Apple Snails
by Parris Jones
SouthWestern Michigan Aquarium Society. From SWAM, February/March 1979
Issue
Aquarticles
Apple Snails (Ampullaris australis), one of the larger fresh water snails, is
from Central and South America. They are related to the more commonly known Mystery Snail
from the United States.
They have a cream color body with a dark bone color shell. I really don’t know how
large they get, since I have had my first ones for about two years and they are still
growing at a fast rate. They are now three inches in diameter.
Apple Snails have a breathing tube, which they can extend to at least eight inches.
This tube is used to aid their breathing, which they extend out of water.
They are strictly vegetarians and can be fed anything from algae and water plants to
lettuce and young cabbage leaves. Mine prefer lettuce. Due to their large size, four three
inch snails can go through a head of lettuce each week.
These snails are very active and you should use some sort of cover on their tank; if
they are not fed continuously, they will leave their tank in search of food. The first
mistake I made was not having a cover on their tank. I had them in a tank next to a tank
that was well planted. One morning I went to feed my fish, only to find the tank once
planted, had a few stems protruding from the gravel and three Apple Snails still dining on
the stems still left.
The are very tolerant of their water conditions, but I do change half of their water
each week due to the rich infusoria that they produce. Their temperature can vary from the
high 60’s to the low 80’s. However, they prefer a temperature around 75 degrees,
where they are more prolific.
Apple Snails are asexual and will lay their eggs out of water. My snails have laid eggs
on anything from the glass front of the tank above them, (I had my tanks in a stair
formation) to the metal strip from a metal bar light. If they do lay their eggs on a bar
light, you must keep the light off, as the heat will dry them out before they hatch.
Their eggs are laid in a mass and are turquoise in color. Each egg is one-eighth of an
inch in diameter. The eggs must remain moist in order to develop and they will hatch in
four to seven days. Young Apple Snails first desire to eat vegetable matter, which they
will continue to eat throughout their life.
You are probably asking why anyone would want anything that eats so much, aren’t
the nicest things to look at, and must be forced to stay in any one tank. Well, since they
do eat a lot of vegetable matter, they produce a very rich infusoria culture. I use this
infusoria for two purposes: 1) for feeding my fry and, 2) since daphnia live off infusoria
I can maintain a good daphnia culture.
The only problem you have in maintaining Apple Snails, is keeping their shells hard.
They need calcium in order to eliminate pits and soft spots in their shells. I use calcium
blocks, which are used for turtles, to provide them with this need.
I hope you try these snails. They are very beneficial in your fish room. (My wife still
claims them as hers).
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