Ramshorn Snails

[alcimedes]

I had one that has almost a pearl coloration to it.  I put it in my giant planted tank though and haven't seen it since.  This was the same snail when it was in the quarantine tank.  You can see reg. spotted one as well.  It almost looks like an albino shell, but the snail doesn't have the typical pink foot.

 

 

 

This is another one where I liked the coloration and put it right into the giant planted tank.  Time will tell if they breed true, but I'm pretty sure I'm seeing many more now.

 

The adults are somewhere between an nickel an quarter in size now.

 

 

[Vpier]

I had one that has almost a pearl coloration to it.  I put it in my giant planted tank though and haven't seen it since.  This was the same snail when it was in the quarantine tank.  You can see reg. spotted one as well.  It almost looks like an albino shell, but the snail doesn't have the typical pink foot.

 

 

 

This is another one where I liked the coloration and put it right into the giant planted tank.  Time will tell if they breed true, but I'm pretty sure I'm seeing many more now.

 

The adults are somewhere between an nickel an quarter in size now.

 

 

i have one just like your white one and also have one that is white with stripes.

[alcimedes]

You can tell the rescue snails, they tend to have shells with clear markings where their diets improved after moving, so you get segmentation.  Some of the ones that have lived in this tank their entire lives have wonderfully smooth shells though.

 

edit:  Also, just wondering.  How large have you all had your ramshorn snails grow, and how long would you say they live?  I was looking online to try and find some answers and instead just kept finding totally different answers depending on where I looked.

 

I know I have ramshorns that are larger than a dime, as well as ones that have lived well over a year.

 

 

 

 

 

[heatherbee]

Pretty!  As far as size mine are maybe a tad bigger than dimes and it's been about a year since I got the first few....happened to be from petsmart because they had an abundance of them from them coming along with other things and breeding.  I know  I've seen reference to mini ramshorns and giant ramshorn online but there is a lot of conflicting info on what species exactly. 

[devilduck]

Here's what I learned from a couple of years breeding blue ramshorns.

 

1. The blue shells are actually clear. The blue coloration comes from a combination of light colored flesh that allows their blue blood to show through.

2. The gene that shows blue ramshorns seems to be recessive. If you have a tank of blue rams they will also give birth to more red/brown shell colors more often then blue.

3. You can't tell color until young snails reach a size a bit larger then a bb pellet 

4. Snails generally live 1.5-2 years.

 

On very rare occasions will get a pretty violet/purple or bright pink ramshorns. 

[Mr. F]

I had the chance to do a single round breeding experiment with ramshorns as I was starting a new tank. I took a purple foot/brown shell (which almost had a copper appearance) and put it with a pink ramshorn (pink foot/gold shell). Almost all of the offspring get definite leopard spotting once they get to the size of a small pea. Before that they look almost exclusively like the darker of the pair, but a few pinks/reds in the mix. Interesting...

Also I noticed this guy this morning. What IS he up to?!

https://vimeo.com/166268828

[Soothing Shrimp]

Heyya Devilduck.

 

" 2. The gene that shows blue ramshorns seems to be recessive. If you have a tank of blue rams they will also give birth to more red/brown shell colors more often then blue. "

 

Something else may be at work then.  If blue is a simple recessive, then blue x blue should not throw red/browns.

[devilduck]

I'm no biologist, so I'm just guessing 

I've never seen a case where ramshorns of just one color exist in a tank without ntervention.

I've recently culled all dark red/browns shelled ramshorns from my tank. Let's see if the blues ramshorns continue multiply.