2 kinds · tap one for a closer look
Peaceful toward fish but a heavy plant eater.
390 species in our list are a good match.
Peaceful toward fish but a heavy plant eater.
Check your local laws. EU: the whole genus Pomacea is a Union quarantine pest (Implementing Reg. (EU) 2019/2072, Annex II Part B); introducing it into or moving it within the EU is prohibited. The 2012 ban (Decision 2012/697/EU) was replaced by Implementing Reg. (EU) 2024/2013, applying from 26 Jan 2025. Great Britain removed Pomacea from its quarantine list in 2021, so apple snails may be sold there again, but not in Northern Ireland. US (federal): USDA APHIS bars import and interstate movement of Ampullariidae (except P. diffusa) except into an APHIS-inspected research containment facility. Check the rules where you live before you buy one, and never release it into the wild.
Good to know: Banned in many countries as a serious invasive pest.
Vegetables, algae wafers and fish food.
Tap a food to see what it is.
Separate sexes. Turn the snail upside down and look into the right side of the mantle cavity: males have a large penis sheath in front of the gills; females have none. Males also tend to have a rounder shell opening, but this is unreliable for single snails.
Common problems. Tap one to see the signs. This is a guide, not a diagnosis.
Egg-laying above water · Easy
Females climb out and lay bright pink egg clutches on hard surfaces up to about 50 cm above the water; the hatchlings drop into the water. Eggs drown if kept submerged.
Any two.
Tank with an air gap.
Warm water.
Clutches average about 200-300 (range up to about 1,000) pink eggs, laid every few weeks; they hatch in about 7-15 days.
Young fall into the water.
One of the world's worst invasive species: brought from South America to South-East Asia around 1980 as food, it escaped and became a major rice pest; also a taro pest in Hawaii. Regulated as a quarantine pest in the EU and barred from US interstate trade.
French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck described this apple snail in 1822. Introduced to Asia in the 1980s for food farming, it escaped and became a major rice pest.
First described by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in 1822.
15 facts checked with sources
Belongs to the canaliculata complex; easily confused with P. maculata (P. insularum), and many US/Asian "canaliculata" records turned out to be P. maculata. Pet-trade "golden apple snails" may be either species.
MolluscaBase (via WoRMS): Pomacea canaliculata (Lamarck, 1822), AphiaID 741113 · USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species: channeled applesnail (Pomacea canaliculata)Legacy has no family.
MolluscaBase (via WoRMS): Pomacea canaliculata (Lamarck, 1822), AphiaID 741113Shell height 45-75 mm, up to 10 cm; legacy 8 cm fits.
Applesnail.net (Stijn Ghesquiere): Pomacea canaliculata · IUCN/SSC Global Invasive Species Database: Pomacea canaliculata (compiled by Dr Robert H. Cowie, Univ. of Hawaii)Family-level aquarium guidance 18-28 °C; species is inactive below 18 °C but more cold-tolerant than most Pomacea.
Applesnail.net: general apple snail care guide (genus/family-level, not species-specific) · Applesnail.net (Stijn Ghesquiere): Pomacea canaliculata · USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species: channeled applesnail (Pomacea canaliculata)Family-level guidance (pH 7 or higher); legacy 7-8.5 consistent.
Applesnail.net: general apple snail care guide (genus/family-level, not species-specific)Qualitative only (hard, calcium-rich water).
Applesnail.net: general apple snail care guide (genus/family-level, not species-specific)Only the family-level rule of at least 10 L per medium snail; does not confirm legacy 60 L.
Applesnail.net: general apple snail care guide (genus/family-level, not species-specific)Up to 4 years in cool water, less than a year when kept warm (family-level). Legacy 2-3 years is inside.
IUCN/SSC Global Invasive Species Database: Pomacea canaliculata (compiled by Dr Robert H. Cowie, Univ. of Hawaii) · Applesnail.net: general apple snail care guide (genus/family-level, not species-specific)Lives near the surface in vegetation and leaves the water at night; not a bottom-only snail.
Applesnail.net (Stijn Ghesquiere): Pomacea canaliculataLegacy has no range.
Applesnail.net (Stijn Ghesquiere): Pomacea canaliculata · USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species: channeled applesnail (Pomacea canaliculata) · IUCN/SSC Global Invasive Species Database: Pomacea canaliculata (compiled by Dr Robert H. Cowie, Univ. of Hawaii)Legacy "hundreds of pink eggs" agrees. Applesnail.net gives a higher average (200-600).
IUCN/SSC Global Invasive Species Database: Pomacea canaliculata (compiled by Dr Robert H. Cowie, Univ. of Hawaii) · Applesnail.net (Stijn Ghesquiere): Pomacea canaliculataLegacy said banned in the EU, many US states and Australia. Correction: Great Britain (not NI) lifted its ban in 2021; the US federal rule is an APHIS interstate/import bar on the whole family. Pomacea is regulated in the EU as a plant pest (Reg. 2016/2031), not under the invasive-species Regulation 1143/2014; no Pomacea species is on the Union list of invasive alien species. Australia and individual US state rules were not checked.
Commission Implementing Decision 2012/697/EU of 8 November 2012 (genus Pomacea), as adopted (legislation.gov.uk copy) · UNEP LEAP: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2013 on Pomacea (Perry), repealing Implementing Decision 2012/697/EU · umwelt-online: Durchführungsverordnung (EU) 2024/2013 (German text, recitals) · Julius Kühn-Institut (German federal plant health institute): Pomacea plant-health datasheet (10/2024) · OATA (Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association), 28 May 2021: Apple snails can return to GB aquariums after restriction lifts · USDA APHIS: Snails and Slugs (PPQ 526 plant pest permits; page last modified 31 Aug 2026)