baby mystery snails

[littlegoldsnail]

More likely they are just pest snails that rode in a a plant or something, not baby mystery snails. Could you post pictures of them? I could probably ID them for you.

[indrajitmasuda]

not likely as i have no plants and changed the water before reintroducing the baby mystery snails. a month later 50 more tiny baby snails emerged dont know from where - shall try and send pics - thanks for your reply

[littlegoldsnail]

Are you positive the first 10 were mystery snails? I know most pest snails can reproduce within a few weeks because they grow so fast.

[indrajitmasuda]

Either that or apple snails because they were golden yellow and almost the size of a golf ball - their progeny at the baby snail stage appear black with a golden spot or edge - all the numerous new snails apart from the 10 surviving original progeny are the same - dont look at all like pest snails. i am intrigued how from 10 they have grown into 100 and every day the numbers appear to increase, i also observe many larger ones wiggling on top of each other - wonder if that is mating,

[littlegoldsnail]

Those are certainly mystery snails then. They must be just be really really happy. What is the water temperature? I know they grow a lot faster in warmer water.

[indrajit]

thanks. i still keep looking for egg pods as with the parents when there were many on the top of the tank above water, but found none - so the mystery remains - mystery snails indeed lol

[indrajitmasuda]

wow what a discovery with a torch!! a few of the larger baby snails were carrying a cluster of tiny bubbles on their shell back which i presume are eggs. I found similar clusters stuck on the glass wall of the tank but below water level. Looks like these precocious baby snails have already reached the stage for reproduction. Well the first 10 survivors from the first clutch of the 4 parent golf ball sized snails that died, have been with me for about 4 months at least and while they have not grown large like the parents being only about half an inch in size possibly they are mature already. Now from the first 10 survivors there have appeared what looks like over a hundred smaller snails of all sizes. Wonder if anyone knowledgable can throw some light on this trange phenomenon of mystery baby snails reproductive activity.

[littlegoldsnail]

If they are little bubble looking egg sacks stuck stuff under water, those would be ramshorn snail eggs. Possibly another species of pond snail, but ramshorn is most likely.

Do they look something like this?



Most likely you have a few adult mystery snails, and an invasion of pest snails along with them.

[indrajitmasuda]

thanks for the analysis - lets wait and watch

[indrajitmasuda]

They continue to multiply laying eggs everywhere, They are not ramshorn as there shell shape is more like that of mystery snails. colors are generally black violet with the top peak part yellow in contrast, rather pretty. All the snails have the same features. The larger ones carry grey egg bundles on their backs. They are already in there hundreds. if these are some species of mystery snails it is a kind of miracle. They don't look like common pond snails which would be smaller and differently shaped with no striking color combination. I fail to identify them. There are two dwarf goramis in the tank with them but they ignore them. they all have spiral shape apex and as i said that apex is golden.

[littlegoldsnail]

Could you post pictures? I’m really curious to know what they are.

[littlegoldsnail]

I’ve been trying to think of snails that fit your description. These are the only two I can think of at the current moment.

This is a Japanese trapdoor snail. They are actually live bearing (so no eggs), but I thought they still might be a possibility.



These are bladder snails. These lay lots and lots of eggs, breed A TON and are usually considered a common pond snail, but they seemed sorta close to your description.



I’ll try to think of more.

[indrajitmasuda]

the shape of the bladder snail is more elongated than round whereas my snails are round with apex. there bodies all appear grey. i wish i couls take pics but my mobile and camera do not have features for enlargement. Ill try though, not very tech savvy. Thanks anyway for caring to reply.

[indrajitmasuda]

I now have some photos but do not know how to insert in the post - can you help?

[littlegoldsnail]

You need a photo hosting site. I use imagbb, it’s super easy. Once you upload the photos to imagbb, copy the links and paste them in your post on pet snails forum.

[indrajitmasuda]

ibb.co/KzfkFwR
ibb.co/SfNKWH7
ibb.co/Z1Bth72
ibb.co/7XsHSxF

[indrajitmasuda]

cant paste photos on quick reply

[indrajit]

links have been posted on forum but no photos. how do you post your nice photos on your posts

[wolf]

Hi,

these are "bladder snails" (Physidae, might be Physa acuta, perhaps).

Kind regards: wolf

[littlegoldsnail]

Those are a species of bladder snail. Judging by the more solid coloring and the slight rounding on the shell, I think they are a sub species in the bladder snail family, but definitely a type of bladder snail. Those look very much like some of the wild variants I’ve seen.

Those are crazy breeders. They are one of the most common species of pest snail. They can triple in number in just a couple weeks.

[indrajitmasuda]

Still a mystery how my 4 mystery snails which laid numerous pink egg pods all over the tank top from the very beginning produced this species. Even then i wondered why they looked black as babies rather than yellow and why their bodies were grey rather than white. So looks like the hundreds of eggs the mystery snails laid and their promiscuous breeding produced not a single progeny!!

[indrajitmasuda]

thanks for your analysis. Still wonder where these bladder snails came from. I suppose they will remain about half an inch in size.

[littlegoldsnail]

Yep, they stay small. They could have come in on a plant, a snail shell, anything really. I’ve bought snails at the pet store that had bladder snail eggs stuck on their shells (which gave me a bladder snail infestation). Bladder snails will lay eggs on anything.

[indrajit]

I took the largest and took a camera photo magnified - quite impressed with the results - it has the shape of a conch shell with yellow white and black bands running across - the apex is bright yellow - to me at least it doesn't look like an ordinary wild pond snail. Im trying to transfer the pic to my pc but cant find the usb!! Whatever, im still quite excited because all the little and big ones look special - still wondering what the species is and whether they are related in any way to the original mystery snail 'parents'. They first began to appear simultaneously with the laying of 5 or 6 egg pods pink in colour on the top of my fish tank above the water line and i presumed they had emerged from those egg pods of the mystery snails the size of golf balls!! Thje mystery deepens and even if they are only 'pests' their look and habits make me as proud of the phenomenon in my tank as if they were a special breed which i am convinced they are. Whatever its a snail keepers prize to have so much breeding activity and proliferation of species.

[indrajit]

i looked up the internet to see physica acuta bladder snails. They were slightly more elongated than mine and rather than stripes had spots. the mystery remains!!