Description
The mystery snail (Pomacea bridgesii) is commonly misconstrued by aquarists both new and experienced to chew on plants, but this is not the case at all! There is a reason why these large and beautiful snails are the most popular in the aquarium hobby. Originally from South America, these large bodied snails are fairly simple to breed in captivity, and many different colors have resulted from aquarium hobbyists and farms selectively breeding, such as brown, blue, lavender, gold, and white! Chances are, if you are looking into them, you will find a color that suits your tastes perfectly. All of these colors also come in a variety of patterns, from completely solid color to bands running along the whorls of the shell, to a sometimes spotted pattern. The skin is also capable of having different colors and patterns, although naturally they are fairly dark. These snails’ shells are capable of reaching up to about 3 inches or so in diameter, but it is pretty rare to find this in an aquarium. Although they look very similar, these mystery snails are not apple snails, which not only eat aquarium plants, but are highly invasive to many waterways, including ones in the United States.
This snail, like many other snails, is quite tough and capable of surviving in a variety of different water parameters and conditions, and many snails have been known to even survive large ammonia spikes! On the flip side of the coin, should you lose a mystery snail, invertebrates tend to rot much quicker than vertebrates, and its large mass will cause an ammonia spike if not removed hastily. These snails eat dead and dying plant material as their main diet, which has contributed to their reputation as plant eaters. They also love to clean up any uneaten fish food that may make it to the vicinity of their mouths, and supplementing their diet is easy, since they are not picky. If you want to give them a treat, they seem to really love to eat canned green beans, just make sure you get the cans with no sodium!
The mystery snail is a great addition to most aquarium tanks, as a great cleaner when fish food makes it to the bottom of the tank, as well as a beautiful decorative snail that you can usually see lumbering around. Its large size makes it suitable to keep with many more aggressive species, and their willingness to eat anything makes it so that you can really pop them into any tank that is large enough to hold them. They can eat a lot more than you might expect, so you should probably go slow when adding multiple to your aquarium, or be mindful to supplement their diet so they don’t starve! These snails do not ship individually bagged.
Please Note: Live Animals delivered with UPS Next Day Air are 100% covered by our Dead-On-Arrival Guarantee Coverage as disclosed in our Terms & Conditions. Live Animals delivered with USPS are not covered by our Dead-On-Arrival Guarantee Coverage. For complete details, please read our Terms & Conditions prior to ordering.
