Apple snail eggs question

[succinctfish]

Well, my apple snails, have deposited not one,or two, but three of these bizarre looking things on the glass of the tank.  2 of these pink masses are on the outside glass of the tank, and a smaller one inside just above the waterline. Now my questions are:  will these eggs remain viable on the outside of the tank? Will they dry out?  I have misted them with water twice a day since these appeared a couple of days ago, assuming since they put these on plants above water in the wild, some humidity must be necessary. Should I be doing this, or will this cause the eggs to fungus?

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[squeeker]

The eggs are on the outside of the tank?  Did I read that right?  Might want to make your canopy escape-proof!

What kind of snails do you have (Brigs or Canas)?

If you have brigs, that egg sac doesn't look fertile to me.  If it is fertile, it will turn a much lighter shade of translucent pinkish-salmon.  If not, the eggs will remain clear and bright pink.

Apple snail eggs do need to be out of the water, but they also need humidity. Spraying them might not be enough. 

check out www.applesnail.net for loads of snail info!

[succinctfish]

Canopy?
They are in a temporary tank together, no cover.  They are big yellow apple snails, not brigs.  I took them out of some previous fry tanks.  Now that they are together, they have decided to reproduce.  They have proven to be a little on the adventurous side these last couple of days, I do a count and find the traveller, using after an egg producing excursion. The room they are in is fairly humid(too many tanks ), so I was hoping misting might be enough.  The picture is from yesterday, right after misting, today the eggs are lighter in colour.  When I discovered these initially I debated whether to move the eggs to the inside of the tank, but decided against it. 

[squeeker]

Only problem with leaving them where they are is that when the babies hatch, they will die as they need to drop into the water soon after hatching.  Instead, they're going to drop on the floor or table or whatever and die.

The sacs are easy to move.  Just use a credit card and scrape the whole thing off the side of the tank, they are quite hard and should come off in one piece.

Then, you can float the egg sac on a piece of styrofoam or something in the tank, or you could float it in a tupperware container if you don't want to risk putting it in the tank.

Whatever you decide to do, there WILL be more eggs so don't worry!

[Laura]

You may want to seriously consider only hatching part of one of the clutches unless you want hundreds of canas.  3 clutches is a lot of snails.........

I also second Squeeker's suggestion - applesnail.net is a great resource.

[succinctfish]

I agree about applesnail.net.  I certainly spent a lot of time on there when we were trying to find the identity of the thorny snail.  I hadn't intended on breeding the apple snails, these things just happen

Thanks for the advice, I had assumed if they all hatched that there would be hundreds of the little blighters.  I wouldn't mind a few to experience it, I missed the whole egg laying thing all three times. 

The egg clutch inside the tank should be okay, I assume.  It is smaller than the two on the outside of the tank, so fingers crossed for it.  I will think about moving the other two, but I'm not sure I want to raise THAT many snails. 

[Melody]

Congrat's, its a Cana clutch.  They don't have to be as moist as P. Bridgesii.  The most common hatching method is to leave them where they are.  However, if there isn't a cover on the tank you may want to remove them and place them into a hatchery to up the humidity just a bit.  Misting will probably leave them far too wet.

I'm really surprised that she lays them outside and then goes back into the tank like a good girl...lol...that's priceless.

I just wrote a general article about clutch hatching for another forum.  Information regarding Cana's specifically can, of course, be found on Applesnail.net.  Love that site  .

There's hundreds of snails in there, but it sounds like you're aware of the responsibility involved.  While you're planning, keep in mind that Cana's and other plant-eating snails are more difficult to find homes for.  You can freeze the clutches and then throw them out if you need to dispose of them, or you can try offering them for sale or give them away to someone as responsible as yourself.  Good luck!

[succinctfish]

Thanks Melody!  I was hoping you'd share your wisdom
I've got 5, yes, 5 clutches. Let's see, that's up to 300 eggs per clutch, 1500 potential little snails

That's sobering...and I thought a couple of hundred angelfish was a lot!  I read on the link you provided that this can go on for weeks.  Sigh...
By the way, the last time, she decided to go for a stroll.  I found her halfway to the bathroom, silly critter.

I guess Seanc is right in theory about the evilness of snails,it looks like she was aiming for the toilet and world domination. 

[Melody]

I should mention that letting young snails and fish watch 'Finding Nemo' is irresponsible lol.

That's a lot of clutches alright.  You can usually move the clutches for the cost of shipping, but they'll need a heatpack.  In fact, I just got into Cana's and love the gold ones, so stop tempting me, speaking of evil.   

[gonna_b_no_1]

My snail pair have laid about 18 clutches in the last 3 months.  I still have about 600 baby snails growing out here, and 100 at a friend's house because i had no more room! 

You may want to separate your pair, because after a small break they'll be laying clutches again...and again...and again  lol

If you have a grocery store or a fruit and veggie store close by, see the manager and ask them if you can have any cuttings off lettuces that they would normally pitch out.  Saves a little green by getting free green.  Marche frais here (hull) was really good for that and once a week I would pick up a box full of lettuce leaves. 

I also used up alot of my fish food that I couldn't feed to the fish I currently have in tanks.  I didn't have ciclids left, but the apple snails polished off the ciclid food, and goldfish food. 

At one point, I was putting in a 1/2 head of lettuce every 3 days, and every day I would just pour in some fish food and let them go at it.  lol

You could also list some of the clutches on aquabid.  

[Melody]

Oh my, time for snail birth control...lol.  Are yours Cana's too?

[succinctfish]

Nice tip about the lettuce gbn1; I get a bunch of lettuce leaves from a program I'm involved with at work once a month.  All the leaves that fall off the lettuces I keep asking the packers to save for my snails   I think I'm getting a reputation as a snail weirdo  

[babblefish1960]

Ah ha, I knew it, you're a snail weirdo after all. There, I feel better now, anyone have a recipe for canas snail roe?

[gonna_b_no_1]

I had canas and brigs but sold off the canas.  I have my brigs still and at last estimate I currently have about 500 ready to go to new homes.

I found that the brigs grew faster than the canas.

Ah ha, I knew it, you're a snail weirdo after all. There, I feel better now, anyone have a recipe for canas snail roe?

apple snail.net has some recipies listed for the actual snail..i don't know about the eggs  lol