TeeJays first mystery snail clutch has hatched!

[TeeJay]

I just found a clutch of mystery snail eggs on my tank lid. How do I go about incubation for the to hatch?

Edited August 23, 2022 by TeeJay

[Katherine]

Yay! Here's a video with the basic method I used.

 

[TeeJay]

Ok so I got a container. Poked holes in the lid. Them out the tank water paper towels on the bottom. Them a piece of square filter sponge on that. Them dry paper towels and put the lid on 

It's now floating in the tank. Do I need to re wet the paper towels at any time or just let them go? And the clutch felt very dry does it need to be dampened or with the container do the job?

[Katherine]

I changed out the bottom towel for a fresh wet one most days. I'm not sure how necessary that really is though. 

You don't need to wet the clutch at all, the incubator will take care of that.

[TeeJay]

As well I have a 2.5 gal tank I can set up to grow them out in. I have a nano sponge filter I can put on it but it's new. Would squeezing a seasoned sponge into it be efficient with fritz zyme 7 after they go in enoughm as well are the rocks I have in there to big for them to get lost crushed in?. Maybe go bare bottom. I only have extra crushed coral laying around no gravel.

[Katherine]

I'm gonna try tagging @Guppysnail in for those questions. They're much more experienced than I am.

[TeeJay]

Yes she is always my rock in these situations lol. I messaged her first

 

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Congratulations TJ!

The babies are going to be really small. I would suggest using sand or bare bottom.

Try seasoning the tank ahead of time like you did for the shrimp. Incubation should be like 2 weeks, give or take. They will also enjoy some moss.

Edited August 5, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

After mine grew to like chickpea size their bioload crashed my cycle in the 10 gal. I was water changing twice a day with Prime. Might want to keep some Prime on hand for later, since it detoxifies the harmful stuff.

Edited August 5, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[TeeJay]

On 8/5/2022 at 7:29 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Congratulations TJ!

The babies are going to be really small. I would suggest using sand or bare bottom.

Try seasoning the tank ahead of time like you did for the shrimp. Incubation should be like 2 weeks, give or take. They will also enjoy some moss.

Ok I'll probably go with bare bottom so I can see them easier. I'll get the tank set up this evening or tomorrow. Hook up the new nano filter and squeeze my 29 gal filter sponge and put it in there. I figure wait to add the fritz zyme until they go into the tank. Would the beneficial bacteria dye off before they hatch and I put them in there?

On 8/5/2022 at 7:34 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

After mine grew to like chickpea size their bioload crashed my cycle in the 10 gal. I was water changing twice a day with Prime. Might want to keep some Prime on hand for later, since it detoxifies the harmful stuff.

I usually have prime on hand. How long until they would get to that size?

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/5/2022 at 7:37 PM, TeeJay said:

Would the beneficial bacteria dye off before they hatch and I put them in there?

Just run your air and you can ghost feed, lightly, until they are born.

 

On 8/5/2022 at 7:37 PM, TeeJay said:

How long until they would get to that size?

I’d say like, a month & a half.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

If you do end up having the cycle/bioload issues later, this is a thought too. I just did extra water changes because I wanted to see the little guys. The downside of the tote is you can’t really get a good look at them.

Oh my gosh, you’re going to have so much fun with this. Parasnailing everywhere and snail antics (one time I saw 3 snails stacked vertically on the 4th snail, like he was an Uber or something, and he was traveling right along.)

Also I had some floating plants but they would go up, grab one, and then parasnail down with it. No more floating plants but who cares? It was worth it to watch that craziness.

Edited August 5, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[TeeJay]

Yes I'm pretty pumped lol. Hopefully it's a viable clutch. I have it floating in my 29 gal so it does not block off to much light in the smaller tanks. I was just commenting on @Guppysnail journal that I didn't know if I had males and females since I have never seen a clutch from the two I have in my 29 gal tank. So at least I have a pair in the shrimp tank lol. I'll keep a few and see about my lfs taking some. It's a smaller clutch so hopefully it's not a massive amount. I would think maybe 75-100 in this one. My best guestimate.

 

 

On 8/5/2022 at 7:51 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

If you do end up having the cycle/bioload issues later, this is a thought too. I just did extra water changes because I wanted to see the little guys. The downside of the tote is you can’t really get a good look at them.

Oh my gosh, you’re going to have so much fun with this. Parasnailing everywhere and snail antics (one time I saw 3 snails stacked vertically on the 4th snail, like he was an Uber or something, and he was traveling right along.)

Also I had some floating plants but they would go up, grab one, and then parasnail down with it. No more floating plants but who cares? It was worth it to watch that craziness.

I have plenty of hornwort I can throw in there for a playground.

[Guppysnail]

Squeeze everything in a large tote 10-20 gal tote if possible and get it going now. Drill holes in the lid the size of airline to run the airline through so it’s escape proof. Not being cycled and seasoned you want to avoid egg yolk. Stick with hikari first bites and zoomed nano spirulina blocks at first. It’s not as hard on parameters. Bare bottom definitely!  You are going to do great!

[TeeJay]

On 8/5/2022 at 9:03 PM, Guppysnail said:

Squeeze everything in a large tote 10-20 gal tote if possible and get it going now. Drill holes in the lid the size of airline to run the airline through so it’s escape proof. Not being cycled and seasoned you want to avoid egg yolk. Stick with hikari first bites and zoomed nano spirulina blocks at first. It’s not as hard on parameters. Bare bottom definitely!  You are going to do great!

Guess I'll have to buy a tote all I have on hand is 2.5 gal tank. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/5/2022 at 9:15 PM, TeeJay said:

Guess I'll have to buy a tote all I have on hand is 2.5 gal tank. 

Or a tank! Because remember with the tote you can only really watch them from above. The totes are not great for side viewing. Not clear enough. Just depends on your budget. Plus a tote can be easily placed on the floor.

On 8/5/2022 at 9:03 PM, Guppysnail said:

you want to avoid egg yolk

Haha, you knew I’d say something about egg yolk!  😂😂

[Guppysnail]

On 8/6/2022 at 5:27 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Or a tank! Because remember with the tote you can only really watch them from above. The totes are not great for side viewing. Not clear enough. Just depends on your budget. Plus a tote can be easily placed on the floor.

Haha, you knew I’d say something about egg yolk!  😂😂

I love egg yolk. I even feed it to fish fry. In an unseasoned tank though it’s rough on parameters and causes me issues 🤗

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/6/2022 at 5:34 AM, Guppysnail said:

I love egg yolk. I even feed it to fish fry. In an unseasoned tank though it’s rough on parameters and causes me issues 🤗

Same happened to me, in a WELL seasoned tank!

But of course you know I overfed it. Which is suuuuuper easy to do with egg yolk.

[Guppysnail]

On 8/6/2022 at 5:59 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

you know I overfed

I always overfeed 🙄. And yeah egg yolk is hard not to overfeed. With fry food I just vac out my occasional really bad overfeed. Egg yolk sort of dissolves into the water. But it sure does grow healthy fry. I think it’s as good for baby critters as BBS. 🤗

[redfish]

Must be snail season, lol.  They seem to be laying eggs based on the few threads here.  Good luck!

[Katherine]

On 8/6/2022 at 8:14 AM, redfish said:

Must be snail season, lol.  They seem to be laying eggs based on the few threads here.  Good luck!

I think we all just saw @Chick-In-Of-TheSea's amazing journal and decided we needed to give it a try too!

[TeeJay]

Well got the 2.5 gallon set up for when the clutch hatches if it's viable. I don't really have room for a tote to put them in. But I have a lfs that will take most of them once they are about pea size. So hopefully I can keep the bioload at a moderate level until I get them to that size. Put a nano sponge filter in and just went bare bottom. As well I squeezed out a seasoned sponge filter into it so it should be good by the time they are ready to hatch.domt mind the cloudy water just got it running.

[TeeJay]

So the 2.5 has cleared up and I put 3 small pieces of flake food in to help ghost feed the tank. So my plan will be is to keep this up until the clutch is ready to hatch. If it's viable and does hatch they will go in here for a few weeks. As they are in there I will get a 10-15 gallon clear tote to move them into so they don't cause a crash in such a small tank. I can pull one of my med sponge filters from my 29 gal tank to seed the tote with. That was it gives me a few weeks to get the tote seeded and ok to move them into.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Hey I just remember you use bacter ae. Isn’t that stuff made to create a biofilm?

(You should rename this thread, like a journal.)

[TeeJay]

On 8/7/2022 at 10:40 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Hey I just remember you use bacter ae. Isn’t that stuff made to create a biofilm?

(You should rename this thread, like a journal.)

Yes it sure does