What is THIS???

[Guppysnail]

Congratulations 🎉. Leave it be. Right now the clutch will disintegrate if you try to move it. The babies will fall out. If you let it be the babies consume the shell for a calcium magnesium jump start. It’s the way nature intended 🥰🤗

You can crumble it if you choose but leave the crumbles in with babies so they can eat it but monitor water quality as the gooey inside the shell will deteriorate quality. That’s why it’s easier to let nature do what it has already perfected. 😁

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 10/10/2022 at 9:56 AM, Guppysnail said:

Leave it be

I agree ☝️ 

Your snail babies in the breeder box look great!  
 

Based on the looks of your clutch on the glass, don’t gravel vac. Looks like some already chewed out and are likely in your tank, but they will be hard to see at first. 

Edited October 10, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[BlueLineAquaticsSC]

That my friend is an Aquarium Co-op nano airpump 😉

[BAT]

On 10/10/2022 at 11:20 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I agree ☝️ 

Your snail babies in the breeder box look great!  
 

Based on the looks of your clutch on the glass, don’t gravel vac. Looks like some already chewed out and are likely in your tank, but they will be hard to see at first. 

Does this look like mold?

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 10/10/2022 at 6:56 PM, BAT said:

Does this look like mold?

Often snail breeders describe clutches as having a moldy look when they are about ready to hatch. Keep a close eye on it! 🙂

Edited October 11, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[BAT]

Ok. I will keep an eye on it

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

It’s the walls of the eggs getting thinner because they are chewing on them. That’s  why the eggs look dark. The snails are showing through.

Edited October 11, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Matilyn]

Definitely snail eggs! 

[Guppysnail]

They should be through by morning. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I'm excited.  Also @BAT, do you have any pics of the parents?

What is your setup for growout tanks?  Number of tanks?  Number of gallons?  These snails get sizeable, you know.  The powdery foods and the snail waste could cause a cycle crash in smaller tanks, so you'll want to test ammonia EVERY day, and water change based on test results.

[BAT]

On 10/11/2022 at 8:08 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I'm excited.  Also @BAT, do you have any pics of the parents?

What is your setup for growout tanks?  Number of tanks?  Number of gallons?  These snails get sizeable, you know.  The powdery foods and the snail waste could cause a cycle crash in smaller tanks, so you'll want to test ammonia EVERY day, and water change based on test results.

I was going to move them to my 10g tank upstairs which is right now empty. Was a backup quarantine if needed. Now i just keep it going in case. Think i need more?

[Guppysnail]

I raise one clutch at a time in an 8.75 g. 10 is fine just keep up with extra water changes as need. They do best under 40ppm nitrate zero ammonia zero nitrite. 

[BAT]

On 10/11/2022 at 9:03 AM, Guppysnail said:

I raise one clutch at a time in an 8.75 g. 10 is fine just keep up with extra water changes as need. They do best under 40ppm nitrate zero ammonia zero nitrite. 

I try to keep the 20g they are in below 50 nitrate. The others are usually always zero.  But I will be more diligent.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

For my one clutch I used a 10g tank.  It worked well, but when they got bigger (chickpea sized) I was doing water changes twice a day.  You have multiple clutches, so I wondered if you were spreading them out across tanks.

Edited October 11, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[BAT]

On 10/11/2022 at 9:23 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

For my one clutch I used a 10g tank.  It worked well, but when they got bigger (chickpea sized) I was doing water changes twice a day.  You have multiple clutches, so I wondered if you were spreading them out across tanks.

What am I going to do with all these little ones???

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

What I did, when the snails were about chickpea sized, was I looked up where my local aquarium club holds meetings. Their meeting have fish/plant/snail etc auctions where hobbyists can buy from other hobbyists. Mine was 2 hrs away so instead I:

-ran an ad in the little town paper. You can ask the library what the smaller newspaper is called if you’re not sure

-posted an ad on the Nextdoor app.

My responses came from the Nextdoor app actually, and local hobbyists adopted all my snails (I did keep a few). I liked it because I could give out care sheets, chunks of cuttlebone, and some crab cuisine to get the new snail parents started. I was also able to ask the interested parties what size their tanks are and if the tanks are cycled, etc.

 

On 10/11/2022 at 9:11 AM, BAT said:

I try to keep the 20g they are in below 50 nitrate

Below 40 would be better

Edited October 12, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[BAT]

So u were correct - not surprising lol. 
 

tha other clutch in the incubator hatched. See pic. It looks like more than the first clutch!😱
 

do I put them in the same breeder box with the other now larger baby snails? Or should they get their own breeder box?

[BAT]

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea@Guppysnailthe snails keep growing! See pic 

and she keeps laying clutches!😱

but what is that white thing on the new clutch? See pic

[Guppysnail]

Looks like an aquarium silicone lump from the seal. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

My first thought too.  Looks like a glob of aquarium silicone.

@BAT your babies are so cute.  Do be careful at how many clutches you hatch because as they grow they will affect your water parameters.  Are you testing your water every day?  Do you have a plan for adopting them out?  You could:

-attend a meeting of your local aquarium club and put snails up for sale there

-post on the Nextdoor app that snails are available

-put a listing in a small town newspaper or the larger city newspaper

-sell or give to forum members

Of course, to do any of these things the snails will have to get bigger first.

Edited October 20, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 10/11/2022 at 10:30 PM, BAT said:

So u were correct - not surprising lol. 
 

tha other clutch in the incubator hatched. See pic. It looks like more than the first clutch!😱
 

do I put them in the same breeder box with the other now larger baby snails? Or should they get their own breeder box?

I'm not sure why I didn't get the notification on this one but seems like you figured it out.  Same box.

Also @BAT  I had been keeping track of my snail's clutches. She laid 23.  Then I quit keeping track because I got another female snail and I didn't know which snail was laying which clutch anymore.

[Guppysnail]

Be careful you are not being overly ambitious. These little ones need to eat ALOT to thrive and grow correctly.  Having one hatch in a 10 g at a time I really up my water change game to every 2 days to keep nitrate below 40. They also use so much calcium in the diet at this stage you need to heavy supplement food. Nano blocks and calcium chips are more easily consumable.  
 

How many clutches are you hatching? In a 20 long I would only do 2 to ensure I have the best survival and growth. 
 

edit add. At the early stages it will seem fine but as they grow it’s surprising how quickly a tank seems overwhelmed. 

Here is 2/3 of ONE hatch in a 9 gallon shortly before adoption. 

 

Edited October 20, 2022 by Guppysnail

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Hi @BAT - how's the snail kingdom?

[BAT]

On 10/25/2022 at 4:20 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Hi @BAT - how's the snail kingdom?

Hi @Chick-In-Of-TheSeathank you for checking on me! We are coming along. Here are the pics of three clutches. 2 are in the big plastic box to the left. I have moved them into another tank (empty 10g) to keep the water more stable. 
 

one clutch on the wall had the snails come out into the tank. Will keep an eye out to see if any make it. And another fell off the wall and into the water before they hatched. 
 

I check the water daily and change as necessary. 
 

looks like most are blue like mom. 

Edited October 27, 2022 by BAT

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

That’s great @BAT!  Glad you got another tank to give them some space. Cycled tank, yes? They are very cute. I have a blue rescue snail. He was getting picked on at the fish store by swordtails and it was too a point they wouldn’t let him come out of his shell. Now he lives in my snail paradise and is having a nice time. His name is Dodger. He’s on the left here: