How Many Eggs Does An Apple Snail Lay?

[fishnovice]

Very excited asI've just noticed 4 separate clutches of applesnail eggs, 2 on the tank lid and 2 on glass sides. I would relly like to hatch them and see baby snails grow this time. Not had much luck with apple snails so far, one batch of eggs from previous snaios fell in water and the other dried out and didn't hatch.

• 
  A few questions
• How many batches of eggs does a female snail lay?
• Are they all from one snail or do I have several pregnant females?
• Should

I remove the 2 batches on the lid in case they fall off or leave them there?

 

[BigbruiserAl]

A clutch will have an average of 200-300 eggs, even if 50% live can you care for 150 apple snails they need 2.5G of water each as an adult. I know this as mine just give birth i didt do anything about the clutch and now have appprox 300+ snails to get rid of lol.
Please be responsible choose how many you want to try and raise scrap the rest of the eggs into a plastic pot and pop them in the freezer for 3 days you can then dispose. Once the start laying eggs you will need to keep destroying eggs or sell the male

 

[fishnovice]

A clutch will have an average of 200-300 eggs, even if 50% live can you care for 150 apple snails they need 2.5G of water each as an adult. I know this as mine just give birth i didt do anything about the clutch and now have appprox 300+ snails to get rid of lol.
Please be responsible choose how many you want to try and raise scrap the rest of the eggs into a plastic pot and pop them in the freezer for 3 days you can then dispose. Once the start laying eggs you will need to keep destroying eggs or sell the male

Actually I wanted to know whether all the clutches of eggs were laid by the same snail or if I have several fertile females, I would like to hatch a few just for the experience as I've never had any luck -previous batches either fell into water or dried up and failed to hatch.

Sadly since I posted this all but one small clutch have disappeared. One clutch has definitely fallen into the water as it's on the gravel so baby snails are presumably drowned. I have only 1 small clutch left in a precarious position on the tank lid which may fall off during water change this weekend as the other did. Should I risk all and leave it there or remove it? If I remove it, how do I hatch the eggs?

 

[BigbruiserAl]

If im haching in the main tank ill leave the eggs stuck to the side and just before bed ill splash them with tank water so they dont dry out.

Hatching off the side of the tank is a bit harder and prob not best for your 1st time. However one way is kitchen towel in some tank water to it wet, get rid of the excess of water to the towl is damp, wrap the cluch in the towel then place it a zip lock bag and float it in the tank. you will need to change the kitchen towel when it dries out and open the bag from time to time to let air in. When the eggs turn in colour and are ready to hatch 12-14 days in remove from zip lock back and place them on 2 tooth picks and place them on some styrofoam. The snails will hatch and crawl into the tank. Hope it helps

 

[fishnovice]

If im haching in the main tank ill leave the eggs stuck to the side and just before bed ill splash them with tank water so they dont dry out.

Hatching off the side of the tank is a bit harder and prob not best for your 1st time. However one way is kitchen towel in some tank water to it wet, get rid of the excess of water to the towl is damp, wrap the cluch in the towel then place it a zip lock bag and float it in the tank. you will need to change the kitchen towel when it dries out and open the bag from time to time to let air in. When the eggs turn in colour and are ready to hatch 12-14 days in remove from zip lock back and place them on 2 tooth picks and place them on some styrofoam. The snails will hatch and crawl into the tank. Hope it helps

Thanks that's great idea, will transfer eggs tomorrow. Eggs are at least 10 days old, possibly 2 weeks. What colour change should i expect? They are a sort of pinkish brown at the moment.Should I put them on styrofoam this weekend?
I'm really excited about hatching baby apple snails. Never has any luck with breeding, not even my guppies and mollies.
A few questons when/if snails hatch
1. What do I feed them on?
2. The gravel in the tank they are in has to be throughly vaccumed every week with 30=40% water change because there is a messy common plec in there. How do I avoid accidentally siphoning out baby apple snails?
Can't put them in the cory tank because there is a snail eating loach in there!

 

[BigbruiserAl]

Colour change wise, they are pinkish with a grey tinge to them, i have only seen the grey 24 hrs before they hatch. If they are nearly ready to hatch i wouldt bother with styrofoam method. We only put them on styrofoam becuse we cant hatch them in the zip lock bags as we dont watch the tank 24/7 and they will all hatch within a couple of hours.

1.food wise they eat the same as adults but less. I feed them sinkning alge wafers, boiled spinach, fish flaks and some tumms (yes you read that right tumms) http/www.tums.com/
2.siphoning out baby apple snails is a pain, i rest the net on the buckets edge and put the hose in the net when full i just throw back the snails caught in the net

Dont foget to test your PH of the tank 50+ snails will rape the caluim out of your water in no time

 

[Curiosity101]

Just a note, you really don't need to do anything special to hatch out apple snails. Unless you have a very cold tank or very open tank lid so lots of air flow then at the most the first layer will dry which is quite normal to be honest.

If you literally leave them alone they do all the hard work for you.

Also just for some estimates, I wouldn't consider letting any clutch hatch over 1" in length. I chop mine up if/when they're bigger as anything over 1" tends to be pretty hard to deal with cause you really can't find THAT many homes unless you have a shop available to take them off of your hands.
A 1" clutch is likely to give you between 50-100 babies... and unless you have fish that prey on snails you'll get a near 100% hatch--> juvi --> adult rate.

Oh and if you are selling then don't leave it too late. I tend to sell once they're over 0.5cm shell diameter. With 0.5-1cm being the prime size for postage when you take into account weight and packaging etc.

Plus a fertile female can lay several clutches in as many days. But I haven't normally seen a female lay more than once in every 24hours so if they all appeared in the period of a day then you have a couple of breeding females.

 

[Alasse]

I leave my apples eggs alone, no need to touch, and i have baby snails everywhere *L* I have a tank dedicated to breeding them. 2 batches have not long hatched and 2 more batches are unhatched, all from 1 female. I have in a BN fry tank 4 growing out to also become breeders.

I'f i need to move the eggs (in a bad spot for my access to the tank) i just float a piece of foam in the tank with the egg clutch on top.

Just keep the humdity up so the dont dry out, or move them to foam if they are in a place they can be easily knocked off.

 

[fishnovice]

I leave my apples eggs alone, no need to touch, and i have baby snails everywhere *L* I have a tank dedicated to breeding them. 2 batches have not long hatched and 2 more batches are unhatched, all from 1 female. I have in a BN fry tank 4 growing out to also become breeders.

I'f i need to move the eggs (in a bad spot for my access to the tank) i just float a piece of foam in the tank with the egg clutch on top.

Just keep the humdity up so the dont dry out, or move them to foam if they are in a place they can be easily knocked off.

Thanks for all your advice everyone. I only have one small clutch left (the others fell in the water) so I've moved them onto a piece of stryofoam floating on the water. Eggs are wrapped in damp tissue held in place with rubber band. Fingers crossed now!

 

[Alasse]

Thanks for all your advice everyone. I only have one small clutch left (the others fell in the water) so I've moved them onto a piece of stryofoam floating on the water. Eggs are wrapped in damp tissue held in place with rubber band. Fingers crossed now!

I dont wrap mine or hold them on with anything, i just sit the clutch on top of the foam

Good luck and got me fingers crossed for you

 

[BigbruiserAl]

Thanks for all your advice everyone. I only have one small clutch left (the others fell in the water) so I've moved them onto a piece of stryofoam floating on the water. Eggs are wrapped in damp tissue held in place with rubber band. Fingers crossed now!

I dont wrap mine or hold them on with anything, i just sit the clutch on top of the foam

Good luck and got me fingers crossed for you

yeah only wrap them in moist paper whe putting them in the zip lock bag on days 2-12 days 12-20 they should just rest float on the foam. I use toothpicks to raise them a few MM of the foam so air can get around the eggs and they have a chance to chew out