your leftovers, especially if it's while they're recovering from xmas dinner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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