# snail ménage



## graybot (Apr 24, 2011)

noticed something weird going on with some bladder snails in my 10g tank and decided to record it. two bladder snails (I believe thats what they are- they hitchhiked in on some plants) appear to be mating, and another joins in on the fun. I've seen them swinging their shells around before, but the 3rd snail has some interesting moves here... 

warning: boring snail videos ahead












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also: is it just my browser, or does this forum have some serious formatting issues when displaying inline video?


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## mec102778 (Feb 17, 2011)

I believe those are pond snails or at least they are the same ones I have. Yup they swing their shells and ride one each others shells. But I believe while they are riding they are not mating but rather attaching eggs to the others shell.

Pond snails are prolific breeders as they breed a sexualy.


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## graybot (Apr 24, 2011)

The reason I assume they are bladder snails is that their shell curls to the left rather than the right. from what I've read this appears to be the distinction between the two. The bladder snail also doesn't grow as large. They have translucent shells will a little sack of air inside. I sometimes see them free floating around in the current from my filter. heh.

They are prolific indeed, in two weeks they have gone from one or two 1/4" specimens to at least 15-20. I can see little egg sacks all over my wisteria plants. I plan on removing a good number of them and feeding them to my convict if they begin overrunning the tank.


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## mec102778 (Feb 17, 2011)

My little 10G that they started out in was actually very neat to look at with all the snails. They do seem to free float or rather "ride" to a new place, but the shell wagging cracks me up.


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

Wait, I thought pond snails were asexual breeders, so they can explode in population even if you start off with one unpregnant female..... now I'm confused, lol.

And, at first I was like, "Holy crap their snails are fast!" Then I was like, "Oooooh.... probably sped up the video, duh!" LOL!


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## graybot (Apr 24, 2011)

Pretty sure these aren't pond snails, but bladder snails due to shell curling to the left (a very distinctive characteristic amongst snails). The video isn't sped up, bladder snails are really fast! They can make it from one end of the tank to another in a matter of seconds. Even faster if they skim along the water's surface. They can also breed asexually, though I often notice snails riding each other around, inserting part of uh... themselves into the shell of the bottom snail.


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

Crazy! (Lol, now I really feel dumb!) Cool videos though!


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

I'll pay you if you'd ship me some! Dead serious - my tanks need a good cleaning crew.


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## GuppyNGoldfish (Mar 28, 2011)

I got a Cabomba bunch at my LFS and there was some snail eggs attached to them. There is probably atleast 10 snails right now. Roughly 4 black ones like in your videos, 4 white ones and 2 that look like black ram snails.


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## graybot (Apr 24, 2011)

Ha. My advice is to pick up just about any plant from your LFS. The tank is bound to be teeming with these snails. If you see any I'm sure they will throw them in the bag for free, they don't have much monetary value. I had maybe 3 or 4 in the tank originally... within two weeks that number ballooned to 20-30 at least. Probably many more that weren't large enough to notice. I have to remove a large bunch at least once a week to keep them under control..


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