# Mystery Snails!



## Kageshi17 (Sep 6, 2006)

What is the best way to care for mystery snails? Before I was a fish nerd I had a mystery snail in my 10g and he did soooooo great. Big healthy shell, got to a huge size, and was ALWAYS moving.

But now that I check water conditions, am aware of filters and bacteria growth, have live plants, add calcium, plant food, and water clarifier to the water when I change it as well as stress coat, they seem to be doing pretty aweful. I mean they are ok...but they have cracks in their shells and wont move around the tank for days at a time. They also are really small still...not really small but the same size as when I first got them.

I used to change my tank water (1/3) every week but now I change it every 2 weeks which seems to be helping? My water has always been cloudy, really cloudy, so I use the clarifier every 2 weeks.

But any ideas on this? I feed them algae wafers. And the tank is 29g and has been established for about 6 months.


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

Hi, i copied this off "Robyn's snail Page"

Survive in aquariums: Yes
Survive in warm ponds: Yes
Survive in cold ponds: No
Plant eating capacity: Low to High (varies with species)
Algae eating capacity: Moderate to High
Breathing: Gilled
Breeding: Sexual, egg-laying; some people say that some are live-bearing

Mystery snails are medium-sized tropical snails. Some mystery snails are Ampullaria sp. such as the four horned and Golden Inca snails above which are heavy algae and plant eaters. Another keeper of apple and mystery snails says that all mystery snails are the apple snail, Pomacea bridgesii (usually written incorrectly as Pomacea bridgesi). Yet another source says they are all Pomacea cuprina! The guy who runs applesnail.net says most mystery snails are Pomacea bridgesii or from the Viviparidae family. I have seen snails sold as mystery snails that are all different colors and obviously multiple species. There is no agreement between stores, keepers, and "experts" as to what is what. Some mystery snails eat algae and detritus and do not overly harm plants. Since they must be kept above 70 degrees F at all times, they cannot be kept in ponds except in tropical regions. They make a good heated aquarium snail. Males may have a convex (sticks out) operculum or trap door, and females may have a concave (goes in) operculum. Mystery snails may "play dead" for days or even weeks by floating on the surface or laying still on the bottom (see here for more information). The reason for this dormancy is unknown. Most commonly sold mystery snails are also apple snails. Apple and mystery snails are often interchanged. This is confusing to many people including myself. For apple snail information and links, see above. If anyone has a list of proper common and scientific names for any of the dozens of species of mystery snails, please e-mail me. The mystery snail truly is a mystery because it can refer to dozens of possible species with totally different attributes. No "experts" seem to agree on what is what!

My "Mystery" Snail:


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

We have quite hard water here (pH 7.8) so calcium isn't an issue. I have duckweed in my tanks, and they eat that and the leftover fish food, so I really don't do anything special to take care of them, and they seem to do fine.


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