View Full Version : How long do cerith snail eggs take to hatch?
I picked up some florida cerith snails from reefcleaners. They have since laid eggs all over the place including the glass.
Anyone know how long it takes for these to hatch? Or if they need special conditions to hatch?
WI reefer55
09/27/2011, 07:35 PM
interested too!
disc1
09/27/2011, 07:40 PM
I've never had any last long enough to hatch. Usually something eats them.
SushiGirl
09/27/2011, 07:56 PM
They usually just dissolve away or get eaten.
Hmm.. that's not good!
Which kind do you guys have?
When I look online, the egg sacks I see are long corkscrews. The ones I have are different. They are more like a 1/4" clear sac full of little eggs and a white cover on the outside keeping the sac in place. See attached pics. (My curved glass made this a lot harder than it had to be!)
What is interesting is that I have a very "barebones" moon light. (Blue LED night light from Walgreens with the cover torn off). Anyway, the distribution is super tight, and the eggs usually get laid on the glass, along the path of the light.
Right now my fish are not in the DT, so nothing is eating them. The eggs have been there at least two weeks.
dzhuo
09/28/2011, 12:21 AM
The pictures you show don't look like cerith snail eggs. If you get them from John (in Florida), it's most likely Neritina (Vittina) coromandeliana (just a common Nerite snail hobbyists call). They are extremely difficult to breed (and I have never seen any baby Nerite from anyone):
Aquarium Invertebrates: Nerites: Bleeding Tooth, Zebras, Checkers And More (http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/9/inverts)
Though these egg capsules are laid prolifically, I have so far not seen an example where new nerites appeared. Apparently the larval period and requirement for planktonic food limits the successful recruitment of nerite larvae. There may also be a special requirement that the egg capsules be exposed with the change of the tides, or rainfall and salinity change may be necessary for some species.
Keep a close eye on the eggs. See if they ever hatch. I will be interested to see how the eggs go.
dzhuo,
Aha. That makes sense. I was actually thinking last night that there is no way the ceriths could have laid the eggs, as the egg masses are larger than many of the snails! :D
And I did purchase the snails from John. He had mentioned the ceriths have been known to breed in captivity, which is why I assumed the eggs were cerith snails. I also purchased the nerites. So that I guess clears up the mystery of why my eggs look different.
As far as being difficult to raise, that's too bad. I'm trying to add snails that will breed in the tank (hence the ceriths). So far I have stomatellas and two flavors of small limpets. Was hoping to add ceriths to the list...
Looking on-line, the information on breeding is confusing. But in one spot, I found something that said "nerites" have a 1-month planktonic stage. Seems like you would need a dedicated tank with air for circulation + phyto in order to raise these guys...
Chris Lakies
09/28/2011, 05:13 PM
Yea my cerith's laid eggs in long strings.... 2 times now. Took about 1-2 weeks.
How do i know they hatched? Well when the lights go out i use the led on my iphone and see them all over the rocks.
dzhuo
09/28/2011, 05:35 PM
I'm trying to add snails that will breed in the tank (hence the ceriths). So far I have stomatellas and two flavors of small limpets. Was hoping to add ceriths to the list...
A few snails are known to have successfully breed in our tanks, do a search and you should have no problem finding them. Collonista and Rissoids are also good choices although they are small. I have a ton of Collonista in my tank so be careful of what you wish for.
SushiGirl
09/28/2011, 05:56 PM
Yeah, those are Nerite eggs. They need brackish/tidal conditions so you won't be seeing any babies from those.
For snails that breed in the tank, try "Strombus grazers". Hard to come by, but they'll breed until they make you wish you'd never bought them LOL.
Can you get strombus grazers from anywhere besides IPSF? What about the Collonista and Rissoids snails? I've not seen them for sale anywhere.
Can you get strombus grazers from anywhere besides IPSF? What about the Collonista and Rissoids snails? I've not seen them for sale anywhere.
SushiGirl
09/28/2011, 08:07 PM
I managed to find some at a local LFS. He said I was the only person who knew what they were LOL. Years ago I got some from IPSF and had been trying to find some this time around. If you have a local reef group where you are, you can check around & see if anyone has some, or you can see if your LFS can order some. I started with 5 in my fuge in I think March, then when I moved a turbo from the fuge to the display it had eggs on it. I have too many to count now LOL. We've been giving them away to local reefers in our co-op.
I've never seen collonistas or rissoids for sale, but you usually end up with them from frags.
Stomatella snails are great too, and will breed in your tank. I found some at an LFS that weren't for sale & talked the guy into letting me buy 2. They bred like crazy but my original cleaner shrimp ate them all (along with some snails -- not really normal for a cleaner, IMO), so I only have them in the fuge now. Usually you'll get those with frags too, or from other reefers in your area.
I was just in Dallas visiting my brother. I could have stopped by and bought some. Well not sure how the family would have felt about the detour! :lolspin:
I'll have to see if anyone local has any of these they would be willing to part with.
SushiGirl
09/28/2011, 08:50 PM
Well, next time you're down, send me a PM. We could meet you somewhere (within reason LOL) and give you some snails. Not sure how well they'd do on the drive or flight, but we'd have no problem getting rid of some more.
I'll have to remember that. Thanks for the offer!
SushiGirl
09/28/2011, 09:37 PM
No problem, I don't think we'll be running out any time soon!
So I spotted a new batch of eggs. These don't look like the Nerite eggs.
It's interesting how the sack is shaped like some kind of open bag or jar. I wonder if that is so the babies have a way to get out. Hopefully they crawl out and not float out! :D
Anyone know if these are Stomatella or Florida Cerith eggs? Will have to keep my eye on them.
SushiGirl
10/07/2011, 08:05 PM
Almost looks like strombus eggs, except the opening on the side. Usually they break a hole in the top when they're developed enough to get out. Not sure what made those, as stomatellas are broadcast spawners and Florida cerith eggs look like this.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/56/148496556_d96069432b_z.jpg?zz=1
Although your cerith looks like a dwarf cerith rather than a Florida Cerith. Never had dwarf ceriths, so I have no idea what kind of eggs they lay, though I would assume they'd be similar to other cerith eggs.
Oops. You are right. Those are dwarfs! (Although they did ship from Florida! :D) Anyway, I had heard the dwarfs will breed in home aquariums, so I have a feeling that is what they are. Plus it seems the scale is right. Not like with the Nerite eggs!
dzhuo
10/07/2011, 09:03 PM
Anyone know if these are Stomatella or Florida Cerith eggs? Will have to keep my eye on them.
These are not Stomatella nor Flordia Cerith eggs. They are Columbellid (or Collonista) snail eggs. You might not notice them yet but you will soon:
http://www.fragglereef.com/zen/pics/conch.jpg
http://www.projectdibs.com/forums/images/ProjectDIBS/DIBSInverts/Gastropods/20060803ColumbellidEggs3.jpg
SushiGirl
10/07/2011, 09:51 PM
Interesting, those look exactly like strombus snail eggs...
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3647/3593640615_baf2c22e3a_z.jpg
163127
Actually, if you look closely at the tiny snails in the egg sacs in your pics, you can see the little proboscis sticking out like a strombus. Are you sure those are collonista eggs?
Edit: The eggs in the original poster's pic look like collonista eggs just from a quick search. You can see the side opening, as opposed to the strombus top opening when they start leaving the sac. I found this in the collonista egg search http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k313/Tortchad/DSC_3091.jpg
SushiGirl
10/07/2011, 10:01 PM
Ha, dunno what I was thinking, Strombus (the name everyone uses) are Columbellid snails, Collonista are Collonista amakusaensis.
dzhuo
10/07/2011, 10:40 PM
Yes either that or Collonista. The problem is eggs from these snails are nearly identical except size. With a sigle photo, it's then hard to get a reference of size. Here is a picture of Collonista egg:
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx298/CORYSREEF/Collonista%20Eggs/Snaileggs12-30-09006.jpg
As you see, it's very similiar so my guess would be either Columbellid or Collonista. That's fantastic picture you got there Sushi.
SushiGirl
10/07/2011, 10:54 PM
Thanks dzhuo. The one with the snail is from my previous 38 gallon tank and just the eggs is from my previous 10 gallon. My old camera took better pics than the fancy one I have now so I can't get good strombus egg pics now without a macro lens.
It'd probably be safe to say that if the OP doesn't have any snails like the one in my pic, they're likely collonista eggs.
These are not Stomatella nor Flordia Cerith eggs. They are Columbellid (or Collonista) snail eggs. You might not notice them yet but you will soon: :lolspin:
What??? I was not expecting that! :D Hope you are right. I wonder where they came from? I guess I have added a few things lately. Will keep my eye out for them as well!
So maybe one of these days my Ceriths will actually get around to laying some eggs and we can get this post back on track!
So this picture is not really any better, but I took it with a camera with a 10x zoom assist for manual focus, and let me just say that the snails are in there crawling around! They are completely mobile.
Unfortunately I don't have a real macro lens, so the depth of field is non-existent.
I think maybe these are Nassarious snail eggs. It would certainly make more sense.
SushiGirl
10/09/2011, 01:00 PM
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/SnailEggIDF1.htm
The nassarius snail eggs are shown in the first pic on the right.
Sushigirl, if you are right, then no way are these Nassarious snail eggs.
I found this last night.
http://www.notlehs.com/reef/salt6.html
If you do a text search on the page for nassarious, it will take you right to the picture I think is very similar to what I have.
SushiGirl
10/09/2011, 03:18 PM
If you google nassarius snail eggs, you'll see pics of the snails actually laying the eggs I showed. I didn't want to link to any of those as they are on other boards and I never know when linking to other boards is frowned upon here. Also, always bear in mind that individuals with tanks are often incorrect in their ID of stuff they find in their tanks!
OK, from the looks of it, you are probably right. If these do turn out to be Collonista snails, then I guess that means I already have at least one, even though I have never seen it!
SushiGirl
10/09/2011, 07:42 PM
Usually I only see collonistas after lights-out, so that may be why you're not seeing them.
:celeb1:
So I spotted the eggs on the 7th which means they would have been laid the night of the 6th. And they must have hatched last night. So it took a mere four days for them to hatch!
Hope they made it.
Pixelboi
11/27/2011, 05:56 PM
:celeb1:
So I spotted the eggs on the 7th which means they would have been laid the night of the 6th. And they must have hatched last night. So it took a mere four days for them to hatch!
Hope they made it.
Here is a video I took last night of nassarius snail egg sack hatching. It was pretty cool to watch, there are several vids of the event.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvaANa-hEAY&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
é
SushiGirl
11/27/2011, 07:19 PM
Any idea what kind of nassarius snails? Their shell shape and stripe doesn't look anything like nassarius I've seen.
Pixelboi
11/27/2011, 07:44 PM
Any idea what kind of nassarius snails? Their shell shape and stripe doesn't look anything like nassarius I've seen.
The species I have "I believe" is the Nassarius vibex. The offspring looks different from the adults. This is the 4th clutch that I have seen in my tank.
The link below shows a better view of the adult. Hope this helps...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wkEMQLitJ8&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
SushiGirl
11/27/2011, 08:11 PM
Very cool, thanks. Nassarius are the only snails I've had that have never laid eggs LOL.
Those things are born huge!
marinefishwhole
11/21/2012, 05:14 PM
actualy they dont need brackish condition to hatch just tiadle and it takes 6 moth to a year before they hatch have about 500 babys in my tank right now
What would your procedure be for raising these?
Hobster40
09/02/2013, 08:31 PM
I believe I have just had some of my cerith snails breed. I ordered about 20 them a few months ago not thinking about them breeding and now I am seeing about 40 no bigger than an pencil eraser crawling around. I'm not sure how they hatched but if anyone has any more info on this I would be interested.
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