Can bladder snails or ramshorn snails actually self fertilize and breed alone?

[Lennie]

Hey guys,

So, interestingly I had two hitchikers with plants in different tanks which I dont mind at all. One is a ramshorn snail. Has a dark red/brown color to it. The other one is a bladder snail. And yes, I got only two, one of each. Im sure because they are with me for a couple months by now.

 

They are easily adult size for a some time. Has easy access to food because I feed mystery snails in those tanks. 

 

But...

they never breed. I keep reading they can self fertilize and breed this way. But they don't. Pretty sure if I had two at this point, I would start having babies. But Im never seein any babies ever. Why is that? Do they need a partner even if they are hermaphrodites? Some say you need two, some say you need only one to self fertilize? I'm confused.

If it is a chance, why don't they self fertilize and make babies when they can reach food easily? @Biotope Biologist any ideas?

 

I keep reading conflicting comments on this one. Id like my ramshorn to have babies. I dont really care if bladder snail breeds or not tbh.

 

I dont think guppies eat their eggs, because I have miniramshorns in other two guppy tanks that continue their population 🤔

 

Thanks for the help,

Lennie

 

 

[Guppysnail]

Yes bladder snails can reproduce alone. If they do not have a partner they will self fertilize. 
 

I found 1 gold bladder snail in a tank. I really liked the color so I set up a little tank and moved it to a 2.5g tank alone.  It took a good 8-10 weeks before I saw a few more. After that it was game on with them increasing in numbers. 
 

I believe ramshorn are the same. 

[Lennie]

On 9/8/2023 at 1:57 PM, Guppysnail said:

Yes bladder snails can reproduce alone. If they do not have a partner they will self fertilize. 
 

I found 1 gold bladder snail in a tank. I really liked the color so I set up a little tank and moved it to a 2.5g tank alone.  It took a good 8-10 weeks before I saw a few more. After that it was game on with them increasing in numbers. 
 

I believe ramshorn are the same. 

I kinda hope so. I want baby ramshorns 🙂 and mini ramshorns are too small for my liking

[Tanked]

With ramshorns, it takes two  to tango; they are hermaphroditic  I found a hitchhiker three months ago and I still have just one.  With bladder and trumpet snails, one is enough.

[Biotope Biologist]

It may be other environmental factors leading to a lack of babies. For example I had a mass baby ramshorn die off recently due to planaria predation. The population is coming back though due to one large adult.

 

It may take time. This large adult has been with me for over a year, so it likely has more reproductive success.

[Rube_Goldfish]

I've got gobs of bladder snails, and some mini ramshorns, and some unknown quantity of Malaysian trumpet snails living in the substrate. But I've only had one (regular sized) ramshorn, for going on months now. So that fits with your observations, @Lennie, and with @Tanked .

[Lennie]

On 9/10/2023 at 11:21 PM, Rube_Goldfish said:

I've got gobs of bladder snails, and some mini ramshorns, and some unknown quantity of Malaysian trumpet snails living in the substrate. But I've only had one (regular sized) ramshorn, for going on months now. So that fits with your observations, @Lennie, and with @Tanked .

I moved my ramshorn to my rabbit snail tank. Getting food or veggies daily. I guess it wont breed but I love it, so adorable

[Tanked]

Depending on how prolific they are, I wouldn't mind accidently getting a second one.

[FLFishChik]

Actually, Ramshorn Smails are hermaphroditic. They can reproduce asexually, according to several articles on the internet. Here is a screenshot of 1

https://www.fishlaboratory.com/fish/ramshorn-snail/#:~:text=Snails Reproduce Asexually%3F-,Ramshorn Snails are hermaphroditic.,can%2C and do reproduce asexually.

Edited September 11, 2023 by FLFishChik

[Lennie]

On 9/11/2023 at 7:35 PM, FLFishChik said:

Actually, Ramshorn Smails are hermaphroditic. They can reproduce asexually, according to several articles on the internet. Here is a screenshot of 1

https://www.fishlaboratory.com/fish/ramshorn-snail/#:~:text=Snails Reproduce Asexually%3F-,Ramshorn Snails are hermaphroditic.,can%2C and do reproduce asexually.

Thanks for sharing.

 Ive seen these stuff. I know they are hermaphrodites, but not sure it means they can definitely self fertilise.

I bet people rarely have one ramshorn egg that hatch their tank and end up keeping them, just like my case. Bcoz snails can store sperm for a long time and even if one get a snail from somewhere, it is very likely that one has mated with another. The only occasion to know they have never mated is like mine, having a single snail hatch as an egg and kept as only one its whole life I believe.

 

The thing is, water parameters are perfect for snails. I feed them snellos, blanched veggies, calcium foods etc. Always have access to some algae/diatom. Anything that would trigger a healthy breeding for a "pest snail".  I can't see any reason why it wouldn't breed if it can self fertilise

[Lennie]

I found this:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3271940/

 

 

[FLFishChik]

On 9/11/2023 at 1:27 PM, Lennie said:

I found this:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3271940/

 

 

Well use you as the Guinea pig😂

[Tanked]

I'll just wait and see if my snail starts feeling sexy!

[Lennie]

On 9/12/2023 at 5:02 PM, Tanked said:

I'll just wait and see if my snail starts feeling sexy!

We might be the only ones looking forward to ours to breed.

 

This be mine😝: 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Lennie

[Tanked]

Mine is camera shy.   

I would like to see something other than Bladder Snails, and my Nerite population is dying off, so I'll have to wait and see if this is a gift that keeps on giving.

[Lennie]

Update

Ive seen bladder snail eggs for the first time today, still nothing on the ramshorns part 😄