Ivory mystery snail

Overview

A pale colour form of the aquarium mystery snail. English Wikipedia mentions the trade name "ivory mystery snail", and Tetra lists white among the popular shell colours.

Appearance

The shell is a plain creamy white, like ivory, without dark bands; the body is pale yellowish, with pale tentacles and siphon. Shape and size are the same as in ordinary Pomacea diffusa.

Care

Shared with the species: Mystery snail (Pomacea diffusa)

• Volume: at least 10 L per adult snail; for a species tank, 40 L or more.
• Temperature: 18–28 °C optimum according to Wikipedia, 23–25 °C according to Tetra. The snails cannot survive below 10 °C and become inactive at 18 °C and below.
• pH 6.5–7.8; GH 8–18. Do not keep them in soft water: they need calcium for the shell.
• A tight lid without large gaps is essential: snails, especially females looking for a place to lay eggs, climb out and die.
• Keep free access to the surface, as they regularly breathe air through the siphon.
• Provide strong filtration, aeration and regular water changes with gravel cleaning: the snails are greedy eaters and produce a lot of waste.
• Copper: snail-control medications are usually copper-based and are dangerous to molluscs.
• Use sand or smooth gravel, and prefer hard-leaved plants (Anubias, Cryptocoryne).

At 18–25 °C apple snails live 3–5 years; in warm water, usually no more than a year and a half.

Feeding

Shared with the species: Mystery snail (Pomacea diffusa)

Omnivorous: they pick up leftovers (flakes, pellets, tablets) and eat algae and dead fish. Leftovers alone are not enough, so feed sinking foods for bottom dwellers that contain plant matter (spirulina), plus vegetables such as blanched lettuce.

Well-fed P. diffusa usually leave plants alone, but hungry snails eat soft leaves. They are not suitable for tanks with valuable delicate plants.

Compatibility

Shared with the species: Mystery snail (Pomacea diffusa)

Apple snails do not harm fish; stories that they hunt fish are a myth. They are often seen on dead fish, but they only eat the remains.

Good tankmates are small livebearers, danios, tetras, neons, catfish and shrimp. Active barbs nip their tentacles. Large cichlids and gouramis may eat the snails or keep them from reaching the surface to breathe. Pufferfish and loaches are incompatible. Predatory assassin snails leave adults alone but eat juveniles.

Breeding

Shared with the species: Mystery snail (Pomacea diffusa)

• Sexes are separate, but males and females look the same, so at least 6 snails are kept for breeding.
• They mature at about one year old.
• The female lays eggs at night above the waterline, on the glass, lid or driftwood. The clutch looks like a bunch of grapes 2–4 cm long, made of eggs 2–3 mm across; it is soft and white at first, then hardens and turns pinkish or salmon.
• Keep the clutch moist but out of the water: submersion destroys it, and heat from a lamp dries it out.
• The eggs hatch in 2–4 weeks, faster in warm conditions (about two weeks at 24–26 °C). One clutch can hold up to 200 eggs.
• Hatchlings are fully independent; in a community tank fish eat them.

Fun facts

Shared with the species: Mystery snail (Pomacea diffusa)

• Apple snails breathe with both a gill and a lung; the siphon lets them take air while staying hidden from predators.
• They can fully regrow an eye after it is cut off through the middle of the eyestalk.
• A floating apple snail is not necessarily dead: it is often buoyed up by air trapped in the shell.
• The first apple snails reached Germany from South America in 1904.