Ivory Snail Egg Care

[jstanley_06]

I have a clutch of ivory snail (apple snail) eggs on the bottom of my hood. I would like to move them so they hatch into a different tank set up just for them. how do you go about moving them or is it even possible to remove them from the hood? they r very moist (have water droplets all over them) but are not submerged. someother general info on hatching them and care for hatchlings would be greatly appreciated too! this will be my first adventure into hatching/raising snails or fish. hopefully i can learn some thing b/c i would like to do more of it in the near future!

 

[BigFishMommy]

gently scrape the egg clutch off in about two days (once it is harder, looks pretty freshly laid). a teaspoon works great to get it off nicely. float a tupperware container with a damp paper towel in it in the tank you want them to hatch in. place clutch on top of paper towel and put the tupperware lid on with a few holes punched in lid (you want to ensure the environment doesn't get too wet or else they won't hatch). once you see baby snails hatching out, remove them from the tupperware and drop them into the tank. it could take up to a few weeks until you see them hatch out, fyi.

put a sponge pre-filter on any filter intakes, so that baby snails don't go for an impeller ride!

i raised multiple generations of apple snails, and although i never used an incubator tupperware like explained above, i have read that it is effective.

also, making 'snail jello' for them to eat is very important for proper shell growth.

snail jello:

1.5 packets knox gelatin (plain unflavoured) (most recipes call for one packet, but i found that wasn't quite enough)
about 10-12 tums, crushed up into a fine powder (this is your calcium source for good shell growth)
one small jar of baby food (i used butternut squash)
ground up pellets or flake food (optional)

microwave the baby food in a bowl for about 1 minute
stir in knox gelatin, making sure to break up any lumps until it's all mixed thoroughly
stir in powdered tums
stir in optional fish food

spoon into ice cube trays, filling each cube about half to 2/3's. put into fridge or freezer to set.
pop out of ice cube trays and put into ziploc. put ziploc into freezer. snail jello will keep a long time this way.

when you go to feed the snail jello, just drop one of the frozen cubes into your tank.


this is a jade apple snail that was raised almost exclusively on snail jello from birth in my tank:



and here's some of my prior snails nomming away at snail jello!

 

[jstanley_06]

^^^B.F.M. Thanks for posting! Loaded with good info! Will have to keep tht snail jello n mind! never though of tums for added calcium! How many should i expect to hatch if all goes perfectly? Here is a pic of the clutch today... also found my ivorys about 30 min ago; maybe in copulation??? Maybe someone can tell me...

 

[jstanley_06]

bump

 

[Kaosu]

you can expect them to hatch with in a week and yes that is them doing it

 

[jstanley_06]

snail porn

 

[BigFishMommy]

that sure looks like some hot n heavy snail porn to me! hahaha! the snail on the glass is female, the other is male.
each egg clutch can yield up to 200 baby snails. you won't see all of them reach maturity, and trust me, you don't want that many snails! lol. i would find my survival rate was about 1/4 to 1/3 from most of my clutches. i did have fish in the tank my snails bred and laid eggs in, and i didn't do anything special with the clutches, just left them be to hatch, so i'm sure the fish got a lot of lil snail snacks. i firmly believe in survival of the fittest, so whichever snails made it to adulthood, i knew they were the strongest of the bunch.

your clutch looks like it could yield 50 to 100 babies. it's not a huge clutch, but it is a good size.

fyi, an apple snails average life span is about 18 months. my first snail, female, lived to just over 2 years. guess i did something right, lol.

and lastly, your two snails in the mating photo are not ivories. they are blues.

this is an ivory apple snail (white body and white foot). this was my first snail, Blondie, with one of her babies behind her:



and here's a handful of a few different batches of babies. ivories, goldens, blues, and jades.

 

[jstanley_06]

Thanks again for the good info BFM! Your actual ivory snail looks amazing and love ur handfull of random babies!

 

[jtiny10]

i have apple snails but they haven't laid eggs the male is constantly harassing what im guessing r the females since i never see them climbing on each other is there a specific water temperature that u have to keep in order form them to breed. it makes me sad to know that they dont live that that long

 

[BigFishMommy]

i kept my tank around 75/76 and never had an issue with them not breeding. quite the opposite in fact!

you don't want your tank to be too warm with apple snails in it, as this does speed up their metabolism and shortens their life cycle. i found 76 was the warmest they 'liked' it, and that is a comfortable temperature for most tropical fish.

unless you actually see the male putting his breeding tube up under the front/side of the female's shell, then you may not have opposite gender snails. female snails can lay eggs without mating, but those eggs will not be fertile.