Astrea Breeding

[Donya]

I know that Astreas will reproduce more often than other species in the aquarium. Just wondering if there is anyone here who has had them breed, even if the offspring didn't survive? If anyone has, what were the water conditions like at the time as far as sg, temp., etc. are concerned? Breeding Nerites is my main goal, but they are very difficult and I'd like to have a try with the veliger larvae of another species. Environment/water conditions since are usually one of the main triggers for spawning in the aquarium, so if I can figure out what those are for Astrea then I can probably move on from there to figuring it out for the Nerites.

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

The first day right after I brought my astreas home, they started mating. The only thing I can tell you is that the salinity was at 1.022, and all the bad things were at 0. I couldnt tell you the calcium at the time though.

 

[Donya]

By mating do you mean releasing gametes into the water? Astreas don't "mate" the way some other species of snails do.

1.021 is about where my sg is at now (might raise it slightly if the Nerites don't mind), high calcium. What was your temperature like?

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

I know my calcium was high, I just dont know how much. I forgot about temp! lol. I keep it at 79. Well, I dont research snails at all, but all I know is that they were stuck together for a day, then right after they released from eachother, I saw a tiny tiny snail of the same color right next to them and I had never seen one before. I know I could have seen one that was already there, but this to me would be 99% unlikely to be the case.

 

[Donya]

The veliger larvae stage would probably be longer than one day, and the new snails are pretty much impossible to see because they're so small, so it could be that the Astreas spawned before you got them and a couple weeks old baby rode in on one.

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

I examined all the snails first though and there wasnt one. I dont know its just wierd.

How many babies are supposed to be born at once with most snails after those eggs or whatever are released into the water?

 

[Donya]

Lots usually. When my Nerites produced veligers there were many, but I was never able to count them. I think all those Veligers died though, which is why I want to have a go with Astrea larvae (hopefully before the Nerites spawn again). Large snails will also close up on smaller snails sometimes, if the smaller one is on a part of the soft tissue that won't get crushed by the operculum closing.