Mystery Snail - Freshwater Snails

Mystery snails are completely peaceful freshwater snails. The Mystery snails are known for being good algae eaters, which makes them a great aquarium cleaning crew. Mystery snail colors are jaw dropping for freshwater snails. The selection ranges from the Golden Mystery Snail, Ivory Mystery snail, Purple Mystery snail, Blue Mystery snail, and many more!

What are Mystery Snails?

Compared to their relatives, the mystery snail, typically reaches about 2.5 inches (5-6 cm) in diameter. Mystery Snail shells display a vibrant array of colors including golden yellow, blue, magenta, purple, ivory, chestnut brown, black, and jade green, while their foot may vary in light or dark hues (Read out blog post on Mystery snail genetics). Mystery Snails are diligent scavengers play a vital role in aquarium maintenance by devouring excess fish food, deceased animals, and decaying leaves, algae, thus preventing water contamination. If you observe Mystery snails "feeding" on healthy plants, they're likely tidying up wilted or diseased foliage. Though some hobbyists consider them good algae eaters, they're not as proficient at algae control as nerite snails.

Mystery snails exhibit remarkable activity and agility, often seen traversing the tank with agility. Mystery snails intriguing behaviors include extending their elongated breathing siphon from the left shoulder. Equipped with both gills and lungs, mystery snails can breathe outside water; holding air in their lungs enables them to float, while releasing it causes them to descend to the substrate bottom. Fortunately, these snails can easily flip themselves if overturned, typically requiring no assistance.

How can I tell if my mystery snail is dead?

Distinguishing between a sleeping mystery snail and a deceased mystery snail can pose a challenge. If your snail remains motionless for 2-3 days, gently pick it up to check for any response or movement from their trap door. If you detect a strong odor (the sniff test!), it's likely that it has passed away. If it is dead the smell is pretty clear, you will not be second guessing yourself. Typically, mystery snails have an average lifespan of 1–2 years, influenced by water temperature. Cooler water temperatures can slow down mystery snail metabolism, potentially prolonging their lifespan. Conversely, warmer water temperatures may promote breeding but shorten mystery snail lifespan.

Mystery Snail Care

Taking care of your mystery snail is not difficult. Mystery Snails are low demanding snails. As with most freshwater snails periodic calcium supplements are ideal to aid in shell health. Healthy shells are important for all snails, but particularly mystery snail care as they can get calcium deficiency and die shortly after.

When keeping mystery snails it is important to make sure they have enough food. Feeding washed soft blanched vegetables to mystery snails is great. Watching basic water parameters to ensure you have slightly acidic water. Keep the water temperature between 65-75 degrees. Staying on top of your water quality with bi-weekly water changes to avoid things like ammonia spikes. These are all basic things to do to care for your mystery snail.

Tank size is important as mystery snail will produce decent amount of waste. If your tank size is too main consider moving them to a new main tank with ample room. We recommend 10 gallon tanks or larger for mystery snails and the general rule for mystery snail is 1 snail per 2 gallons of water.

Be mindful when using plant fertilizers or other tank medications as mystery snails and other snails in general can be more sensitive towards these.

Feeding Mystery Snails

As stated above store bought food like blanched vegetables are ideal foods for mystery snails as well as green zucchini squash, iceberg lettuce, or other different vegetables. The key is to ensure you do not leave them in the water too long as this will lead to ammonia spikes and poor water quality. Additional foods like algae wafers are good for supplemental feedings. They will eat almost any edible matter.

These slow moving mystery snails will feed of algae on the aquarium glass and other micro living organisms as well. They do produce waste in high amounts since they are larger snails. It can pose a challenging when trying to keep large amounts of mystery snails in one tank as they will produce more waste and cause water chemistry issues.

Breeding Mystery Snails

The breeding mystery snails population once established are prolific. Mystery Snails quickly seemingly double in size overnight sometimes. Baby Mystery snails can become so plentiful that they almost feel like an invasive species.

Mystery snail eggs are easy to spot as they lay them onto the aquarium glass most often. Truly outside of providing stable water parameters and good food sources there is little outside help needed to get mystery snails to breed. All types of Mystery snails like Golden Mystery Snail, Blue Mystery Snails, Jade Mystery snails all breed in the same way and at the same rate so breeding any color version of the mystery snails is done in the same way.

Feeding a good diet (green zucchini squash, or green beans always seem to be a favorite) increasing tank temp to 75-78 degrees and providing ideal water quality by keeping up on water changes are often the keys to success.

How to Stop Mystery Snails from Breeding

Mystery snails have a fascinating reproductive behavior: they won't breed underwater. Instead, they lay their eggs above the waterline to safeguard them from predators. If you aim to prevent breeding, consider these strategies:

1. Maintain the water level in the tank within 1.5 inches (4 cm) from the top, denying the snails space to lay their eggs above the waterline. This works best on a rimed aquarium. There have been talks online of mystery snails climbing out of rimless tanks which are butted up along walls, and they lay a clutch right up your home wall!

2. Opt for smaller snails under 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter, as juveniles of this size are typically not yet sexually mature, reducing the likelihood of breeding.

3. Limit the number of mystery snails to one per aquarium. Since each snail is either male or female and cannot change sexes, keeping them solitary will inhibit reproduction.

4. If the snails manage to lay eggs on the aquarium lid or hood, promptly remove the egg clusters before they hatch.

Tank Mates For Mystery Snails

In the natural habitat mystery snails are kept with other species of fish and snails alike. Gold mystery snail, or other colors of mystery snail are often kept with Betta fish, Rasbora's, ramshorn snails, freshwater shrimp are no problem.

Keeping them with live plants is hit or miss as live plants might not fair well. Mystery snails have been known to eat live plants if they get hungry enough, but generally leave them alone in our expirence.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are mystery snails easy to keep?

They are easy to take care of and they help keep your aquarium clean of algae.

How many eggs do mystery snails lay?

A female is capable of laying 100 eggs at a time. They can easily double in population within a few months or less.

How long do blue mystery snails live?

Mystery snail's life span is approximately 1-2 year.

What colors do mystery snails come in?

These snails come in an assortment of colors! Purple Mystery Snails, Gold Mystery snail, Ivory Mystery snail, Blue Mystery Snail, Jade Mystery Snails and even more!