semiotic_pirate | Snails Beget More Snails!

A few months ago (not sure how many) we added to the 75 gallon fishtank a bunch of banana plants and four snails. The banana plants were chosen because they don't have normal root systems, they don't need to be rooted in the gravel in order to survive and our Oscar likes to redecorate a lot. So the banana plants thrive. Now I discover that the snails have been thriving as well... and breeding too! I vacuumed out the tank today, and while doing so, (during the fill stage at least) I noticed all these little snails careening around on the glass walls of the tank. BABY SNAILS! They are so cute! There were at least 7-8 crawling around on the walls, I hope I didn't suck a bunch up in the vacuum tube - though I may have. I don't know anything about the snail life cycle. Hrm. Will have to explore and find this info. I even had a "zen moment" with one of the larger snails - it was stuck over by the filter intake, hugging onto a rock - I lifted him away from it, pulled the rock gently off and replaced it with my finger. I rubbed it's foot and let it crawl off of me onto the gravel bed. Brave explorer that it is (compared to the other three who were sealed shut during the cleaning), it kept on marching around while I vacuumed and filled after our encounter. Heh.

Hmmm. Aquaculture snails? Interesting...