Do ramshorns start out like this?

[~reefchik~]

I have lots of white dots about the size of this >> o all over my FW planted tank with the puffer and other fish in it. There are also Olive nerites but I don't think they'd breed in reg. FW.

There are a few ramshorns, but not many left, as my little irrubesco seems to be able to eat them. I also added some pond snails to the tank a while back. Slowly they are all disappearing - but there are plenty of these white egg cases or whatever on the glass, and also on the intake tube to the filter. I do hope they are reproducing in there, that would be the perfect situation for my tiny puff.

[J-P]

yes if you see a gel sac with tiny specs in it they are snail eggs. Of what species it is difficult to say. My photos showed that the shells actually formed inside the gel sack as mini versions of the adults. If you have a magnifying glass you may be able to tell them apart.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=21063&hilit=+snail#p223249

has a microscope shot of pond snails in the egg sack. As you can see, they ate tiny and atomically fully developed.

[~reefchik~]

These are individual very white dots. Then, there is a residue ring left behind on the glass after a while - presumably after it hatches, or something eats it. Downstairs in my snail breeding tank, I see the yellowish jelly blobs with many tiny eggs inside, and those are obvious. These are something I've never seen before in a FW tank - but I will say that they are more reminiscent of the snail eggs I get in my SW tank which I believe are the strombus. They breed like rabbits!

[Pufferpunk]

I believe those are nerite eggs.

[~reefchik~]

Really? I wonder if they are hatching or just being eaten off the glass. I would like to have these guys breed and some survive because they do a nice job on algae. And of course, a constant food source for little miss irrubesco, too!

[pufferpuggirl]

I agree with PP, they are nerite eggs, they will lay them all over your glass, but you won't get them to hatch out unfortunately. I believe that nerites need to lay in brackish in order for them to hatch. Shame though as I think they are quite nice.

[~reefchik~]

Yes, I'm sure you all are right. I looked up a nerite breeding site and they describe the eggs as "pretzel salt" - , pretty apt description!

On a happy note, my snail farm downstairs is being pretty prolific, so Escargot is on the menu for all tonight