Golden Apple Snail Stats
Minimum Tank Size: 10 Gallons
Care Level: Moderate
Water Conditions: 7.0-8.0 and Moderately Hard to Very Hard
Temperature: 21–27 °C (71.5–80.5 °F)
Maximum Size: 6 inches (15cm)
The golden apple snail (Pomacea bridgesii), which is also known under the names apple snail, mystery snail and golden mystery snail, is a large, popular fresh-water snail. Originally found throughout the Amazon river basin, it has now spread to Hawaii, Southeast Asia and has been recently reported in Florida.
In the wild, golden apple snails spend most of their lives submerged in water, emerging only to occasionally forage and during mating to lay their eggs on land. Even though they spend the majority of their lives under water, they still require air to breath, and accomplish this through extending a specialized breathing tube (siphon) to the surface of the water.
While they are best known for the yellow color variant, the pomacea bridgessi does come in many different colors. It’s no surprise that the yellow variant is the most popular and widely available, but you will also find albino, brown and a nearly black color in the aquarium trade.
When looking to purchase a golden apple snail, it’s important to remember that they can grow to a monstrous size compared to other snails. Most are sold when they are under 1 inch (2.5cm) in diameter, but they can grow to massive 5 inches. Some extremely well fed and cared for can grow to an aquarium busting 6 inch diameter.
Housing
If apple snails are kept on their own in an aquarium, they can be kept in a relatively small 10 gallon tank. A good rule of thumb is to provide 3 gallons for each snail, due to the fact that they are extremely messy (They poop, then eat, then poop some more).
Since apple snails are rarely kept on their own, you should always ensure that enough space is provided for both the apple snails and any fish in the tank. A 20 gallon aquarium is usually adequate, as it will allow a school of small minnows and 3-4 apple snails.
Golden apple snails are completely peaceful, and will never bother any fish tank-mates. The same can’t be said for fish though – they should absolutely never be kept with any loaches, puffer fish or any of the larger cichlids. Any of these fish will happily munch on snails, and the apples snail’s large size and thick shell are no protection from a hungry fish. In the case of the loaches, they are content taking small bites out of any exposed portions of the apple snails any chance they get – which will eventually kill the snail over time.
When choosing a filter for apple snails, the best choice is usually a high quality hang-on-back filter. This keeps the tank sparkling clean, and is more economical than most of the alternatives. Sponge filters should be avoided with apple snails, since there are reports of hungry snails eating small pieces of the sponge over time.
Feeding
The feeding of apple snails is incredibly easy, and they will accept nearly all types of fish food. With that being said, they should always be fed a high quality flake food, and have the added advantage of eating any food that is missed by the other tank inhabitants. This helps prevent missed food from decaying and fouling the aquarium.
Their diet should also be supplemented with sinking pellets (spiraluna, algae) and they will also appreciate the occasional vegetable. Their particular favorites are blanched cucumber and zucchini medallions, shelled peas and lettuce leafs. Any uneaten food should be removed from the tank after 24 hours, to prevent it from fouling the water.
Breeding
Unlike most snails available in the aquarium trade, apple snails are not hermaphroditic and you need both a male and a female for breeding. The easiest way to accomplish this is to purchase six snails, which virtually guarantees that you will have at least one male and female.
If you want to confirm that you have males and females, it is possible to sex them, but if you have never done it before, it’s not easy. If you turn the snail over in your hand, the snail will emerge from its shell in an attempt to right itself. This gives you a brief opportunity to look inside. Males will have a penial complex on the inside of the shell, while females will not. It should be located close to the gills, but can be difficult to identify unless you know what you’re looking for.
Once apple snails reach sexual maturity, they will begin to mate on their own, and don’t require any special triggers. They will attach themselves to each other during mating, with the female always being on the bottom on the male.
After mating has finished, the female will emerge from the water, and deposits a large egg cluster above the water line. The eggs are bright pink, and must be kept above the water line or they will be destroyed. If you want to control the snail population, the eggs can be easily removed and disposed of.
The eggs will generally hatch after a few weeks, if they are kept in a warm (21-27 C) and humid environment. The newborn snails don’t require any special food, and will accept flake food and pellets immediately upon hatching.
My mom found my apple snail under my nightstand. I immediately put it back in my 36 gal tank. Thankfully my snail was alive, but damaged. The shell was already damaged, but this time I noticed the brown plate protecting the snail from fish that may flip it over and try to get the snail out had a tiny crack in it. I read this article and I do not have any cichlids or loaches. The only fish interested in a snail would most likely be my pleco (he’s bigger then n iPhone including the tail) or my mollies. They picked at the snails shell but they do not have teeth in their mouth that would chip the shell. I heard that some snails use calcium in the water to strengthen their shells… And the tiny snails may be using up the calcium. Would they be the problem? What’s going on with my gold mystery snail?
I will send pictures if you can put your email address somewhere.
That’s a pretty common problem when snails go for a wander, and fall out of the tank. A small crack should heal itself pretty quickly. You only need to worry when the main shell is broken and you can see the snail. Also, you should have enough calcium as long as you don’t have overly soft water. Do you know your water parameters?
You can send me a pic to brandwebpages@gmail.com.
Give them a slice of zucchini once a week. It has calcium and will help repair the shell. Blanch it and secure it down as it floats.
One of my apple snails has been floating for the last month. I was told to remove it but they are my babies and was just holding hope. Today it attached to the wall again and I am happy again. Why would it stay floating for that long?
A floating apple snail isn’t a sign that it’s dead. It usually means one of three things. The first and most common is that air became trapped in its shell. I would guess this is what happened, since it has suctioned again. Another possibility is that the water quality is bad. To rule this out, I suggest testing your water. And the final possibility is that it’s eating a film on top of your water. Does the top of your water look almost greasy?
We bought a snail that has survived every ammonia spike and PH change in the tank. He bigger than a golf ball and goes crazy for de-shelled peas. Lately we have had an increase in algae and our plants started to grow like crazy. Our snail is starting to show some discolouration on his shell – it looks like something is eating away at it (the shell is a patchy light colour instead of just the dark yellow). The shell has also started to attract some algae and is getting some dark spots on it now. I have noticed our snail ‘groom’ himself and start eating away anything that is growing around the rim but that is as far as he can reach. Apart from this, he is a very happy snail, he owns our tank. Do you have any suggestions for this kind of deterioration of the shell?
Do you know what the pH of your water is? It sounds like the shell is eroding, and that is usually the fault of the pH being too low. Depending on what your pH is (anything less that around 7.0 is bad long term), you should consider adding something like crushed coral to raise the pH. Also, you should pick up a cuddle bone from the pet store, and add pieces of it to your tank. You can also try adding some high calcium foods like spinach for it too eat. I hope this helps.
Make sure to pulverize a little piece of the cuttle bone. Scoop it in the tops of your fingers in a pinch, then place it directly on the bottom. Very gently place your snail on the pile. He will gladly munch it up. I haven’t had much luck with the reptile calcium powder. It’s to fine. The cuttle bone bit I originally broke off seemed to be to hard and didn’t attract attention. But I’ve been giving my mysteries a calcium snack once a week. The racers and nerites don’t seem interested and wander off immediately
Hello
How do I determine the sex of the apple snail ?
The easiest way to sex them is to look for a penis sheath. The females will have a large opening if you look under their shell above their head, while the male will have an organ there. The organ is a penis sheath, and it’s the most reliable way to determine if they’re male or female.
When feeding my snail vegetables such as peas or lettuce, do they need to be cooked or blanched or raw? Also, how small should the pieces be? Thanks!
They should always be blanched for a short period of time before you add them to the tank. And start with small pieces, and remove any left-overs after 24 hours, as they will start to break down at that point.
Does any 1 have any tips for keping theas snail in the tank last time i got some i found 1 had crawled 6 feet up my wall
They are known for mountain climbing, and you really need a good cover on the aquarium. Otherwise, they’ll escape, and sometimes break their shells in a fall. Also, use a mesh over any open portions on the tank cover.
How long does it take to grow to become an adult for the apple snail egg after hatch
They usually take about two to three months to become the size the size of a marble. Another two to three months, and they’re usually nearing mature size.
Thank you very for your imformation.
Thank you very much for your information. (I am sorry for the mistake of alphabet spelling.)
Hey, I was wondering how to allow my snail eggs to hatch? My snail escaped and laid the eggs on the outside glass of the tank. Thanks
Most of the time they won’t hatch unless you have high humidity and high temps in your house. But if you meet those requirements, then you can scrape them off with something sharp (you’ll probably lose a few) and place them in a small, open container. That way, once they hatch, they won’t wander off and die and you can place them in the aquarium. It’s best to place them on something small and floating and let them climb into the water on their own.
My snails keep mating but no eggs are being laid
How high is the water in the tank? It sometimes helps to lower the water a little bit to give them some space to lay their eggs above the water line.
At what age is a snail sexually mature ?
If I leave the eggs above the water line in the tank and they hatch and the babies go into the water, will corydoras eat the babies? Will platy fish?
While many fish will eat the baby snails, neither the corydoras or the platy fish should prey on the babies. They should be safe when they return to the water.
I am new to the world of apple snails (only had them about a week) and this morning there was a cluster of eggs!! How exciting!! We don’t have a lid on the tank so what should I do to ensure they stay moist and hatch?
I would definitely try to put a lid on the tank, even if it’s makeshift and doesn’t look great. It’s hard to keep it moist in an open environment, unless you live somewhere tropical. Also, they need to be kept warm and a heated aquarium helps to keep them at the right temperature. Alternatively, you can create a little hatchery for them out of a sandwich container and some damp paper towels. Simply remove the eggs from the tank (the can be wiggled lose or use something with a somewhat sharp edge to remove them) and place them in the sandwich container. Open it once a day to give it air and remoisten the paper towel if needed. Once they hatch, they can be placed back in the aquarium.
I have a few box turtle pets.when I lived in California I gathered garden snails in the morning and my turtles loved to feast on them. Now I live in arid Colorado so no garden snails. Could I raise Apple snails in an aquarium to feed my turtles? Could I have as many as 20 in an aquarium at a time? How could I store eggs until they hatch to replenish my aquarium as I harvest adult snails periodically? What should I feed snails?
You could definitely raise apple snails to feed to your turtle, though how many you could keep in an aquarium is dependent on how large the aquarium is. As a good rule of thumb, you can have one apple snail per two gallons of water. As for the eggs, you wouldn’t need to store them, as they should be continually laid about the water line. You should have numerous baby snails constantly entering the aquarium to replenish the numbers.
Hello,
Thank you for your resourceful information.
I have a small glass container that has 4 snails in it, they produce a lot of dirt, how often do I have to change the water?
Also, my house is very cold and I don’t have a heater for them, how can I heat the water for them to keep it warm without having to buy an electric heater ( I had a bad experience with where all my fishes died of electricity).
I heat the water when I change it and I notice they move and go up and down, but after a little, while it becomes cold and they sleep most of the day. How can I handle the problem?
Thank you
Without an electic heater, there really isn’t a way to heat the water. I suppose you could put it in sunlight, but the sunlight would create algae problems. Also, you shouldn’t heat the water for them, as quick changes could harm the snails.
As for water changes, you should change about 20-30% of the water (a bit more than an aquarium) per week, replacing it with conditioned water.
I just woke up this morning to find a cluster of these pink eggs and another failed cluster a bit to the right of them, do these snails lay eggs even if they dont mate? I only have one golden apple snail (was sold to me as a gold Inca snail, dont know if they are the same thing) but I do have another much larger male mystery snail, is it possible that they could have cross bred? Thanks for the help!
Most mystery snails are actually apple snails, but it’s unlikely they will be closely related enough to interbreed. The more likely answer to the eggs is that female apple snails will sometimes produce infertile eggs and lay them in an aquarium. It’s unlikely the eggs will ever hatch.
I just found my apple snail on top of a baby snail and was afraid it might be trying to eat it. Could this be the case? I’ve since moved the apple snail into another aquarium to be sure. Baby about 1/8!size of larger snail and a different kind.
Apples snails generally eat anything they can get ahold of in an aquarium. While I’ve never witnessed it before, I’ve heard some people claim they will eat live snails, so it is possible.
Hello, how often will a female lay a clutch of eggs please.
Many thanks,
Linda from Australia.
Hey Linda,
In good conditions, the apple snail will usually lay a clutch eggs around every 45 days, though the length of time can vary significantly due to several factors like food availability and temperature.
Hope this helps.
Thank you!
Snails are one of the most versatile and adaptable animals. Take care of our little creatures! BTW, really nice informational post!
Thank you for the very informative article. I also really enjoyed reading the comments and replies. I’ve learned so much! I just have one question. How soon do snails lay eggs after mating?