Just wondering if there are different genders in snails and how they reproduce? do they need to mate to produce eggs?
It sounds like they are prolific breeders, I have two snails therefore am I guaranteed to have a tank teeming with snails?

Thanks for any help.

What kind of snails do you have? Some dont need a mate but most do. Some also dont lay eggs they give birth to live babies.

i'm not too sure what type of snails they are. They are about an inch long, and the pet store guy said they won't get much bigger. Their shells are black with white markings and a round shape. I'll take a pic sometime if that will help.

Snails from the Apple Group Family are seperately sexed-they need both a male & a female to mate. Physid,Planorbids,Ponds snails,and a gazillion others have the gift of being both male & female when they need to be. I'm trying to picture Black and white snails here to get an idea of what you have. Hmmmm....Are they black with a cream color going around the out side of their spiral shape? Depending on the snail species will tell you just how much your chances are being overrun with babies.The Apple Snail Family for instanc---Brigs/Cana's/Insulariums/Haustrum's etc...,all lay eggs outside of the water,so it's only a matter of disposing them if they're not wanted. The Pest snails that I've mentioned are the tough ones...Seems like once you get a physid,or a Ramshorn ,etc....It's almost impossible to get rid of them once they start breeding because the eggs are a lot harder to notice. A pic of your snail would be great!!!Then we could help identify it for you.

ok, I finaly got a picture, it's fairly poor quality, but hopefully it will help you determine what type of snails i have. Both snails are in the picture (they're kinda on top of one another)
Click Here for the pic if that doesn't work copy and paste this: http://www.picgoo.com/uploads/e7305ddc50.jpg

Neither of them worked, it just brought me to the home page of that site

ok. i registered an account at photo bucket now.
Click here to view the pic

they look like ramshores dont know how you spell it, but they look like they have very bad shells or some one has had them with snail killer, as i put some snail rid in with the tropicals to control the pest snails, and thats what the shells look like going white a decaying away. as they are dieing now.

Yup they are Ramshorns. Mine mate at least once a month but as long as your tank isn't heavily planted or has a lot of ornaments then it should be easy to find the eggs and dispose of them if you don't want them. It takes a couple hours for her to push out all the eggs so if you see her really active one day then the next she's hanging out at one spot she could be having eggs. Mine just had some more yesterday and she walks ALL over the tank looking for the best spot to lay them.

Also, do you feed your snails? Just like puggirl said their shells don't look very good. What's the ph of your tank?

that damage has already been done, i dont think its from anything benno did

my snails dont look like that. and theyre cute!

my PH is fine. This is how they were when i got them. Now that you mention the shells aren't meant to look like that I had another look, and they do look quite crusty and wrong. They were in a small 2 litre ice cream container at the fish shop, so I don't think they've been in the best conditions. Hopefully their shells will heal in my better water conditions.

Ramshorns aye, thanks for helping me out!

The one thing that is absolutely necessary for shells to grow properly is calcium. You can get it in liquid form (which is my favorite) with a product sold at many pet stores called Kent Marine Liquid Calcium. You can also use cuttlebone, crushed coral as substrate, or even eggshells, even though the calcium value of eggshells is very low.

These snails are in the same tank as my goldies, is the liquid calcium safe to use with them?

Yes it is safe with fish.You only need 1 or 2 drops per 5 gals., so the Liquid Calcium lasts a long time.

Devs...is using a 1/8 tespoon of liquid calcium every other day or so ok? i never thought to measure drops....

(10 gallons, btw)