Wet Apple Eggs

[guppler]

I had a nice pancreas shaped clump of snail eggs on my lid and was anxiously but patiently awaiting their hatching. after a water change raised the water level they seemed to be much wettter all the time, as if they were being frequently splashed, or maybe it has condensation and evaporation because I also finally turned the heater back on.
Well yesterday I got some new critters and set them up in a quarantine tank upstairs, and I think I must have shut the lid a little too fast or something when borrowing plants and stuff from my comunity, because when i went to feed them later, the egg cluster was down in the water. It fell off the lid!
The last time i had a (smaller) egg cluster fall in, it got moldy and never hatched at all.
I decided the bewst chance these had was to stay in the tank but above the water, so I set them on the top bunk of the ceramic bunkbed I made at school, which is barely above the water.
They were probably submerged less that an hour, but I really don't know exactly how long?
Can they drown?
can they still hatch?
Anybody know?
has anyone else had similar experiences?

 

[emma12321]

Hi,

They will most likely have drowned as the eggs should never be submerged. If any fall off in future you could place them on a piece of polystyrene and float it in the tank then once they hatch the babies will make their way into the water, or use a plastic soap dish or something similar that floats and is tank safe.

Emma

 

[guppler]

thanks for the response and suggestions.
It's about what i figured. Sounds like they don't have much chance. Oh the frustration and sadness!
The first time this happened to momma snelly's eggs, they were in the goldfish tank, and she had been laying so many eggs, the breeder box practically lived there because the goldfish thought hatching egg masses were a nice food dispenser. once momma snelly even crawled into the breeder as if to check on her kids , which stayed happily in the floating box and clustered around the algae wafers i dropped in periodically. I put the drowned eggs on the floating edge of the breeder box.
I thought about putting the breeder box in and trying that again, but the fishbunk probably works about as well.
i think if anything the first drowned cluster was submerged less time than this one, because I think I saw that one fall when I was scraping algae and forgot to watch for the eggs. that was the first and last time she put them on the wall instead of the ceiling.
Momma snelly had eggs at least half a dozen times and I never had another snail kept with her from the time I got her. Her kids have been together plenty and I've only gotten 2 egg clusters from them so far, in cluding 1 that hatched and the more recent drowned 1. Her kids are now about as big as she ever got, and her grandkids are between marble and pea size. The 1 black snail I bought is between the size of the kids and grandkids. I think I now have fewer than 10 big ones in yellow and white, and i don't know how to guess genders, or when they are mature. So i don't know when or if to expect more. I finally found that i can sell some, and it would be nice to make a little money from the hobby , or at least some small cash to help support the hobby, not to mention, I like seeing how the kids turn out and watching them grow up. I guess all I can do is wait and see and keep an eye on those eggs in case there's still anything alive and remove them if i see any fuzz.

 

[emma12321]

Hi guppler,

Take a look at this site http/www.applesnail.net/ it will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about apple snails, including how to sex them.

Hope this helps

Emma

 

[guppler]

Thanks
I think I've seen that site or a ssimilar one, but I'll have to look more closely.

 

[guppler]

for update see "they hatched".