Baby trochus...

[TripleT]

I've always seen what I figured were snail eggs, but never any new snails... until this morning:

http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac205/TripleT223/DSC00715.jpg?t=1283211078

Same snail from the side:

http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac205/TripleT223/DSC00710.jpg?t=1283211191

He's about 3/16 of an inch.

So after spending thousands of dollars over the years on this tank... a free snail!!!!!! :D

[phuzzykins]

Congrats... I've had mine spawn twice in two years. Chances are that you have dozens more that you haven't seen yet. :)

[mockranouse]

I just had this happen to me about a month ago and right after I noticed the first one I started seeing more and more pop up everyday

[GhostCon1]

That first pic makes me think those are collanista snails. However, the next one appears more "banded" compared to collanistas I have.

Also, I never see collanistas at daytime. Either way, grats!

[TripleT]

And I was just about to pick up a few more!

It'll be neat seeing them grow from such a tiny size.

I'm guessing this is somewhat rare? Otherwise people would have tanks overrun with them!

I wonder what the main challenge is. Are they eaten? Starve to death?

[phuzzykins]

And I was just about to pick up a few more!

It'll be neat seeing them grow from such a tiny size.

I'm guessing this is somewhat rare? Otherwise people would have tanks overrun with them!

I wonder what the main challenge is. Are they eaten? Starve to death?

Relatively few make it to the size you've got in your photo... of those that do, probably half will die off over the next year for no apparent reason. Neither predation nor starvation was an issue for me. Each batch yielded perhaps 8 or 10 snails that reached 3/4" or so across. Growing to that size took about 9 months.

[RokleM]

I've had good luck with the black foot trochus. It's hard to tell by the picture, but it very well could be one.

[TripleT]

The deed:

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Not my tank, some video from YouTube.