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FAQs about Marine Snail (Gastropod) Reproduction 2
Related Articles: Gastropods, Sea
Slugs, Mollusks, Abalone,
Related FAQs: Snail Reproduction 1,
Marine Snails 1, Marine Snails 2, Marine
Snails 3, Snail ID 1,
Snail ID 2, Snail Behavior,
Snail Selection,
Snail Compatibility,
Snail Systems,
Snail Feeding,
Snail Disease, Mollusks, Sea
Slugs, Abalone, | 
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Breeding saltwater snails 9/17/09
Hi folks.
<Hello Jason,>
I was wondering if you knew of the best route to take for breeding
saltwater snails for my Puffers and Triggers to munch on.
<Not much chance in most cases. The vast majority of marine gastropods
produce planktonic larvae, and reproduction under aquarium conditions is
a bit hit-and-miss. You'd likely be better off breeding freshwater
snails, and feeding those to your saltwater durophages. Cherry Shrimps
and even Crayfish might be an option too. To be honest though, whole
fresh or frozen shellfish would be cheaper. I like to use things like
North Atlantic Prawns for my pufferfish, eating the tails myself, and
letting the fish have the legs and cephalothorax. For some reason, they
love prawn eyeballs!>
Also, would my refugium be a good place to raise them as they're safely
away from the predators?
<Up to a point, but I doubt you'd be able to produce them at a viable
rate to supply even a small pufferfish adequately. This isn't going to
be like producing copepods for a Mandarinfish.>
I know they need crunchy food for their teeth and continually replacing
crabs/snails can get expensive without a good plan.
<Do head over to the seafood counter at your local grocery store, or
check out the frozen foods at an Asian food market. Things like clams,
mussels, crab legs, crayfish and unshelled shrimp can all be pressed
into service.>
Thanks for your help,
Jason
<Cheers, Neale.>
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Snail Eggs? Cerith – 6/6/09
Hi Crew!
<Hi John, Lynn here today>
I have noticed a few of these serpentine like shapes appearing on the back
and side glass of my 125 gallon tank. The tank is about a year and a half
old and this is the first occurrence of them I have seen.
<It’s possible that they were previously placed in hidden locations – behind
rocks, on the back glass panel, etc, or it could be that conditions recently
became favorable for reproduction. It could be anything from water
parameters to the available food/algae supply (perhaps a recent increase?).>
A few days ago, I began removing some Aiptasia anemones in my tank by dosing
them with a mixture of pickling lime and r/o water.
<Good method>
After reviewing the site, I think they are Cerith snail eggs?
<Sure looks like it to me.>
I do have a few in my system and I am guessing that the lime addition to the
water has raised the ph and alkalinity thus resulting in happier snails.
<Possibly so, if those numbers (calcium as well) had been low prior, and you
were treating many, many Aiptasia - or using copious amounts of lime
solution (which I would not recommend). Do test for pH, alkalinity, and
calcium to ensure they’re all within the appropriate range.>
If my assumption is correct, is there a way to protect the eggs as I would
not mind having additional snails in the tank?
<Keep predators away – fish, shrimps, crabs. You could use something like a
clean plastic berry holder from the grocery store. Wedge it somehow against
the glass and hope for the best. It’s either that or move the eggs to
another tank that lacks predators and has a good supply of algae. Although
not exactly commonplace, there are hobbyists who have had success raising
these snails.>
Thanks for your time!
<You’re very welcome and good luck!>
John
<Take care, LynnZ>
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Snail Spawning... 01/07/2009
Greetings, Merry Christmas
and Happy New Year!
<Thank you, y tu tambien.>
I thought I
would send along this picture of what I believe is a snail trying to
procreate...
<Indeed... it looks to be dropping some eggs.>
I
may be grossly mistaken, however, as I usually am :) I apologise for
the poor image quality.
Either way, your thoughts on this would
be most appreciated!
<I think you have it right, is
procreative...>
Respectfully yours,
Justin
<Best,
Sara
M.> |  | |
Re: Snail Spawning... 01/07/2009, 1/8/09
Ciao il
mio amica.
<Hehe... is this Italian? I thought I was speaking
Spanish. This is San Diego I'm writing from... ;-) >
From what I
read on WWM, spawning is very hard on a small fish tank.
<Oh,
this is true of clam and/or coral spawning which are typically much
larger than snail spawnings. I would not worry too much about a
single snail spawn (they usually have little to no effect in any
tank over 10g).>
I have done a 20% water change, should I do
another in the same day?
<Unless this is a nano tank, no, I don't
think you need to.>
Many apologies for troubling you with this
silly question.
<Not silly at all.>
J
<Best,
Sara M.> |
Astraea Snail Spawning -11/2/08
I forgot the add the
pictures. Here they are
<Cool pics! Thanks!>
Hello all, I
have 5 Astraea snails 3 seem to be female, 1 is male, and 1 is
unknown (they are at least 3.5 years old). 3 are releasing eggs, 1
is (in my guess) attempting to release eggs, and 1 is releasing
sperm. I was wondering if there is a way to keep these alive?
<The snails? ...or the spawn? If you want to try your hand at
breeding them, you can use a baster to suck up the eggs and sperm
and mix them in a "sterile" goldfish bowl full of water. You might
try an airstone for circulation in the bowl.>
I placed all the
snails in a 1 gal tank and let them do their thing until the bottom
was covered with eggs and the water is so cloudy that you can't see
through the other side.
<Oh, oops, I should have kept reading
your email... yes, this should work too.>
The snails are still
doing their thing in the main tank. I have looked for a few hours on
many sites and can't find anything out about these snails except
that they don't reproduce in the aquarium and only live 2 years
<Well, there's always a first time for everything.>
I have
attached 2 photos. One of a female and one of a male. I have a few
short videos if you are interested in them, Thank you for your help,
<Please do keep us updated. What do you plan to feed and how do you
plan to filter/circulate the tank with the spawn, anything? You
might try also posting on this on the DIBs and/or MOFIB.>
Matthew
<Thanks for writing, Sara M.> |   |
Stomatella spawning 10/8/08
Greetings to the crew at WWM
<And to you! A tardy Mich here
apologizing for the delay.>
and a big thanks for all your work! My
tank has benefited greatly from the knowledge you folks provide.
<Glad to hear!>
While I was feeding my fish tonight I was fortunate
enough to witness a Stomatella spawning.
<Cool!>
First one male
released his sperm, then a second then a female release her eggs
followed by a second female and finally a third male all within about a
minutes time and from several locations around the tank. Very cool to
watch and a couple of my Damsel's loved the eggs from one of the
females!
<A treat.>
I've seen a single male broadcast from time to
time, but never two simultaneously let alone a combination of both male
and female.
<Neat!>
My question is what triggered this event?
<Ahhh... if we only knew.>
The lights had been on for about an hour
and I couldn't think of anything in their environment that might have
triggered it (no unusual temp or current changes etc.) Seems to me, for
that kind of timing, there had to be a trigger of sorts
<Likely so.
What triggers many of the spawning events isn't well understood and can
be related to many different things from temperature to literally the
phase of the moon.>
I already have MANY Turbo babies and now I'm
looking forward to hopefully spotting a few new Stomatella's.
<I hope
you are correct!>
Thanks again for your help
<Welcome, Mich>
Circles of Ribbon-Like Sand: Likely Egg Collar - 9/8/08
<Hi Gerry, Lynn here this morning.>
Over the last couple of
months these circles of ribbon-like sand appear in my tank. They
appear in different locations each time. The last time they appeared
was 3 weeks ago there were 2 of them. I removed them when they
appeared and took these pictures. Today I have noticed a new one in
my tank. Any idea what is making this?
<They look very much like
what’s commonly called a sand or egg collar, a combination of mucus,
sand grains, and eggs produced by snails in the family Naticidae
(commonly known as Moon snails). Do you have any of these in your
system? Here are some examples of these egg masses for comparison:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2288/2250226721_f350b8a92a_o.jpg
http://jellyfishinthesea.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/img_4401.jpg
http://www.manandmollusc.net/Mystery_shell_pages/mystery_shell_steve.html>
Thanks,
Gerry
<You’re very welcome, Gerry. Take care, -Lynn> |
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Snails for GSPs 5/19/08
Hey guys,
<Hi Scott, Pufferpunk
here.>
I set up a 3 gallon eclipse tank about two months ago to breed
snails and it is going great. The snails are breeding like crazy but
they are taking longer than I thought to get big enough to feed to my
two green spotted puffers.
<The rule of thumb is: snails as big as
their eye.>
I have been pulling out about six or eight at a time once
a week and dropping them into the tank. They generally do not make it to
the bottom but my question is: how many snails should I be feeding each
fish to combat their teeth growing?
<The amount you are feeding is
fine. Personally, I do not feed snails very often. There are many easier
to find hard-shelled foods to feed to your puffers.
See:
http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/
>
I have one GSP that is a little over two inches from tip to tail
and another that is about one and a half inches. I feed blood worms most
of the time along with black worms and sometimes raw table shrimp,
mussel or crab leg occasionally.
<All good foods.>
From the first
major snail spawn I have about 100 tiny snails crawling all over some
algae wafers that I am waiting to grow big enough and the bigger ones
are always laying more egg sacks around.
<Zucchini might be a
better/cheaper option for snail food. It’s much easier to pull out a
piece of that vegetable with snails crawling all over it, to harvest
them.>
I don't want to decimate the population of mature snails to
the point where the little ones will take too long to catch up and start
laying eggs. Another quick question I have is that I have had insane
algae trouble with this tank ever since I set it up. For a few months it
was freshwater planted and when I started to add salt coincidentally at
the same time black beard algae overtook the whole tank.
<Black
“algae” may actually be cyano. Check into eradicating that at the WWM
site.>
I dealt with removing it for about a month or more, until it
choked out the plants and I had to throw them away. At that time I
removed the fluorite substrate, ran diluted bleach through the whole
tank, filters and rocks and started over again with crushed coral
substrate and I added Bio-Spira and hoped for the best. The tank cycled
ok but now there is nothing in the tank besides the crushed coral and
rock, so there is nothing to export excess nutrients and with puffers
they end up fouling their water in like four days. Is there anything I
can do to keep a brackish tank free of algae or at least be able to
manage it? <Best way to export excess nutrients in a FW/BW tank is by
doing at least 50% water changes weekly. Be sure the puffers are housed
properly—30g each adult puffer.>
I have a lot of marine experience
with my reef tank but this is my first foray into fresh/brackish water
so I might be missing something.
<Although you seem to have snail
breeding down pretty well, here’s an article on Basic Snail Breeding:
http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/library/feeding/basic-snail-breeding/
~PP>
Thanks, Scott
Hitchhiker Snail Reproduction: Stomatella varia - 1/17/08
Hello WWM,
<Hi there!>
Thanks for all you do.
<It's a
pleasure, indeed!>
I have a hitchhiker snail that I saw trying to
reproduce in my tank. I tried to get some pictures but they were
hard to take with the xenia in the way.
<Understandable - can be
tough to get good photos of such small subjects - especially
considering water flow/movement.>
What are the chances something
like this can reproduce in my system? I've only seen one of these in
my tank.
<What you’ve got is a Stomatella sp., likely Stomatella
varia. They’re harmless/beneficial little herbivores/grazers, highly
variable in color, reproduce readily in our tanks, and can get up to
~1.25” in length. With such a small shell and so much exposed foot,
you’d think that this species would be very vulnerable to predation.
After all, how can it possibly protect itself if it can’t retract
into a shell? Well, nature has allowed for this. Stomatellids are
mostly nocturnal, can move *very* rapidly, and have the ability to
detach the hind portion of their "foot" (the “metapodium”). This is
similar to some lizards detaching a portion of their tail when
threatened. The sacrificed segment wriggles and writhes, thus
distracting the predator and supplying it with a tasty tidbit –
allowing the snail to escape. Potential predators of Stomatellids
include the usual “pickers” - hermits, shrimps, and crabs. Some fish
also find them tasty, but the snails’ mostly nocturnal nature helps
to eliminate them from the menu.
Sometimes confused with sea
slugs, Stomatellids are actually in the family Trochidae, which
includes the more familiar/recognizable Trochus spp. (Trochus/Top
Snails), Margarites spp. (Margarita Snails), and Norrisia sp (Moon
Snails).
Regarding reproduction, unfortunately, if you have only
the one female in your tank, the eggs she released were not
fertilized and are therefore not viable. They will simply become
part of the foodchain. Hopefully, there are some small, not yet
mature candidates around for future spawning events. As far as
method, Stomatella spp. are broadcast spawners. The male releases
sperm into the water while the female releases her eggs. In most
cases, this means that the young have very little chance of survival
in our tanks. However, such is not the case with Stomatellids. What
tips the scale in their favor is the fact that the young have a very
short pelagic larval stage, during which they don’t need to eat.
After several days of drifting about in the current, they settle to
the rock/substrate as miniature versions of their parents, and begin
to graze. All in all, they’re fascinating little creatures and make
terrific additions to a reef tank!>
Thanks,
Jesse
<You're
very welcome! Take care. -Lynn> |  
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Money Cowry Eggs - 6/1/07
Hey guys <Hey Niko>
I have about 5
money cowries in my reef thank and one of them has laid eggs on the
under side of my Fluval powerhead exhaust. <Neat!> I saw the cowry there
today and decided to pick him off of the powerhead and sure enough there
was a pile of yellow white eggs. I quickly put her back up there and she
has been getting food and protecting the babies. I am worried about the
babies survival. I have a mandarin goby, 2 cb erectus seahorses (doing
the breeding dance every morning) and a ribbon eel. I have looked on the
web everywhere to find out how to raise them but all I find is never
bred in captivity or something to that extent.
<Sounds like you’ve
got a great opportunity to fill in some blanks in this area. I’ve heard
of cowry eggs appearing in tanks now and then, but unfortunately, never
of the young being successfully raised. One problem is that most cowry
species hatch into free-swimming larvae called veligers and become food
for corals and any number of other organisms in our tanks. Other species
skip the free-swimming part. They simply hatch, crawl out, and begin
their lives (direct development). Unfortunately, I don’t believe money
cowries (Cypraea moneta) are of this variety. Among other issues is what
to feed the veligers once they’ve hatched. I can only guess that
possibly one of the Phytoplankton products available might be worth
trying. Just be careful with those. Too much can lead to an algal bloom.
By the way, please do consider keeping records of this and any further
events. If you can supplement with photos, that’s even better! Any and
all information you can gather and share, helps us all better understand
and increase the chances of one day successfully raising these
beauties.>
Any suggestions on perhaps using a breeder net and algae
clip or something? <See above.>
Thanks
Niko
<You're very
welcome. Good luck and please keep in touch! -Lynn>
Snails laying eggs, and lighting Thalassia sys. 3/20/07
Howdy Guys,
<John>
I'm attaching several pics of some snails
(Cerith perhaps) laying eggs on my aquarium glass. Maybe they'll
come in handy.
<Hope so>
I do have a question. I have a
yellow tang and I was wondering if he'll eat turtle grass.
<Mmm,
maybe... is tough to chew>
A friend of mine gave me a few sprigs
and I'm not sure about the lighting requirements, etc. My main tank
is 120 gallons with about 4-5 inches of fine aragonite sand on the
bottom, two 4 foot VHO's and two 175 watt MH, the yellow tang, seven
yellow tailed damsels, many snails and hermit crabs, three urchins,
various polyps, a bubble tip anemone, and a bunch of Xenia. I could
put it in the sump but I would have to put some sand down there. I
have a couple of 2 foot fluorescent fixtures with two bulbs each I
could use for lighting, but I imagine I would have to block the
light to prevent algae growth in my skimmer. I really want to avoid
all that if possible. Oh, my main tank is 2 feet deep, 4 feet long,
and 2 feet front to back.
Thanks,
John Jordan
<I would
try this in your main display. Bob Fenner> |  
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A Strange Invader? Nah, Just Normal Reproduction. 3/16/07
Hi
there!
<Hi Debbie! Mich here.>
You guys were
wonderful at addressing my questions a couple weeks ago, so I thought
I'd try again.
<Glad to hear. Welcome back.>
I can't seem to
find the answers through previous questions on your website, so here
goes: There is some sort of feather-like deposits stuck on the back of
our 3-month old 24g Nano. One of our Nassarius snails was near the
"stuff" - so I don't know if it is somehow related to him?
<Yep! Snail eggs.>
I attached the best picture I could get of the
stuff. Any ideas what this is, and what I should do about it?
<Nothing to do but watch and enjoy!>
Thanks a bunch! -Debbie
<Welcome a bunch! -Mich>
Does snail need a mate in order to
reproduce? 6/20/06
<<Depends entirely on the species in
question. Please read about the species you keep on WWM.>>
Little
white dots in my tank seem to be growing into little snails. My only
single snail has lived in my tank for about seven months now. I don't
suppose my damsels got her in trouble. I also have couple of hermits,
one starfish and a shrimp. 30-gallon tank.
Thank you for your help.
<<Glad to help. Lisa.>>
Mystery Marine Snail - 06/09/06
Greetings WWM Crew,
<<Morning Crystal>>
First, a huge thank you goes out to each one
of you for doing what you do!
<<We are pleased to assist>>
Your site has been a tremendous help for me in setting up my tank.
<<Wonderful!>>
Almost every question I've had has been answered
and clarified, so I now have a deeper (though still 'shallow' in the
grand scheme of things) understanding of how things "should" work.
<<And your "understanding" will only continue to improve...just keep
reading, researching>>
So, on to my question. I've cycled my
new 47g tall tank with 45 pounds of live rock, 40 pounds of live
sand and decided to start stocking by adding a very basic, small
clean-up crew. I have two scarlet reef hermits and two Nassarius
distortus. Last night, one of the snails popped up and stuck onto
the glass while remaining very still. This morning, when the lights
came on, I found him still there, but it had created this trail of
yellow palm-frond looking dots.
<<I see them>>
The entire
work measures approx. 2" long and is very intricate. I have no idea
what it is, and I've looked over and over your site for an
answer. Google images yields no answers, and they look nothing like
Nassarius eggs.
<<Agreed>>
So now two questions come to
mind, the little guy looks exactly like Nassarius distortus, was
sold to me as such, and behaves as such.
<<Though very difficult
to tell from the picture, but the shell of this snail looks more
narrow/elongate than the typical "Nassarius" shell. Possibly a
Cerith species>>
But this is odd - so is the answer simply that
I do not actually have a Nassarius distortus and that the snail is
laying eggs?
<<Would be my guess...I have seen snails get
mixed/confused during selection/shipment before>>
I don't think
my snails are happy enough to do this in just three weeks, but who
knows.
<<Three weeks or three hours, wouldn't make a difference
to the snail as long as the proper environmental cues were present>>
I've included the best picture of it as my camera could manage.
<<Hmm, perhaps time for a new camera <grin> >>
Thank you in
advance for any answers or help!
Crystal
<<Thank you for
writing so well. Cheers, EricR>> | 
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A question about spawning from snails 9/19/05
I perused
your snail repro faq:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/snailreprofaqs.htm
and am assuming
what I've had happen is that the snail is reproducing. I had thought
that snails only left trails of egg masses attached to surfaces, and
didn't spawn directly in to the water. Guess I learned something new
today.
<Perhaps>
This little guy was a hitchhiker on a zoanthid.
About five minutes after placing the zoanthid it began to squirt and
upon further inspection, this little fella was squirting hundreds of
veeeeery tiny eggs into the water (see a few of the eggs on the right in
the pic):
http://static.flickr.com/26/43613507_64d22fbcd4.jpg?v=0
<"Photo
currently unavailable"..>
He's seemed to have left behind a clear
capsule of some sort that's half open. Like an aborted attempt at an egg
case. So I wonder if he meant to place the eggs in the capsule or...
well, I don't know.
<I think you do>
My question is, do you
think that it is indeed a snail squirting eggs?
<Sounds like it,
yes>
And also, what species is he? I have not seen him before. From
previous posts I'm assuming the hundreds of eggs everywhere in the water
are a free bloom
of nutrients and not something to worry about?
<Need to see the pic... for the ID, but not likely a problem... more
food for filter feeders. Bob Fenner>
Thanks so much,
BDallas
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