Apple snails

[petros]

Hello guys! My apple snails have laid eggs at the plastic cover of the tank, and I do not know what to do. Is it easy to breed them? And would it be a prob for the discus and the plants? The baby snails are gonna eat everything at their passage? Any info please?

[ashley]

Hi Petros
Try this site for all your Apple snail Questions and answers.
Other forum users may be able to help.
www.applesnail.net

[Merrilyn]

Hi Petros. Apple snails are just great with discus. They make short work of any left over food, and even eat a small amount of algae.

I keep lots of them in fry and growout tanks and they keep the tanks pristine.

The pink mass of eggs will hatch in about 2 or 3 weeks depending on the temp and humidity. The little snails fall straight into the water. Hungry discus will eat most of them, but enough will survive in the tank to increase your population.

You don't need to do anything. They'll look after themselves. You can supply them with a piece of vegetable if you wish, zucchini, carrot, lettuce, but they will find enough to eat with the leftovers from your fish.

[Ben]

I think the humble apple snails are a great addition to the aquaruim!

And their breeding habbits are very interesting!

[FishLover]

Like most snails, apple snails prefer calcium rich water. When PH drops lower than 7, the calcium of the shell can dissolve. With enough of shells dessolving, they can drive up your PH.

I wonder if that's good for Discus tank or not.

[Merrilyn]

Water in most parts of Australia is very soft, and we sometimes have to add shellgrit to our tanks to prevent a pH crash.

With frequent water changes the dissolving shells shouldn't be a problem.

I have apple snails in one of my tanks that holds a breeding pair of wild caught Betta macrostoma. The pH in that tank is 4.5 and yet the snails grow large, with good strong shells. Don't quite know how, but it's definately happening.

If your local water already carries a high amount of calcium, then yes, I can see that the dissolving shells would add to the problem.

[petros]

Ok then Ill lay back and Ill see whats gonna happen:)

[petros]

Does anyone knows why my snails are dying?

[wickedglass]

temp too high?
all shagged out?
salt in the water?
internal nasties?

all a possibility!

on the other hand .... yummmmm, apple snails! there's a lot of good recipes for them on the net :)

[petros]

The temp is 30 Celcious , they are not shagged out nad there is no salt. Concerning the nasties, I do not know. They seem to rot. Is it a possibility to be very old, and die?

[Merrilyn]

They can certainly die of old age Petros. Just make sure they are actually dead, They can appear lifeless, when actually they are just resting.

One way to tell is to tap the bottom of the shell.

If the door stays tightly closed, the animal is still alive. Only if they are hanging out of the shell, and don't retreat when the bottom of the shell is tapped, can you be sure they are dead.

HTH

[Bill T.]

Please forgive my ignorance, but what do apple snails look like - anyone got a pic?

[Del]

Click on the link at the top of the post Bill T.

[Del]

Actually I do have a picture of mine Bill T.

Here you go.

DEL