Mystery Snail lifespan?

[laritheloud]

So I've been trying to figure out what the typical lifespan is for a mystery snail. I lost two out of the three I had. The first one was large when I purchased him (so I'm assuming had some months behind him), and the second I had for about 6 months before he passed. I still have one left that's totally fine.

Is it normal for mystery snails to only stick around for six months? I've been making sure to feed them and their shells were healthy and strong. For both snails that passed, they would hang on the glass in the same spot for about 4 days straight, then eventually fall down and never move again. Is it just luck?

I'm thinking about trying some different larger snails, if anyone has any recommendations for snails that live 1 year or longer I'd love it.

[Colu]

From what I have read 1-2 years seems to be the average life expectancy of mystery snails I kept one about 15 years ago I think he lived about 15months 

[Stef]

I also lost a mystery snail in July. I had him for 1 year 5 months. He was large and very active. Fun to watch zoom around. Then like yours he stopped moving for about 4 days. His antenna got wrinkly and I gave him a sniff test and he was gone. He was my first mystery snail and had read they live for about a year so I was pretty happy he made it that far. They are really cool. Hope you get another. 

[Atitagain]

@laritheloudi had about the same luck with the first batch of 4 yellow I got, then got 3 ivory same results but luckily I have 1 left and she had two clutches of eggs both after the other two passed. I have about 30 of them that survived doing well but growing at different rates 4ish months old some are dime size while others are almost quarter sized. The research I’ve done is an average of 18 months. If you can wait 14 months I will let you know from experience for sure😜

From what I’ve read 18-24 months for snails is about as long as you can expect.

[laritheloud]

Man, I wonder why my first two only made it to six months??? I hope my blue snail lives that long. I think I’ll probably pick up another when I stop in at my LFS, I just think it’s pretty sad they didn’t live as long as I hoped!

[Guppysnail]

I’m sorry for  your losses. 1-2 years. VERY RARE instances of 3.  The thing is if you buy one you cannot tell age by size. If they were not fed properly they stay small 😢. IF they are fed plentiful they grow FAST. My lfs got a batch from someone else they still have some the size of a quarter 6 months later so 8-10 months old. Mine were 3 months old when I dropped them off and twice their size. 
edit my niece noticed them in her tank  3 months ago very tiny so might have been 4 months old

Edited August 25, 2021 by Guppysnail

[laritheloud]

On 8/24/2021 at 9:03 PM, Guppysnail said:

I’m sorry for  your losses. 1-2 years. VERY RARE instances of 3.  The thing is if you buy one you cannot tell age by size. If they were not fed properly they stay small 😢. IF they are fed plentiful they grow FAST. My lfs got a batch from someone else they still have some the size of a quarter 6 months later so 8-10 months old. Mine were 3 months old when I dropped them off and twice their size. 
edit my niece noticed them in her tank  3 months ago very tiny so might have been 4 months old

The ones I lost were very large and grew fast. I bought my golden snail at around 1 inch in diameter I think? Possibly 1.5, and he easily grew larger than a golf ball. We fed them repashy, zucchini, invertebrate pellets and they constantly munched on dying plant matter in my tank. My other snail I lost a bit ago was also large. My third is still quite a bit smaller and still has a ways to grow to catch up. Hoping I can get more life out of our last one and I’ll get longer lived snails for our next!

[Guppysnail]

On 8/24/2021 at 9:14 PM, laritheloud said:

The ones I lost were very large and grew fast. I bought my golden snail at around 1 inch in diameter I think? Possibly 1.5, and he easily grew larger than a golf ball. We fed them repashy, zucchini, invertebrate pellets and they constantly munched on dying plant matter in my tank. My other snail I lost a bit ago was also large. My third is still quite a bit smaller and still has a ways to grow to catch up. Hoping I can get more life out of our last one and I’ll get longer lived snails for our next!

Hopefully you will.  I kept some of my nieces because mine are getting up there and again I don’t know how old most were when I bought them. 

[PineSong]

Oh, this makes me sad. Mine was already large when I bought him--I hate to think he won't live long.

[GardenStateGoldfish]

Mystery snails live longer in cool water and shorter in warm water, grow faster in warm water and slower in cold water. Although they do still live relatively short lives. 

[laritheloud]

My temp is set to around 77 degrees @GardenStateGoldfish. I use an inkbird temp controller so it's plus or minus 1 degree.

@PineSongI really hope yours live longer than mine. It's really depressing! My son already wants a new Mystery snail for the tank, so we're going to be trying again soon. I also want to try other species out.... My nerites are all fine so far, though, and they were the first creatures added to the tank.

[PineSong]

On 8/26/2021 at 9:08 AM, laritheloud said:

 

@PineSongI really hope yours live longer than mine. It's really depressing! My son already wants a new Mystery snail for the tank, so we're going to be trying again soon. 

Years ago my kid was in elementary school and had a writing assignment (unbelievably--because it's such an inappropriate assignment!) on "the worst thing that has happened to me" and he wrote about his pet snail that died. His teacher's comment on the page was "this can't be the worst thing that has happened" and she docked him points for not 'taking the assignment seriously'. I guess that teacher doesn't understand snails or little boys.

[laritheloud]

On 8/26/2021 at 12:18 PM, PineSong said:

Years ago my kid was in elementary school and had a writing assignment (unbelievably--because it's such an inappropriate assignment!) on "the worst thing that has happened to me" and he wrote about his pet snail that died. His teacher's comment on the page was "this can't be the worst thing that has happened" and she docked him points for not 'taking the assignment seriously'. I guess that teacher doesn't understand snails or little boys.

WOW, what the heck kind of assignment and grading standard is that? Seriously? That's a child! Of course any pet's passing will be horrible to a child.

[laritheloud]

We are trying again! Here’s our new black mystery snail tiny guy, Jet. Our blue snail is a mid sized adult named Skylar!

[Guppysnail]

On 8/28/2021 at 11:28 AM, laritheloud said:

We are trying again! Here’s our new black mystery snail tiny guy, Jet. Our blue snail is a mid sized adult named Skylar!

Hi Skylar and Jet such cuties. I’m so glad you are trying again 😍

Edited August 28, 2021 by Guppysnail

[Ponyoryx]

I was just coming onto this forum to post about my mystery snail dying as well! I'm wondering if it was age because she was pretty large but also active when I got her a few months ago. Over the last few weeks she has been slowing down and I found her upside down yesterday 😞 I was worried it was my parameters, but they are fine and my rams horn and other mystery snails are also happy.

I did read somewhere that mystery snails can get stuck upside down and die if they aren't righted fast enough...has anyone experienced this? Snail tax attached.

[Guppysnail]

I am very sorry for your loss. I have had many mystery snails and the only time I ever seen that is elderly that also slowed way down/became much less active and are already passing and don’t bother trying. Mine parasail and land upside down and can right themselves from that position.

Edited August 28, 2021 by Guppysnail

[laritheloud]

On 8/28/2021 at 3:02 PM, Ponyoryx said:

I was just coming onto this forum to post about my mystery snail dying as well! I'm wondering if it was age because she was pretty large but also active when I got her a few months ago. Over the last few weeks she has been slowing down and I found her upside down yesterday 😞 I was worried it was my parameters, but they are fine and my rams horn and other mystery snails are also happy.

I did read somewhere that mystery snails can get stuck upside down and die if they aren't righted fast enough...has anyone experienced this? Snail tax attached.

Mine was suctioned to the glass for 4 days, only moving an inch or so over the 4 days, before he fell on his back and didn't move again. I righted him and checked him throughout the day until his operculum no longer retracted when I gently pulled on it.

I'm so sorry for your loss. My gold mystery was very large when he passed, and so was my purple mystery snail, but we just didn't have either of them for very long. Fingers crossed Skylar and Jet stay with us much longer!

[RachelElizabeth]

Hi, I wanted to chime in and say that my nerite snails have outlived my mystery snails by far! I've had them well over a year. The nerites have also been better algae eaters in my experience. 

[laritheloud]

On 8/28/2021 at 9:10 PM, RachelElizabeth said:

Hi, I wanted to chime in and say that my nerite snails have outlived my mystery snails by far! I've had them well over a year. The nerites have also been better algae eaters in my experience. 

Yep, my nerite snails are all still healthy and happy. I love my mysteries, though, I just hope my latest addition lives a bit longer.

[Eddie Dingle]

I wish they lived longer, I've thought about setting up a dedicated mystery snail tank and just breed a single variety myself to always have on hand. I haven't done it yet because I'm worried that I'd become overrun with them, anyone here have experience doing something like this? 

[tnnlynch]

If you spawn a clutch or two of mystery snail eggs you will have hundreds of snails.  I have a large number of yellow and ivory snails in a ten galleon tank that have grown relatively slowly.  The few I picked out for my other tanks exploded in growth when moved.  I feed the small tank rather aggressively with a high calcium repashy mix, use crushed coral and wonder shells (my tap is rock hard) but obviously there are some limiting factors.   I did cull quite a few for another fish keeper who has pea puffers.  Probably will cull or sell more soon.

[eatyourpeas]

@laritheloud, as others have said, Mystery snails only live for 1-2 years. If you got them at nearly 1" in size, they were probably closer to the one year mark in their life. It is sad that such magnificent creatures only live for such a short period of time. 🙁

[scott the fishman]

On 8/24/2021 at 5:22 PM, Atitagain said:

@laritheloudi had about the same luck with the first batch of 4 yellow I got, then got 3 ivory same results but luckily I have 1 left and she had two clutches of eggs both after the other two passed. I have about 30 of them that survived doing well but growing at different rates 4ish months old some are dime size while others are almost quarter sized. The research I’ve done is an average of 18 months. If you can wait 14 months I will let you know from experience for sure😜

From what I’ve read 18-24 months for snails is about as long as you can expect.

do all snails have such short life spans?

[Atitagain]

On 11/17/2021 at 4:28 PM, scott the fishman said:

do all snails have such short life spans?

Not sure I think I’ve heard of some breeds that live longer MTS or ramhorns maybe. But I’m not positive. I’ve only researched mystery snails because that’s the breed I wanted for now.