I gave my tank a good cleaning last night and what I thought was a rock, ended up being a snail. Im not sure how it got there, do the eggs come in on plants? I have a little plant tank outside to get good roots and bring clippings in for my tanks, are they breeding or something in the little tank outside and Im bringing them in? and this is not the same kind of snail that ya keep as a pet is it? or is it like an outside snail? I know nothing about them, his body is chocolate brown and shell. Also I heard somewhere that they need air is this true? someone tell me what to do with it ? hehe I gave a little piece of pea and it ate a little bit.

This is prolly the best pic of it, you can see his little tentacles, he is small about the size of an eraser

Another pic.

A side view

yes... they do need air.. they use a breathin tube to gulp up air from above the water line... but they can breathe in the water because of their gills....and if it is living underwater it is an aquatic snail...snails from outside don't live unde water because the don't have gills and they don't have that long of tentacles compared to aquatic snails.... i think u have a mystery snail from what i see in the pics... if u want any more info on how to take care of them read around this board and ask some q's!!!:D

So when everyone calls there snail a mystery snail, that means a snail that's a mystery that you dont know what it is?



I havent seen him going to the top for air, but I just found him so, I'll watch him and see, so a mystery snail is an aquatic snail and does not need air right?

mystery snails is just the name given to them... i have 2... and they do need air... they'll come up to the top of the tank once in a while and stick out this huge tube thing (while still submerged in the water) and start gulping air... its neat watching them "drink" their air lol

Unfortunately it is a little difficult to identify the snail from your pictures. I don't think it is an Apple or mystery snail, but it appears to be one of the common or what some call "pest" snail. I actually encourage them in my tanks as the Comets seem to enjoy eating them at times. I would recommend you visit the www.applesnails site, and also use your search engine to check out "watersnails". I'm sure with a little research you will be able to identify it by it's shape etc.

hamstaman, sorry to burst your bubble, but any snail that has that large breathing "tube" is an apple snail lol it's their one defining trait according to www.applesnail.net So congrats, you have two apple snails in your tank, dude.

susu, check out the snail site, it's full of info on them. once you figure out what this lil guy is, you can decide what you want ot do with him. if you have a "pest" snail they will multiply like crazy - i hear they are asexual reproducers- if you have an apple or mystery snail then you'd need two to reproduce. in the meantime, i think you should name him LOL

i know thats its an apple snail... mystery snails are a type of apple snail...therefore haveing a breathing tube..lol... i have 2:D

a snail appeared in my tank the other day as well. i fink he mite have been on the weed. he is tiny tho. about 1cm. is he an apple snail too ?

Hi there do your unidentified snails look anything like this..



If so its a physid and they are a total pain not only do they harm the apple snails they will burrow right through their shells..and they are prolific breeders and will take over your tank in no time..mine came in on the plants from the LFS they are full of these and you need to wash them carefully before putting them in the tank..any other sort of snail is fine..I put mine in a friends pond as I could not bare to kill it...keep us informed and if you can get a better picture...Linda

he looks a bit like that but he has stripes on his shell too there is only one of him so22 be okay wont he ??

pheonixx i have physa actua and to me theyare the best little snails ever! And that is not true they do not burrow into snails shells and kill them! They only eat algea and hate fresh foods so it keeps you plants safe.
They are great breeders but goldfish love to eat them and it is good for them to eat so that usally keeps the population in check.
Chicken you probably have the physa acuta becuase they are very small my biggest one is only 1 cm.

Mystery snails are the name given to snails at pet stores when they don't no what they are usally they are apple snails.

Susu i can't really tell by the picture what you have.

ok kool

I am afraid Fishes12 that physids do cause harm to other snails and even each other if there is a snail population boom followed by starvation thats the worse thing...but these little snails take the nutriants out of the tank which should be for the other occupants each person should weigh up if it worth taking the risk to let these snails inhabit there tank..I think a safer snail would be Malaysian trumpet snail to cut down the algae...this is just a example of what one person on applesnail.net had to say on the subject....by the way if you go on that site its full of information on physids...just put physid in the search engine and read other peoples experiances with them....I leave you with this and to make up your own mind..but remember you only have one and it could be a pregnant female ...just a thought...any way I will say no more and let you judge for yourselfs...Linda
PS this was wrote by a very experianced apple snail keeper!!


Not only can the physids get under the shell, they also do something that you won't even be able to see if you don't catch it before it happens: they lay eggs on the rim of the snail's shell, and the babies hatch and go IN the shell. I had a mad panic with one of my canas this week over that (I think the eggs were there when I got him/her), having to look for things the size of a pinhead.

As for shell erosion due to other snails: unfortunately, with one species of physid, the answer is YES. I have observed it myself. Ususally the shell erodes for other reasons, but when you see a bunch of pock-marks down to the calcium layer on an otherwise perfect shell with no erosion elsewhere...sometimes physids can do that. They don't just do it to apple snails either, they will go after anything, even each other. They will do it when there is no other source of calcium in the water. Since adding caclium regularly to my tank, while it has increased the rate at which the physids reproduce (oh well...that's what the loach is for now), it has also stopped them doing the shell-eating behavior.
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Phenoixx I don't want to get in a debate with you but my snails have never ever ever killed anyother living creature in my tank or harmed it they are only 1 CENTIMETER long! they lay there eggs on tank glass or leaves if they layed there eggs on a other snail shell they weren't intentionally trying to harm your other snail it was just a smooth surface. i looked up them in applesnail.net and put it in the search engin and couldn't find anything. I looked it up on google couldn't find one single thing about them being harmful.

And with them and nutrients i don't understand what you mean by that sure they poop and add to the ammonia and nitrite and use oxgen and whatnot like all living creatures do but so do fish and apple snails.

Hmmm and neither have I any intention of starting ###### either at 46 I am a litte mature for that!!...in this life you can only share the experiances you have had..and if it helps others to come to a infomed decision thats the best possible outcome in my book...its great that you have been able to keep physa actua without any problems but there are others who have had bad experiances if you are a member of applesnail.net or sign in as a guest and thats the way to access the search engine put in either word physa actua or physid or better still ask Donya one of the moderators there who is a very experianced person..not sure why you could not find anything as one of my posts is under physid when I didnt know what they were and I got good advice from the members and I made a choice to not risk keeping it on the basis of what I learnt..but we do have a choice and I think others should read and learn everything they can and that includes different opinions..and that is what makes us so different in this world..so thats all from me best of luck with your snalie friends...Linda

Ohh no they blanked a word out LOL..its not swearing over here in the UK just shows the differences LOL

It really comes down to your fish, the snail, and luck and what you want of course!
I only have apple snails but i have a black moor and was told when getting him that they can be very aggressive and to watch it because they could bite at my snails feelers, etc.
Needless to say, they get along great! My fish gives them kisses hehe

I had a hard time trying to find out what kind of snail this is at first, because he looks so different from the round apple snails, so I took it out and had a good look at it and its flat really, so after looking at applesnail.net, it seems to be a " Marisa cornuarietis" or a giant ramshorn they have some different pics of them, the only difference is mine is solid brown. I moved him to my 55 because I needed to salt the tank. Anybody know anything about these kind? I still havent really read up on it yet, so Im not sure if having it is a good thing or not, but he is cute, but hard to find now in the 55 with black gravel


Yea and after checking him out in good light, those pics I posted dont look anything like him, he looks kinda round in them but hes just a flat spiral.

If he is a flat spiral then i am pretty sure he is a ramshorn snail i have a few of them myself.