beautylovetruth Posted January 25, 2013 Report Share Posted January 25, 2013 Hi all, I got a small "mystery" snail a few weeks back and have noticed the foot isn't large enough to cover the opening. Will it catch up? Picture below. Also, I have been catching my larger mystery snail (about double to size of this one) "mounting" the smaller one and inserting itself into the other's shell. Is this mating or an attempt to kill the smaller snail? I don't know if they are male/female and am a bit concerned about the smaller snail. Any suggestions as to what is going on would be great Thanks, Trina Uploaded with ImageShack.us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJanzen Posted January 25, 2013 Report Share Posted January 25, 2013 Could be wrong, but that looks like a zebra snail (in the Nerite family). If the larger one is an actual 'Mystery Snail' it's probably trying to kill it. Don't know much about the foot though, pretty weird. My guess is it's a genetic abnormality and won't survive long if attacked, as the foot should cover the entire opening of the shell to protect the snail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beautylovetruth Posted January 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2013 (edited) Below is a picture of my other snail. It's larger now than it is in the photo. Is it a mystery snail? There is a lot of food for both snails and they generally leave each other alone. I make sure to separate them if I see that happening. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Edited January 25, 2013 by beautylovetruth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beautylovetruth Posted January 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2013 Could be wrong, but that looks like a zebra snail (in the Nerite family). If the larger one is an actual 'Mystery Snail' it's probably trying to kill it. Don't know much about the foot though, pretty weird. My guess is it's a genetic abnormality and won't survive long if attacked, as the foot should cover the entire opening of the shell to protect the snail. That's what I had gathered, the foot is meant to be protection. I was assuming it was attacking, with the larger snail trying to get into the other's shell. I just couldn't be sure. Thanks for the post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristarockstar Posted January 25, 2013 Report Share Posted January 25, 2013 I'm almost positive they are both mystery snails (mystery snails are apple snails of the Pomacea diffusa (old name: Pomacea bridgesii) I have never seen any of my mystery snails attack, they are very peaceful, but they are male and femal and try to mount or enter to breed. I've only seen one try to eat the other if one was dead. There is a TON of information here www.applesnail.net I have had apple snails with small feet too. Maybe because they didn't have the right kind of nutrition in the store. I think they need enough calcium to grow the shells,feet properly. I used to add calcuim to the tank when I was breeding them, but I don't know if that helped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beautylovetruth Posted January 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2013 Krista, I think you're correct in that they are Pomacea diffusa. They look just like a banded and an ivory (which is what I purchased it as). I have never heard of them attacking either and I have been worried about it. I would be prepared for them to breed and lay eggs since the clusters aren't hard to take off. I have seen this in my larger ivory snail: But not in the smaller banded one. Based on applesnail.net, they're likely trying to reproduce. The temperature in my tank is a consistent 28oC and I put in one 3-Day Feeder (for calcium) a week and 3 algae wafers every few days. Then they clean up whatever my fish don't eat. The raised temp+abundance of food = snaily love I'm hoping her(?) foot starts growing in proportion with her, as she is very pretty! Any suggestions as to how else I could help the generation of her foot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJanzen Posted January 25, 2013 Report Share Posted January 25, 2013 Even if they are both mystery snails, don't discount them attacking. I've witnessed a mystery snail consume one of my dwarf frogs before. If they can eat it they will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beautylovetruth Posted January 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2013 Even if they are both mystery snails, don't discount them attacking. I've witnessed a mystery snail consume one of my dwarf frogs before. If they can eat it they will. :shock: Wow, okay I'll ensure to keep an eye on them and keep breaking them apart regardless of what they're doing. That's kind of freaky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristarockstar Posted January 25, 2013 Report Share Posted January 25, 2013 The frog must have been dead, or near death or it was a different type of snail. Frogs are much quicker than pom snails and could easily escape. Pom diff snails are not predators, but rather opportunistic or scavengers that will clean up dead things. There are some types off apple snails who would eat tiny snails (pest pond snails) but it would have to be tiny compared to the apple snail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJanzen Posted January 25, 2013 Report Share Posted January 25, 2013 Frogs were perfectly healthy and happy. Had 5 of them, slowly went missing ,one by one. Finally only one left. Witnessed the mystery snail get a hold of its back leg and the frog was unable to get away as the snail slowly engulfed it, poof no frog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beautylovetruth Posted January 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2013 This morning I woke up to my larger snail on top/in my smaller snail again. Since most of its body was outside the shell, I assumed the worst and went to poke the larger snail off of it. Turns out there was nothing wrong. The smaller snail flinched as soon as it felt the movement in the water and the larger snail moved off rightly. Both are fine from what I can see and I think it's a M/F pairing at this point. I'll see keep an eye on them to see if my ivory is indeed aggressive, since you never know but it's looking like a pair. Thanks for all the help and suggestions so far. If anyone knows what I can do about the foot, or if it'll return to the correct size as she(?) grows, please let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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