Things You'll Need:
- 6 or More Apple Snails
- Aquatic Environment
- Nutritious Food
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Step 1
Find a healthy group of apple snails. It is best to get over six snails in total. This way you are more likely to have at least one male and one female apple snail.
If you buy the apple snails when they are smaller the price will be more reasonable.
Make sure that you buy all of your snails from the same batch to ensure that they are the same species of snail so that they can successfully mate and produce offspring.
Most species of apple snail are able to breed within a year of being born. -
Step 2
Set your apple snails up in a fully cycled aquarium.
The apple snail breeder tank shouldn't have any of the following in it :
* No fish in it that might pester the snails!
* No external filters or internal power filters or pumps!
(These things are harmful to baby snails.)
The apple snail breeder tank should have all of the following items :
* An air pump with an air stone (air bubbler)
* A thermometer
* An aquarium heater
* Gravel
* Aquarium decorations (hiding spots)
* Aquatic plants (live and plastic)
* Excellent water quality (with a high PH and a high calcium level) -
Step 3
Leave 5 inches of glass at the surface of the aquarium which is where your apple snails will lay their eggs. Don't fill the aquarium all of the way up to the top.
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Step 4
Feed the apple snails a wide variety of foods to entice them to breed.
Foods should include : Algae Wafers, Shrimp Pellets, and Fishfood Flakes. Snails also need to eat fresh, blanched vegetables such as carrots and green beans twice a week or more.
Feed snails 3 times a day. -
Step 5
Stay on top of the water quality in your snail breeding tank. Test the water to ensure that nitrite and ammonia levels are at 0 and that nitrates are within acceptable ranges.
Add a calcium supplement if snails shells have any problems or look weak. -
Step 6
Keep the temperature in your apple snail tank above 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Apple snails breed in the warm spring and summer months in the wild. In an aquarium with a heater they may continue to breed all year round.
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Step 7
Turn off any lights near the apple snail breeder aquarium before the sun goes down. If a fertile female snail is ready and feels safe enough then she will slowly climb out of the water and lay her egg clutch on the dry or damp glass on the side of the tank. That is why it is important to leave 5 inches of dry space above the water line where your snails can lay their eggs.
Apple snail eggs can't be submerged in water or else the baby snails will drowned. Apple snail egg clutches can easily dry out completely, if the moisture in the environment dries up for some reason. -
Step 8
Check on the apple snail breeder tank daily to collect any egg clutches that were laid they night before.
Don't disturb an apple snail while its laying eggs or mating. This could slow down the breeding process.
Egg clutches will hatch if left alone where they had been laid. You can also hatch snail egg clutches in a homemade incubator.
Care for baby snails the same way that you care for the adult apple snails.
Comments
soanyway said
on 9/21/2009 Wow! guess you can't go on vacation while having these as pets! LOL