# How big do mystery snails get...?



## White Mage (Jan 31, 2013)

Mine has visible growth every day! He was about the size of a penny when we got him (2 weeks ago?), now he's bigger than a quarter!


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## shellieca (Jul 12, 2012)

His growth will slow a little bit. The biggest one I currently have is about golf ball size; I've had him about 8 months & he doesn't seem to be growing anymore or if he is its very slow growth.


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## Elsewhere (Dec 30, 2012)

Mine is about the size of a golfball too and I've had him for about five months, but when we got him he was about the size yours is now  Great little creatures, aren't they?


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## Chevko (Nov 15, 2012)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APAgL9VxyZE
^ That's one example. My Honey is maybe about an inch so far, her foot something over an inch. So I'm excited to see how big she'll get.


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## White Mage (Jan 31, 2013)

OMG THAT'S HUGE!!!!

o.o

monster snails, lol.

Btw my snails antennas never come out and he always moves under his shell, is that normal?

I think the female Betta he was originally with traumatized him :C


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## Elsewhere (Dec 30, 2012)

White Mage said:


> OMG THAT'S HUGE!!!!
> 
> o.o
> 
> ...


I share your experience  My one Betta kept biting off the antennae on my Mystery, Estabon, and it took him MONTHS to actually put them out in Atlas' tank when I moved him. Give it some time and he should be okay


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## Hadoken Kitty (Jan 24, 2013)

Keep in mind that that is an APPLE snail. NOT a mystery snail. Lol. My mystery snails are noticeably larger than they used to be.


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## White Mage (Jan 31, 2013)

I thought they were the same thing...


Anyway, what should I feed him? I'm currently giving him half an algae wafer every night, is that enough? Can I give him like some cucumber to mix it up here and there?


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## Hadoken Kitty (Jan 24, 2013)

kinda sorta. the same but different?

Are mystery snails also apple snails? Or are they different types of snails?
A: In some sources the name apple snail and mystery snail are considered to be synonyms for the snails of the family Ampullariidae. The name apple snail refers to there size, colour and form, while the name mystery snail comes from the fact that the aquarium market didn't know what kind of snail it was or where it came from, so it was a mystery (snail) for them.
In other sources, the mystery snails are described as snails from the family Viviparidae. The snails from this family look very similar to the snails from the family Ampullariidae, but they do lack a lung and labial tentacles and are livebearing snails (hence the name Viviparidae). 
Most snails sold as 'mystery snails' in the shops are Pomacea diffusa snails. 

credit: http://www.applesnail.net/content/faq.php#13


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## Elsewhere (Dec 30, 2012)

White Mage said:


> I thought they were the same thing...
> 
> 
> Anyway, what should I feed him? I'm currently giving him half an algae wafer every night, is that enough? Can I give him like some cucumber to mix it up here and there?


My Estabon is huge, and the tank has very little algae, so I give him one or two wafers a day and two teeny ones. I used to give him cucumber, but it always left the tank FILTHY and he never even ate it :/ So I would suggest algae and the wafers and getting live plants if you don't already have them


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## Hadoken Kitty (Jan 24, 2013)

I stuffed my tank with live plants and now the snails are super active. They climb all over them; so active! the plecos are super happy as well. I can't get them to eat all of an algae wafer now that the plants are in there.


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## Otterfun (Dec 31, 2012)

Since mid-January my Yo has grown from size of a quarter to almost a golf-ball, water at 78F, planted tank.

Size in mid-Jan, 13


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## Memphis (Nov 5, 2011)

My brother's golden mystery snail got pretty big until it got killed by his loches. I picked up a black one last weekend and named him Ninja lol. He avoids the back of the tank because of the Cory relay races. One of the cories already knocked him off the wall :/


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## Chevko (Nov 15, 2012)

Hadoken Kitty said:


> Keep in mind that that is an APPLE snail. NOT a mystery snail. Lol. My mystery snails are noticeably larger than they used to be.


That snail looked fairly similar to mine and she was marked as a Mystery, but will definitely keep this in mind. Is it a species thing all-around? Like, between _flagellata_ and others for sizes?


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## Hadoken Kitty (Jan 24, 2013)

Chevko said:


> That snail looked fairly similar to mine and she was marked as a Mystery, but will definitely keep this in mind. Is it a species thing all-around? Like, between _flagellata_ and others for sizes?


well, it's like apple falls under the category. But since they're all similar, they just bunch them as mystery. There's olive, apple, branded, etc. Apple being brown, olive being golden, and branded looking...well...Idk I haven't seen a branded one at my pet stores yet.


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## Silverfang (Mar 25, 2011)

apple = mystery.

I'm guessing you have a standard pomacea diffusa. They don't get much larger than gold ball size. If you had a cana complex, you could get up to a tennis ball in size. And then there are the Peruvian giants... Orange to grapefruit in size.


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## Otterfun (Dec 31, 2012)

Hadoken Kitty said:


> well, it's like apple falls under the category. But since they're all similar, they just bunch them as mystery. There's olive, apple, branded, etc. Apple being brown, olive being golden, and branded looking...well...Idk I haven't seen a branded one at my pet stores yet.


I have _Pomacea diffusa (old name: Pomacea bridgesii), I refer Yo as my Golden Mystery Snail., Yes, I think there is a species that can grow extremely big, much larger than 2".

This is a great snail site:
_http://www.applesnail.net/


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

These were all this big when I got them in the mail---> O and that was less then a month ago. 



























There are also these guys that have a similar looking shell but are a totally different species. They are only in this olive color and give brth to live young and get about 2-3 inches in size.


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

There is this but not sure of the species...


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## Chevko (Nov 15, 2012)

Holy mother of Celestia. What kind of snail is _that_??


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

It was just listed as "apple snail"








http://www.manandmollusc.net/odessa/pet2-barney.html


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## White Mage (Jan 31, 2013)

Well I was at Petsmart last night for some filter inserts... and I cam home with 2 snails. e.e

Lol


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## copperarabian (Apr 27, 2011)

Apple snails are a larger sub species than mystery snails from what I've read. 

Here's some photos I took of my mystery snail, he's golf ball sized. When I got him he was tiny.


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