sexual snail with multiple egg clutches??

bananas · 02-15-2006, 02:55 PM

I'm confused.

I understand many snails are asexual and all, but not my apple snail (as far as I know)

Now she used to have a husband golden apple snail, but he died a while ago and she stopped laying eggs.

When she did lay eggs she layed a thumb-sized clutch every week.

Now after some 2 months of being a widow, my snail (in her tank alone with no other fish or snail) layed little batches of eggs all over the tank. Each little batch has some 2-6 little eggs, as opposed to like 50 in one batch.

Is this normal?
Is my snail really not asexual or am I mistaken?
Would the eggs hatch? I want them to

Thanks for any help anyone can offer.

cheseboy · 02-15-2006, 03:00 PM

A lot of snails are sexual actually.

She's just probably laying unfertilized eggs. They will not develop and will just turn into ammonia I suggest you remove them.

Niki2105 · 02-15-2006, 04:32 PM

Apple Snails are male or female but the males can change and become female if they think it is necessary. And if i remember correctly Apple snails are able to hold sperm for a few months. So that could be why yours is laying eggs even though the male has been gone she could have some of his sperm saved up. As for her laying small batches here and there im not sure why she is doing that. Good luck hatching them eggs.

garfieldnfish · 02-15-2006, 05:33 PM

I would leave them in the tank also. There is a very good chance that they will hatch and since they are above the water line they will not mess up your water even if they should be infertile and fail to hatch. If they do not hatch you can get 15 clutches from me (light blue, grandparents were a blue and an ivory snail, all their offspring turned out to be light blue, the third generation appears to be also almost all light blue again but I found 2 ivory ones so far). I am up to my ears in apple snail eggs and I have tried to separate the males from the females whenever I saw them mating so I am pretty sure I got all the males in 2 of my tanks and all the females in 3 of my others, but the females still lay eggs like there is no tomorrow. My puffers eat them as they hatch (I put the clutches on a plant float and they are in my puffer tank) but they have a hard time keeping up with the baby snails.

02-15-2006, 02:55 PM	#1
bananas Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Earth Posts: 88	sexual snail with multiple egg clutches?? I'm confused. I understand many snails are asexual and all, but not my apple snail (as far as I know) Now she used to have a husband golden apple snail, but he died a while ago and she stopped laying eggs. When she did lay eggs she layed a thumb-sized clutch every week. Now after some 2 months of being a widow, my snail (in her tank alone with no other fish or snail) layed little batches of eggs all over the tank. Each little batch has some 2-6 little eggs, as opposed to like 50 in one batch. Is this normal? Is my snail really not asexual or am I mistaken? Would the eggs hatch? I want them to Thanks for any help anyone can offer. __________________ 10 Gallon Tank 31 Platys (MF too hard to count) 1 Golden Chinese Algae Eating Catfish (1F) 5 Gallon Tank 1 Apple Snail [1F]

02-15-2006, 03:00 PM	#2
cheseboy Freshwater Shrimp Dude Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Behind you Age: 16 Posts: 340	A lot of snails are sexual actually. She's just probably laying unfertilized eggs. They will not develop and will just turn into ammonia I suggest you remove them. __________________ 20 Gallon Saltwater Tank status: Full Blown Reef! For Information and stories Visit my Journal Here! I Love Inverts!

02-15-2006, 04:32 PM	#3
Niki2105 Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: PEI, Canada Age: 24 Posts: 196	Apple Snails are male or female but the males can change and become female if they think it is necessary. And if i remember correctly Apple snails are able to hold sperm for a few months. So that could be why yours is laying eggs even though the male has been gone she could have some of his sperm saved up. As for her laying small batches here and there im not sure why she is doing that. Good luck hatching them eggs. __________________ 10 Gallon 60 Gallon Tank Last edited by Niki2105; 02-15-2006 at 04:36 PM.

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02-15-2006, 05:33 PM	#4
garfieldnfish Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 661	I would leave them in the tank also. There is a very good chance that they will hatch and since they are above the water line they will not mess up your water even if they should be infertile and fail to hatch. If they do not hatch you can get 15 clutches from me (light blue, grandparents were a blue and an ivory snail, all their offspring turned out to be light blue, the third generation appears to be also almost all light blue again but I found 2 ivory ones so far). I am up to my ears in apple snail eggs and I have tried to separate the males from the females whenever I saw them mating so I am pretty sure I got all the males in 2 of my tanks and all the females in 3 of my others, but the females still lay eggs like there is no tomorrow. My puffers eat them as they hatch (I put the clutches on a plant float and they are in my puffer tank) but they have a hard time keeping up with the baby snails.

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