My first snails

[KristaLynn]

Hey guys,

I just got my first snails in the mail yesterday thanks to Steve! Here's a couple pictures of them, my camera isn't very good at focusing on them.

And they better not be doing what I think they are in that last picture already! :no:

[CACAdmin]

Great pics. Snails are really neat.
And they better not be doing what I think they are in that last picture already! :no::laugh: It's hard to be sure from the picture but I think they are. No need to worry if you don't want more. You can simply remove the clutch if the female lays one and you don't want any baby snails.

[Pamelajo]

:secret: I kind of think they are too!


That is great! You have officially entered the slimey side of the hobby.

[KristaLynn]

:eek: Apparently the trip didn't phase that one!

[Pamelajo]

Typical males!!

[Kimr]

Awesome snails! Love sulaweisi's (tylo) Great pics, you will enjoy the snails.

[wes&sam]

nice pics

[Bina]

You lucky girl, how many do you have?

[KristaLynn]

Thanks everyone!

Bina - I got 5 purple striped, 4 ivory and 2 orange rabbit.

They're all in the 35 right now because my friend's bringing me goldfish tonight that will go into the 10g until I get the 55 running then something & some snails will go into the 10g.

I am spending way too much time infront of the tank now too. I come home and I have to run check on the snails. :laugh:

[Kimr]

its so fun to watch snails move!!!! they have such characters!

[Namor]

Typical males!!

:laugh: ... :skeptical: ... Brattess!!! ... :BOLTS:

[Pamelajo]

:WhoMe: :Angel:

[Sprucegruve]

glad to hear you like the snails,and that they are doing good
im pretty sure the two snails were mating in the last photo...but its hard to tell

how hard is the water in Saskatchewan?
i know in alberta its pretty hard,
in my experience snails do better in harder water,but with a calcium supplement water hardness doesn't play a big factor in snails health

[KristaLynn]

It's hard here too! Must be what's making them so happy. :yes:

Last night my friends were here and they couldn't get over the colour of the rabbit snails. Between them and the dal. mollies I almost had my friend talked into a heated tank. :laugh:

[CACAdmin]

I almost had my friend talked into a heated tank. :laugh:
Spreading the addiction, eh? :wink: :laugh:

[Pamelajo]

Spreading the addiction, eh? :wink: :laugh:
She could not have learned that from us!!

[CACAdmin]

She could not have learned that from us!!Spoken by a true enabler. :wink: :laugh:

[Starfish]

Those are really cool looking snails. I am glad to hear they like hard water. We had a mystery snail that did not last very long. I thought it was because of our extremely hard well water. So maybe it was something else and I can try snails again.

Which ones are the long spirals in the first photo? Are they the rabbit snails? I like them. Actually, I like them all.:yes:

[Pamelajo]

Which ones are the long spirals in the first photo? Are they the rabbit snails? I like them. Actually, I like them all.:yes:

:laugh: Another possible convert to the slimey side in the making.
Yes the first are the rabbit snails.

[KristaLynn]

Starfish - my water's naturally hard as well. So a couple weeks after I went crazy adding rocks to my tank I had to pull them all because between the natural water & the rocks it was off the charts hard! My regular water's much better for them just not ask pretty.

[Starfish]

:laugh: Another possible convert to the slimey side in the making.

That is a very strong possibility. ::D: Just wondering whether snails do okay with gravel substrate. That's all I have in my tanks at the moment. I would have to get snails somewhere other than my LFS as most of theirs seem to be just empty shells.:nah:

Starfish - my water's naturally hard as well. So a couple weeks after I went crazy adding rocks to my tank I had to pull them all because between the natural water & the rocks it was off the charts hard! My regular water's much better for them just not ask pretty.

You must have calcium deposits or something similar in your rocks. I had to be very careful when picking out my rocks at the beach as we have a lot of limestone and chert in the rocks here (great for fossils, not good for water hardness). The good old vinegar test helped to narrow down my choices.

[Pamelajo]

As long as the gravel is not sharp it is fine. Have gravel in all my tanks. I would love to help you out, but my stock has dwindled and the replacements I bought a few months ago did not do well. Out of about a dozen one is surviving. If you know of a big al's they usually have the golds and sometimes the coloured. I got a couple of golds from them and they are doing really well. I am hopefully getting some from Steve in the spring if he has lots you may be able to get him to send you some too. I will keep my eyes open down here. Sometimes Ivory ones show up at the auctions. If you interested just let me know and I will grab what I can and ship. March is the first auction.

[KristaLynn]

I bought two of the rocks at the fish store so I thought they'd be safe. :mad:

[CACAdmin]

I bought two of the rocks at the fish store so I thought they'd be safe. :mad: I'm sure the rocks they sell are aquarium safe. However, some will affect the pH and mineral content of your tank water, some won't. (I go into the store specifically looking for rocks like Texas Holey Rock and Tufa in my tanks as we have very soft neutral pH water here in the Vancouver area). I wonder if they'd be willing to swap out the ones you have for others (which won't alter pH).

[Pamelajo]

Like Jay said.

[KristaLynn]

Unfortunatly I picked up the rocks out of a big rack (nothing marked) in a city I just happened to be in because of Obedience trials so I probably won't go back until the next trial in a year.

On the other hand...new pictures!!
1. Orange Rabbit Peeking
2. Orange Rabbit getting a Ride around the tank

[Bina]

What a cute pic of the rabbit hitching a ride on the Apple Cruiser :-)

[CACAdmin]

What a cute pic of the rabbit hitching a ride on the Apple Cruiser :-)
:yes: It' really funny to watch snails hitch rides on each other... talk about the lazy way of gettting around. :laugh:

[Starfish]

As long as the gravel is not sharp it is fine. Have gravel in all my tanks. I would love to help you out, but my stock has dwindled and the replacements I bought a few months ago did not do well. Out of about a dozen one is surviving. If you know of a big al's they usually have the golds and sometimes the coloured. I got a couple of golds from them and they are doing really well. I am hopefully getting some from Steve in the spring if he has lots you may be able to get him to send you some too. I will keep my eyes open down here. Sometimes Ivory ones show up at the auctions. If you interested just let me know and I will grab what I can and ship. March is the first auction.

My gravel is not sharp. I made sure of that before buying. :yes:

BA, Newmarket is about 3 and 1/2 hour drive. I get there when passing through to visit family a few times a year. (actually I was just there last week and picked up a few new fish) I saw snails in there only once and they did not look the greatest. But then, I was never really looking for them before. There is also a closer one in Kitchener about 2 1/2 hour drive, but I don't have much call to go to Kitchener. Spring will probably be a good time, as I am thinking I would let my tanks settle in for a while with the new fish. Also best to wait until after we get back from March break holiday. Thanks for the offer, let me know when the auction is coming up.

[h2osanity]

Kitchener has another great store just opened as well....Aquariums By Design at Erb and Ira Needles. They are on Facebook as well. Call Stace a bit ahead of time and maybe he will order them in for you. Great store, great people..

[Starfish]

Sounds like a trip to Kitchener might be in the future.

KristaLynn those are more great pics of your snails.

I do have one lonely snail that hitch-hiked in on a plant. It is very plain looking. Anyone know what kind it is? Here are a couple of pics.
4008

4009

[Pamelajo]

Looks like a pond snail, sorry not sure of the latin name.

[Bina]

Looks like a pond snail, sorry not sure of the latin name.
could it be "physa"?

[h2osanity]

Definitely a pond snail. Not terrible to have but not a challenge to keep ...in fact you will wish they weren't around after a while ;)

[Ursus sapien]

it's a physa. pond snails (the whole family) have triangular antennae, physa have those cute my favorite martian type. Physa are a little smaller as adults than pond snails, and don't seem to mount each other train-style like pondies.

this shot should give you an idea about the antennae:

[Starfish]

Definitely a pond snail. Not terrible to have but not a challenge to keep ...in fact you will wish they weren't around after a while ;)

So are these the kind that will over-run my tank in the near future? :skeptical: Or shall I keep it, as it does seem to be doing quite well?

[Ursus sapien]

they'll prosper in direct correlation to your feeding/over feeding habits

[KristaLynn]

My nephew (he's 5) came over yesterday to watch me feed the snails. He loved them!! Once they smelt the food it was all dive-bombing off stuff and snail races. Well the apples anyways, he didn't even notice the rabbit snails until I pointed them out...and then he didn't care because a big ivory jumped from the top of the tank, almost hit a molly and landed right on the food!! DID YOU SEE THAT AUNTIE?? And then he did an instant replay for me. :laugh:

[Kimr]

Thats so cute of what your nephew saw and said of your feeding of the snails!! Love it.

[CACAdmin]

Before you know it, your nephew will be wanting is own snails. (Can't blame him, they're neat.)

[Bina]

Krista, I guess your first baby snails will be going to the nephew's house ;-)

[KristaLynn]

Hahaha! My sister won't let those snails within 10 feet of her front door. My nephew has serious food allergies (he almost died from milk a couple years ago) so for him to have pets and for her to have a whole new set of lables to read and companies to phone and find out what else is made on the equipment would just be too much. He'll just have to come to Auntie's house. :yes:

[CACAdmin]

Then, I somehow think you're going to have a frequent visitor. :yes:

[KristaLynn]

More snail pictures!!

1. Someone's got their foot wrapped around the food because they don't want to share!

2. I put in a new piece of driftwood while cleaning the tank and before I had even finished adding the new water someone was checking it out.

3. I came back after cleaning the 10g to find a party going on with more snails on the way! I could almost hear them, "New new new new!" :laugh:

[CACAdmin]

Great pics. Looks like you have some pretty happy snails. :yes:

[Bina]

Ditto. Your snails are sure having some fun....Mine are napping at the moment.

[CACAdmin]

Ditto. Your snails are sure having some fun....Mine are napping at the moment.
Full bellies. :laugh:

[KristaLynn]

I've found mine sleeping in the weirdest ways! Floating at the top, upside down...apparently when it's time to nap they don't care where they are! :laugh:

[CACAdmin]

They could be sleeping or ciliary feeding. They have an uncanny ability to move along the water's surface, too.

You might find these two theads on snail behavior interesting:
Ciliary feeding (http://www.canadianaquariumconnection.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4277)
How snails move at the water surface (http://www.canadianaquariumconnection.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4895)

[Sprucegruve]

thank you for posting those articles.i used to have them bookmarked on my old computer.....
lost them along the way

[rowansd]

I had no idea you could get snails in such great colors!! Bob definitely has room for some friends in the 70 g. Would they like dried green seaweed do you think?