Nassarius Snail Laid Eggs, Now What?
 

So this morning, around 6 when I was getting ready for school, I turned the lights on for a quick peek and saw my snail pooing out it's last eggs!
So I'm sure they're from the nasa snail.

I'm just wondering if these eggs and babies-to-be will survive in the tank without any special care.
And how long it will take for them to hatch.

I'm kind of interested in raising them if thats possible, to save money from buying them. Any suggestions/info would be appreciated.

Thanks :D

mine did the same and the fish ate the eggs!

(In best Homer Simpson voice) MMMMMMMMMMMMM snail eggs I have a couple of eggs that made it to baby stage with no care at all. Keep your fingers crossed

OK, so is it the type of thing where you have to hope a couple survive?

Do so little survive because of the flow/whatever eating them and sucking things?
Would it be a good idea to seperate the eggs in a container or something?

And my eggs are still holding in there, a little of them were eaten by my sea hare, but it apparently didn't like them, so theyre ok.

I'll keep you updated.

I had the same thing in my tank... I now have hundreds of baby snails, and the eggs are still coming

One thing I have noticed that may help, is that they will lay eggs on things that you put in the tank... My magnet cleaner came apart one time, and I was too lazy to get it out at the time... When I finally got it out, it had snail eggs all over it... I did not really think anything of it at the time, because I had the babies everywhere... If you put something in there, such as a magnet cleaner, or a piece of acrylic, and get them to lay on it... Then you could take it out, and put it in a small tank, with your tank water... A cheap heater would be good, but I bet you would have them hatch that way... Feed them for a little while, and then transfer them when they are big enough

Later,
NathanS

Cool, thanks for the info. Umm, i'm not sure when this will happen again, would it be ok to scrap a couple eggs off the glass as a test?

And what would you feed the babies?

Lukinrats - The only two snails that you likely see babies of is Cerith and Collinista.

I am 99.9% sure you do not have baby Nassarius.

The free float/swimming phase of other snails ends up in death before they settle out of larvae.

Umm, which is it? Do they survive most of the time or just die?

Anyway, I had to clean my tank two days ago, and the eggs would have dried up since I drained the water, so I scraped them off as gently as I could and put them in a seperator hanging in the tank. They're all intact (the eggs) So I think they'll still hatch.

Anyone know how long til they hatch?
And if they will survive or not?

Bump.

Anyway, an update on the eggs from about two weeks ago or something?
They all just kind of melted away probably from getting no flow in that seperator, and because they were roughly scraped off, so it was a complete failure lol.

But just last night, I caught my nassarius doing it again, and I got pics of the process!! It comes out of that slit on their bellies that looks like a mouth, but in fact is where the eggs come out. And their mouth is that tube that sucks everything up.
I'll post pics of it happening later when I get a chance. These snails are so interesting!

Nassarius snails have a prolonged planktonic larval stage. Too long to expect any to survive the myriad of hungry mouths and filtration in a tank. But is it cool to watch and will provide food for the reef ;)

OK, I guess I was wasting my time lol, its k.

I thought you would all like to see some pics :D here they are, the actual laying of the eggs :)

The mother:
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/175285nasa1.jpg

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/175285nasa2.jpg

I thought this was really interesting. I never knew where the eggs came from, but like I said, they come out of that slit under them. They scrunch themselves to an angle and squeeze them out. Then they line them up.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/...5nasa3-med.jpg

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/175285nasa4.jpg
notice how much of an angle it's turning

The Eggs! A huge cluster
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/175285eggs1.jpg

Apparently that wasn't enough :D
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/175285eggs2.jpg
I was really surprised at how strong these stick to the glass and how stron the mucus over them is. I was cleaning the tank today, and i wiped it over with the scrubber, and it wasn't damaged :eek2:

enjoy
-stephen

Great pics :thumbsup:

Thanks :D I'm a photographer.

another update, the snail laid eggs again!!! Except this time it was on the back of my powerhead so I couldn't get a good look. And It's not looking too good for some reason, it must be hard laying eggs on that weird shape.

My ceriths lay eggs all the time but never hatch. Maybe I have all females.

Your batch may have melted away due to lack of fertilization.

Hmm, maybe, but I think it's probably because of no flow, like at all, there was none.
but you could still be right. I only have another one in there.

btw, the snail is taking more than 12 hrs to finish laying it's second batch of eggs, it's not even done yet. There are a ton more this time.

Hi everyone, first post. My snail just did this too, but the eggs are orange. The is also white balls in the pic in some sort of spider web looking thing too. Are those eggs? Should I be worried? I just finished my cycle and I am trying to learn everything I can...

good luck. My nass are always reproducing, especially in the sump. It's fun to watch pin sized nass cruising all over the place.

I just discovered 7+ Nassarius babys crawling around my sandbed after the latest feeding.

Currently I only feed mysis shrimp to support my (1) firefish. What could I add to give these little guys some food? Any recommendations for a sinking pellet brand, would they eat a piece of nori?

If you see them cruising and they resemble adults, they are likely in their adult form, even if tiny. So, food concerns would be the same as adult.