Snails

Welcome to my snail bowl. This is the overflow space for my prolific aquatic gastropods. So far I have two species: 1 trumpet snail and the rest ramshorn snail.

All of the ramshorn snails I have came from one snail. I have well over a hundred by now. That one laid eggs. Then the offsprings laid eggs. Their offsprings laid eggs. Well. You get the picture. They have a preference. Glass no acrylic. Anything else inside is fair game. I realized that when I found egg clutches hatching on this silk plant.

Despite what I read about the trumpet snail, there was only one successful second generation. I saw no eggs. It just broke off from the tip of its parent's shell. Most of the time, it burrows in the gravel. The odd time I saw the slug part, it was quite revolting.

When they are not eating each other, I feed them fish flakes. Unlike fish, their food are allowed to go untouched for days before they will actually eat.

Since I got them, I have not had to flush the dead fish down the toilet, because these little buggers make short work of decomposing plants and animals, themselves included. Makes picking out empty shells just as tedious as transplanting a live one.

Ammonia in the water cleaner will kill them. I don't know if it's humane or not. Probably doesn't matter anyway. They were supposed to get rid of algae, but goldfish have voracious appetites, so the population has not had a chance to mature.

Ramshorn on glass and leaf.

Trumpet on the bottom