It was an absolute impulse-buy and only cost me 25 Czech Crowns. Unfortunately, I am not sure about the exact species I have, as the ladies at the Pet Center kept reffering to it as "that ordinary snail" and looked at me with crazy wide eyes when I asked if she could write the latin name on top of the box for me (Is it just me, or does the pet store staff need to get a bit more info before they let them do the job??). Similarly, some week later I wanted to get a plant for the tank, something shade-loving, easy-growing that will be happy with ambient light only - again they did not know, but pointed out that "that one" (of course the most expensive one) would maybe be ok. So I said I will think about it politely.
Setting up the tank cost me very little. Basically:
-washed gravel from the botanical garden
-pond water
-5l jar to keep it all in (from pickles from the last zoological Christmas party)
-one plant (again, I do not know the name, because it was on the price tag that they took away - grr!!)
-thermometer from BauHaus to check the temperature (generally, the advised temperature is between 18 and 28°C, but the snail was active and growing happily even at 16, when my heating was broken for some time)
-lots of help from the facebook group of apple snail breeders (mostly advice about water - thank you a LOT!!!)
-two types of fish food
-sometimes light from a desk lamp
... and the snail has already trippled in size since I bought him/her (these snails are gonochoristic = have separate genders = opposite of hermaphroditic) - I am not able to determine the gender, but I don't think I want eggs anyway (even though they look amazing).
I am thinking one day I could have a bigger tank with plants that will grow above the water on which the snails will be able to lay eggs (something like this, only smaller) and we can keep it in the biology classroom. Wouldn't that be wonderful??
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Tutorial about how to take care of apple snails
What a gorgeous snail :} I love the fair color of its skin, and also its looooong antennas ! =3
ReplyDeleteIt is a wonderful creature and very easy to keep!!! :) And I cannot capture it in a photograph, but the skin is white-ish and there are orange spots on it. Also the snails eyes on the base f the tentacles are orange. It is very interesting to look at :)
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