Useful Tips to Care for Mystery Snails

The diet of the mystery snails consists of mostly kale, lettuce, and spinach. There are a few species of these snails, for example, the Golden mystery snail that would also eat shrimp pellets and other types of fish food as well. In terms of their artificial home, they will usually be comfortable in an aquarium full of alkaline water.

One important aspect you should keep in mind is that you should never give your pet snail any millet, rice, pasta, or other types of starchy foods because these can lead to bloating, which can be lethal in snails.

The mystery snails belong to a family of mollusks called the Vivipariidae and will surely bring color to your aquarium, especially if you go for more colorful varieties, like the South American snail, which can be black, golden, blue, or other colors. There are also varieties of mystery snails from Japan and China, which are black and will usually have green algae that look like moss covering their shell. These are called trapdoor snails.

You might also like my articles on whether snails bite, whether snails poop and how to remove nerite snail eggs from the tank.

Properly Caring For Mystery Snails

Water Needs

You should really be careful not to place it in acidic water because this really damages its shell. There are actually studies that have managed to show that even acidic waters in the ocean will chip away the snail’s shell. Research that the shell can dissolve almost completely due to acidification. This is why it is vital to place the mystery snail in water that is strongly alkaline, going for a value inside the tank of just between 7.6 and 8 pH.

To create a comfortable environment for the mystery snail, you should keep the water within a temperature of 65 to 82 degrees F. As you know, for most homes this is actually the room temperature, so if you know you’re keeping the inside of your home withing those degree ranges, you will not need to get a heater for your aquarium. However, if for any reason the temperature of the water will be warmer or cooler than that range, you will have to get a heater to keep it in check.

It is very important to also keep mystery snails in hard water. because soft water will also damage the snail’s shell. This has been proven through many experiments where the shell of a mystery snail was placed in soft water and pretty quickly it was damaged on its exterior. If the snail is in soft water while the shell is developing, it will form with gaps in it. You should look for water with a hardness level of 5 to 15 kdH.

Snails are great at escaping from tanks. They will do this by simply crawling up to the edge. This is why you will also have to place a well-ventilated lid on the tank and properly secure it. For proper ventilation, the lid should have enough holes in it but again, make sure the holes aren’t too big.

You can also have some types of fish in the aquarium along with your pet snails. Just make sure that you go for fish that aren’t known to hunt or eat snails, like the Loachers or the Puffers. To make sure you do things right from the start, talk to a tank expert before mixing mystery snails with fish.

Food

These mystery snails are a great way for you to control the algae growth in the tank in a natural way. One of the best varieties of mystery snails to keep the algae under control is the trapdoor snail, also called the Japanese mystery snail. They will also eat rotting plants from within the tank. You can supplement their diet with algae wafers, which are full of nutrients and a great source of vitamins.

The snail should also get enough calcium for its shell to grow. You can supplement its calcium intake by including all kinds of dark leafy greens in its diet, like collard greens, kale, turnips, and spinach. You can also supplement its diet with other vegetables like carrots, cucumbers, and green beans. These snails just love to eat blanched vegetables.

The Pomacea canaliculata, the Pomacea bridgesii (Golden mystery snail), and other types of South American snails won’t be interested in natural plants if they receive the necessary amount of food they like on a daily basis. One of the best types of mystery snails you can keep in a tank is the Chinese variety because these won’t harm the fish eggs and won’t feel the need to consume the plants either.

Shrimp pellets and other types of fish food are also great for mystery snails. All you have to do to feed them will be to add a teaspoon or two of ground shrimp. This will give them a great amount of minerals and vitamins. As a member of the Ampullariidae family would also like to eat fish eggs.

Its Lifespan

You should expect a Chinese mystery snail to live around 4 years in captivity, while the South American types will only live to 2 years.

Reproduction

There are some species of snails that are considered hermaphrodite and can reproduce asexually but that’s not the case with the mystery snails, which need a connection between a male and a female for breeding.

You will have to put both snails of both genders into your aquarium. It won’t take a lot of time for you to notice eggs on the surface of the water. These eggs will basically be together in an egg mass that will contain 100 eggs or more. It will take anywhere between two and three weeks for the eggs to crack and tiny snails to come out and become a part of the tank’s life.

A word reproduction method is employed by the Chinese mystery snail, a member of the Viviparidae species, which won’t lay eggs. Instead, the female will give birth directly to live babies.

Keep in mind

One element that is lethal to snails is copper. They are really sensitive to it and levels of just 0.01% of it in the water will be very toxic for these creatures. This is why you should make sure that the water you add to the tank is free of copper.