Mystery Snail
Scientific Name: Pomacea Bridgesii
Recommended Aquarium: 10+ Gallons
pH: 7.6-8.4
dH: 7-9
Temperature: 68-84°F
Approx. Adult Size: 2.5 inches
Temperament: Peaceful
Ease of Care: Easy
Diet: Omnivore
Breeding Style: Lays Egg Cocoon outside of water
The Mystery Snail (a type of Apple Snail) is a delightful addition to an aquarium. While for the most part they are plant-safe, they are ravenous feeders and will sometimes find themselves dining on your plants if they don't otherwise get enough food. Just because they are scavengers doesn't mean you should ignore their dietary needs. You can feed them commercial fish food, and try to give them vegetables as well. Lettuce, cucumber, carrot, green peas, green beans (They LOVE green beans!) and various greens are a few really good choices. While they do eat algae, they leave funny little bite mark designs as they travel across the glass of your tank. Don't expect them to make your tank spotless. It's just not gonna happen.
They need a good amount of calcium in their water for shell development and maintenance. This can be achieved with various additives, crushed coral sand (Please keep this in a bag or a tied-off nylon so the snails do not scratch themselves on the sharp edges) or even something as simple as feeding them calcium-rich foods like spinach or other greens. Personally, I like to float a cuttle bone in the water. (The kind you put in bird cages, just be sure not to put metal clips into the water....and do NOT substitute a cuttle bone with a mineral block. The mineral block is full of salt and will very likely kill your snails.)
Mystery Snails do best in hard, alkaline water. Generally, this is likely going to be what your tap water is like, but to be on the safe side, test your water (or have it tested at your local pet store; many offer this service. Call ahead to check.) While the general consensus is 2.5 gallons of water per snail, if you push this and put more snails in your tank, you'll have to do much more frequent water changes as snails create a lot of waste. A dead snail can spoil water quality very rapidly, so check your tank often to prevent a catastrophe.
Their average life span is roughly 2 years, but this can change based on the temperature they are kept in. The warmer the water, the faster their metabolism. The faster their metabolism, the faster they grow. The faster they grow, the sooner they die. Optimal range for them is generally between 68 F and 84 F. Temperatures that are too low or too high can be fatal.
Mystery Snails are faster than people expect, but the fastest snail can't catch a fish that is healthy and robust. If you see a snail munching on your fish, the fish had to be in pretty bad shape or already dead. On the flip side of this, try to avoid keeping mystery snails with fish that would bite at their tentacles, shell, or foot. It is especially important not to keep these with most Cichlids, Puffers, or other crustacean-eating fish, as these snails are a tasty food source.
These snails are different than many other snail species for many reasons, but the most obvious are breathing and breeding techniques.
Mystery snails can breathe both through gills and via a 'breathing tube' that extends out of the body. It is almost comical to watch them intake air through the tube. They push the long, slender breathing tube up out of the water, and then they "crank" their bodies back and forth to siphon air inside of the shell.
Mystery Snails are not asexual; they require a male and a female in order to reproduce. That being said, however, a female can keep sperm in her shell for a long time. It's not uncommon for a single snail to start laying eggs even after being home from the pet store for several days. They lay the tiny, tear-shaped eggs above water in a cocoon-like structure. This is to keep the babies from drowning. The eggs start out white and opaque, but quickly turn more translucent and pink as they mature. In 2-3 weeks, under the right circumstances, the eggs hatch and the tiny babies fall into the water.
You don't have to do much of anything special with the babies, as they eat the same food the parents do. Try to keep gentle aeration, however, as even though they can breathe surface air, getting from the bottom of the tank to the surface can be a VERY long trip! Make sure that you have plenty of calcium available in the water, and keep up with water quality as it is critical to ensure proper shell development.
There are many colors available, some solid, some with stripes, and some with other markings. The babies don't mix colors, however, depending on the colors of the parents, there is a genetic roll of the dice as to the color of the foot and the color of the shell.
(Coming Soon: Breeding Color Possibilities between different colored parents)
