A Trip into Snail Breeding - Nerites & Rabbits

**KevinVA** · 03-11-2013, 01:20 AM

Possibly good news tonight.

I was checking the Zebra Nerite snail tank for eggs again and didn't find any... However, I did find at least 2 baby snails moving around on the glass. Obviously they're entirely too small and transparent to see exactly what they are, but I would highly doubt they're pond snails, since it's brackish water. Hopefully in the next week, I'll start to see some development with their shells and will be able to confirm what they are. Woohoo!

As for the Rabbits... looks like I was a month off. My supplier said April and I was thinking March. However, this week is supposed to be amazingly nice (today was in the high 60s, and it's supposed to be between 50-60 all week), so I pushed him into moving up the ship date (which he was ok with). I should have my 5 Orange Rabbits in the next few days.

**Carapar56** · 03-12-2013, 10:09 AM

Congrats nice to hear you're seeing baby snails, can't wait to see what they are. And its good to hear you'll be getting your rabbits :D

**fishmommie** · 03-12-2013, 02:17 PM

Yay on the rabbits!!

**Sandz** · 03-12-2013, 02:23 PM

Glad to hear things are moving along in the right direction!

**homemadepopcorn** · 03-29-2013, 04:09 PM

Just gave this a read through from where I left off... any updates?

**KevinVA** · 04-01-2013, 08:14 PM

Sorry for the delay guys. I've been meaning to write an update, but my house has become a regular Bed & Breakfast over the last two weeks... then my father in law decided to destroy my pc's power supply (somehow - can't really figure that one out yet) over the weekend, so I'm without a PC until the new one arrives in a few days.

Just a quick update: My rabbits are doing well, but we hit a snag on the day I got them. I did a quick water change on the day that they arrived and while I was refilling the tank, I noticed something odd... there was water streaming down one of the corners of the tank. =X D'oh! It sprung a leak!

I worked like mad to get a new tank ready for them (luckily I had my old 10gal Betta tank that I could use), while they were sitting in a bucket w/ a bubbler. Since I already had reproductive success with my other rabbit snail in the Betta tank, I figured I might as well switch from the crappy crushed coral to the black sand I used in that one. The crushed coral was absolutely horrible for plants and I witnessed how difficult it could be for my Nerites to move around in it... so, I opted for my re-washed black sand.

I moved everything from the leaking tank to the new tank (rock, new driftwood & plants + the sand). I think everything looks much better now. I'm also using my AC20 filter in there, which I prefer to the sponge filter. I'm running both at the moment, until the AC20 can take over completely (just building my bio filter w/ the seeded sponge filter already there).

Anyway, all 5 rabbits are alive and well, but there's been an outbreak of pond snails from one of the plants... not sure which.

As for the Zebra Nerites, all of the remaining 4 have been eating well. The plants are actually flourishing (even the mangroves - one of the seeds actually sprouted a baby stem). The older mangroves kind of curl up from how I have them on their side, so their very green and strong leaves point up. It's pretty interesting to see something so thick/sturdy do that, as opposed to the normal aquarium plants you typically see.

Unfortunately, those 3-4 baby snails I saw were actually pond snails. Can you believe it?! They can survive in anything... even brackish water. I did notice, however, that one of the Nerites has deposited a full load of eggs onto one of the sides of the rocks (and a couple of leaves of Java Fern). At the moment the water density is about 1.004 (just tested yesterday). I'm going to bring that up to 1.008 and see if anything hatches. =]

**steeler1** · 04-01-2013, 11:10 PM

Glad to see you back. Funny how in- laws can mess things up. I went into the hospital last summer for a simple procedure and was sharing a huge garden with my brother and his wife. We were supposed to water every three days but my sister in law did not do what she was supposed to do and by the time I went out to ck it out five days later, most everything was dried up. She denied it but nobody had watered as was obvious. I got most of it to come back but she would never admit to doing any harm.

**KevinVA** · 04-03-2013, 03:57 PM

Thanks Steeler,

I finally got my power supply yesterday and installed it relatively easily. So, I'm up and running again. =] Hope to have more updates/pictures on my journals and getting involved again... until my new son arrives in a few weeks.

**steeler1** · 04-04-2013, 01:13 AM

Originally Posted by KevinVA

Thanks Steeler,

I finally got my power supply yesterday and installed it relatively easily. So, I'm up and running again. =] Hope to have more updates/pictures on my journals and getting involved again... until my new son arrives in a few weeks.

I didn't know your wife was expecting. Congratulations dude! Bet you'll be a great Dad.