# Help: Mystery Snail Questions



## Overprotective Fish Lover (Apr 11, 2015)

Hi again,

So I'm looking into getting a mystery snail as a tank mate for my betta in his 5 gal, but I have some questions.

1: I've heard a lot of controversial stuff about whether or not females lay unfertilized eggs. Could someone clarify?
2: There have been stories of bettas biting off snail antennas. I understand that I might not have a problem like this, but it's best to be prepared. Would this kill the snail? Will the antennas grow back? Would Petsmart take the snail back if things weren't going well?
3: Can I tell a guy from a girl (for naming purposes)?
4: I don't have an algae problem, and I make sure Poseidon eats everything I give him, so I'll probably have to feed my snail something else. I'm not sure what, though. Help?
5: I really, really, really don't want to do more than one water change a week. Will a betta and a snail produce too much waste? Will I have an ammonia problem?
6: Are there any special tank requirements for a snail? Do they like a certain temperature, lots of cover (or lots of space), anything special in the way of water conditions (my tank is cycled)?
7: How do I do a water change...take the snail out, or leave it in?
8: How can I tell if my snail is sick? If the snail dies, will it foul the water and kill my betta (Poseidon comes first)?

Any help whatsoever would be really appreciated!

-Overprotective Fish Lover


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## Stormfish (Apr 30, 2012)

1. I've never had a single mystery snail lay eggs. My pond snails, however...
2. It's going to depend on the temperament of your Betta. One of my male Bettas seem to take great pleasure in bullying a snail, so I had to move it to another tank. No, I don't think antennae grow back. Besides, their little eyes are there and you wouldn't want it being blinded.
3. Go gender neutral. LOL
4. Algae wafers, zucchini slices, cucumber slices, spinach leaves.
5. They're big poopers, yes.
6. They need a heated tank. And I wouldn't put one in a tank smaller than 5 Gal. They can grow up to the size of a golf ball!
7. Leave the snail in for water changes. Like any aquatic animal, the less handling, the better for its health.
8. Any dead organic matter will foul the water. I've never had one show signs of illness, so I can't say. I did have one get suctioned into a filter intake once and it was disgusting!


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## Overprotective Fish Lover (Apr 11, 2015)

I don't have another tank to put a snail in and I'm not too interested in cleaning two tanks a week, just because my snail and betta don't get along. On the other hand, if my snail gets tortured, I would feel like a murderer leaving it in there. It's hard to tell what Poseidon wold do...he's pretty territorial sometimes, but he also seems fairly laid back. He has a very short attention span...he'd probably lose interest after about a week, but would I have a blind snail by then? Who knows?

Do you have to do anything to the zucchini, cucumber, and spinach before you give it to the snail (boil it, etc.)?

Thanks for the help.


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## Stormfish (Apr 30, 2012)

You could blanch the veggies for a few seconds in the microwave to soften them up. Let cool before putting in the tank though. Using a veggie clip is best as well, since it will hold it in place for the snail to get to.


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## livenatso (Mar 1, 2015)

1: So far no eggs for me but mine looks male.

2: My snail has gotten his antennas trimmed a few times by bitey bettas and they appear to have grown back without any lasting damage to the snail. My snail has learned to keep his head in his shell most of the time and ducks whenever the fish comes near. Their eyes are actually next to the base of their antennas so normally their eyes remain unharmed. 

3: What you can do to sex your snail is hold them and wait for them to come out of their shell which sounds a lot easier than it is because these guys are STUBBORN. If you can see a penis on their right side (your left when looking at them) then its a boy. If it's just empty space above the snail's head then it is a girl. Apparently male mystery snails also have more of a flare to the opening of their shell. It's pretty hard to tell when they're a small size. I second the gender neutral name idea.

4: When leaves and branches detach from my plants I actually just leave them in the tank because my snail likes to chew on them. I also feed my snail the same food I feed my betta whenever he has crawled up onto the glass to the surface of the water. I drop a pellet next to his shell and distract the betta until he's on top of it and eating it. He ignores algae wafers completely and my betta ends up gorging himself on those so I avoid using them. I've also fed my snail bak choy and choy sum before but he seems to favour betta pellets the most.

5: I keep my mystery snail with two bettas in a cycled divided five gallon and according to my tests once a week has been fine for me despite it being overstocked. I must mention that I have the tank stuffed full of live plants which may be helping. I may have to up the changes or even upgrade the tank though once the snail gets to a larger size because he's ALWAYS pooping.

6: They live longer at lower temperatures. My tank temperature ranges from 20 to 30 degrees Celsius typically depending on the room temperature. My snail prefers to remain under the cover of plants when he's not moving around and I'm sure he feels safer having hiding places from my fish. Avoid adding salt to the water or anything with copper so if you need to medicate your fish it's best to get the snail out or do it in a quarantine tank unless you know for sure the medication is invert friendly. You're going to want to try to keep your water above a pH of 7 or else you risk the shell deteriorating.

7: I would just leave him in there.

8: If your snail is making a lot of slime (which will look like stringy fluff coming off of it) it means something in the water is irritating them. Look out for shell deterioration (pits and cracks and holes). I've also had my snail strain his muscle before (he appeared to have trouble pulling his shell around) and it scared the crap out of me because damaging that part of his body could mean he could potentially separate from his shell/mantle collapse causing suffocation. Ammonia and nitrite poisoning apparently makes snails swell up and they'll just lie there hanging open. If your snail dies (most likely you'll be able to tell from either the smell or you'll see that their body has fallen limp out of their shell) you should definitely take the body out because they will make your tank smell like hell and definitely foul the water too.


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## Overprotective Fish Lover (Apr 11, 2015)

I will have to go do some snail stalking at Petsmart to see if I can tell their gender.  I would like to get a boy, if possible, just so there would be no chance of getting a "pregnant" girl. I'd love to name it after a Greek god, as my fish's name is Poseidon...are there any gender neutral Greek gods? LOL.

Poseidon has pretty bad eyesight, and really bad aim. As long as the antenna will grow back if he happens to land a nip, I'm sure the snail will be fine. And don't worry...I'll have no trouble sneaking the guy a pellet. Poseidon can barely find his food when I nudge it to him.

I think my pH is good but the snail will have to compromise on temperature because I'm not putting it any lower than 80 Fahrenheit, for my betta's sake.

Thanks!


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## SplashyBetta (Jul 28, 2014)

Actually, 80 is a perfect temp for a mystery snail. They're actually fine up to 85 degrees (although maybe not ideal)


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## PrincessKassXo (Apr 13, 2015)

Overprotective Fish Lover said:


> I will have to go do some snail stalking at Petsmart to see if I can tell their gender.  I would like to get a boy, if possible, just so there would be no chance of getting a "pregnant" girl. I'd love to name it after a Greek god, as my fish's name is Poseidon...are there any gender neutral Greek gods? LOL.
> 
> Poseidon has pretty bad eyesight, and really bad aim. As long as the antenna will grow back if he happens to land a nip, I'm sure the snail will be fine. And don't worry...I'll have no trouble sneaking the guy a pellet. Poseidon can barely find his food when I nudge it to him.
> 
> ...


Artemis was Apollos twin sister but the name is also commonly used for males as well.


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## PrincessKassXo (Apr 13, 2015)

1: This Has never happened to me. 
2: My bettas never bothered with my snails. Even though they zoomed around the tank at first. But it really all depends on your bettas temperament. 
3: It's so hard. You have to really get a good look at them. Hold them in your hand and when they open up take a peek inside to the left and look for the penis. Takes forever. I gave up and picked the gender myself haha!
4: I had the same thing. I bought him algee wafers and he likes those. He LOVED cucumber. Zucchini. Things like that. But they all have different tastes I've noticed. 
5: I went thru the worst time when I added my snail. I was new to the game and had him and a betta in a 1.5 gallon. Found out that was bad so quickly put them in a 5 gallon. This meant a new filter and a new cycle. The water spiked constantly. My snail ended up passing  I hadn't learned much about them before hand and didn't know. They are so susceptible to water levels!! Any amount of ammonia and nitrogen and they will die really fast. They swell up so badly that they can't fit back in their shell. It's instantly. I put my guy in the 5 gallon and in 10 seconds he was in his shells. 10 minutes later he was swollen. I thought he was just hiding. He wasn't. His shell cracked too. He wouldn't eat. 

If you are finding that your levels spike it will effect him more than you might even notice. You might have to do daily water changes if your levels change. I had to do 2 water changes a day when I added him to keep the ammonia down. But by the time I realized I had to do that it was already too late. 

Also when they don't like the water they produced this white fluffy slime. Be on the look out for that. Huge sign. If you can keep with with water changes often for the first little bit then I would say go for it. 

They are messy things and have a heavy bio load. He def messed with my water. 

If you notice he is swollen or sliming then do an oxygen treatment. Take him out of the tank and put him on a plate with a THIN layer of water. Barely any. You will notice after awhile he will come out and the swelling will go down. I fed mine that way too while the water sucked. Multiple oxygen treatments will help with everything. 

6: Salt is now out of the question as snails hate it. So if you treat your water with that stop. Some fish meds hurt them so if you ever have to treat your fish take the snail out for a bit. They can survive in a tropical tank with a betta. However. They like it a bit more cold than that. It won't hurt them to be in warmer water. They just have longer life spans in colder. 

7: Leave him in. Less movement the better. But like I said with this new bioload you may have to increase the water changes for the first bit. 

8: As I said earlier. They will stay in their shell. Produce a white fluffy slime. Swell to the point of not fitting back in their shell. Etc. if this happens do a 75% water change asap and an oxygen treatment for the little guy. The closer they are to death the more lose the muscle is that sucks them inside the shell. A dead snail will flop out of his shell. If you are worried he's dead and you aren't smelling anything HORRIBLE then gentle see if there is any tension to him.


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## Overprotective Fish Lover (Apr 11, 2015)

PrincessKassXo said:


> Artemis was Apollos twin sister but the name is also commonly used for males as well.


That's really cute...I'll so call him/her that (when I get him. I might not be able to until August). Unless, of course, I somehow figure out how to tell snail gender...then I can look for _not_ gender-neutral names. Fat chance that I'll ever figure it out though...they all just look like blobs to me.


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## Overprotective Fish Lover (Apr 11, 2015)

PrincessKassXo said:


> If you are finding that your levels spike it will effect him more than you might even notice. You might have to do daily water changes if your levels change. I had to do 2 water changes a day when I added him to keep the ammonia down. But by the time I realized I had to do that it was already too late.


My tank is cycled, so I think I'm good. But thanks anyway...who knew that snails are affected so much by water quality? You learn something new every day!

Thanks for the other info, too...nice to know!


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## livenatso (Mar 1, 2015)

Overprotective Fish Lover said:


> I will have to go do some snail stalking at Petsmart to see if I can tell their gender.  I would like to get a boy, if possible, just so there would be no chance of getting a "pregnant" girl. I'd love to name it after a Greek god, as my fish's name is Poseidon...are there any gender neutral Greek gods? LOL.
> 
> Poseidon has pretty bad eyesight, and really bad aim. As long as the antenna will grow back if he happens to land a nip, I'm sure the snail will be fine. And don't worry...I'll have no trouble sneaking the guy a pellet. Poseidon can barely find his food when I nudge it to him.
> 
> ...


I hope your pet smart is better at keeping snails alive then mine. Whenever I'm there it looks like there are fifteen either dead or on the brink of death and maybe 3 or 4 that are active. If you plan on attempting to identify their parts make sure you have a lot of time. I tried really hard to find a male because I didn't like the idea of having a pregnant female either and I ended up just winging it and judging based on shell shape alone because what they all did was come out of their shells a tiny bit and then suck right back in and they all did this over and over again for ages. Males are supposed to be more trumpet like for some reason but for ages I thought I had judged wrong and that I had a girl until now that my snail has grown and I THINK I can see a penis... Maybe it's just wishful thinking LOL

I forgot to mention that having a high gH is important. I should probably test mine but I don't really bother because my snail has been repairing parts of his shell and growing new shell just fine with the routine I have. A lot of snail keepers like to put calcium supplements (like tums or caltrate) into the water. I've seen videos of snails flocking to eat the powdered calcium that their keepers have added but mine just ignores it but I guess it still dissolves into the water so its okay. Others find success with putting pieces of cuttle bone for birds into the tank for the snail to eat and get calcium from. Calcium rich vegetables are another option.


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