Breeding the great pond snail
Egg-laying hermaphrodite: lays sausage-shaped gelatinous egg masses on surfaces; prefers to outcross but can self-fertilise. Eggs to breeding adults can take as little as two months.
Step by step
Any two.
Cool tank or pond.
Warm water.
Each gelatinous egg mass holds about 100-150 eggs in lab snails (up to about 300 in the wild); 2-3 masses a week; eggs hatch in about 11-12 days (lab) to about three weeks.
Young snails graze.
- Heat above 24 C
Male or female
Simultaneous hermaphrodite: every snail is both male and female, and it can also self-fertilise, so there are no sexes to tell apart.
Can I breed it in my tank?
- Good for a first breeding project.
Day-by-day plan
Typical for snails
- Day 0Egg clutch
Clutches appear on glass, plants or above the waterline.
- Day 14Hatching
Baby snails hatch in about 2–4 weeks. Too many? Feed less.
A general guide for this breeding type. Days change with temperature and species.
Simulator: guided
Clutches appear on glass, plants or above the waterline.
Simulator: try it yourself
Set up a virtual breeding tank and see what would likely happen.
- They spawned.
- Fry had nowhere to hide.
An educational estimate from the breeding rules, not a promise.