Wild Mystery Snails in Aquarium

Different types of freshwater snails live in the ponds of Central Park in New York City.
 June 7th, 2018

Here are 2 different snails.

The small is an adult pond snail.

The large one is a mystery or trapdoor snail.

Check my previous videos about pond snails.
I have pond snails in all my aquariums - they are fun!

They grow up to 2 cm and live a couple years in aquariums.

And this one is a trapdoor snail.
I have seen them 6-7 cm large.
They have a door or operculum.

Look! Here are pond snail eggs on the shell of a trapdoor snail :)

I am looking for young trapdoor snails to try them in my aquariums.
It turns out to be my lucky day!
I found 2 young trapdoor snails.
Fill up a bottle with water from the pond.

Put the catch in the bottle.

Different critters/bacteria and so on live on shells of snails.
I always put everything new in a separate nursery to check on it.

These two snails go into a 1 liter jar with growing underwater land moss.

 A pinch of homemade fish food flakes should help snails get by.

June 15th, 2018
One of the snails often makes weird jerking moves.

I feed snails once a week in addition to all the algae they have in the aquarium.

Add dechlorinated water to the level as necessary.

The nursery stays on the windowsill, exposed to direct sunlight.

 Here is the same aquarium at night.

 Snails hide somewhere inside of the floating moss.

 July 10th, 2018

I pick some more young snails from the same pond.

Young animals and critters alike adapt easier to everything new than older do.

5 young trapdoor snails go into this new nursery.

 Give them a pinch of fish food flakes.

July 17th, 2018
 I added guppies and some new plants into the nursery.
 Here you can see a snail scrubs a plant with a sucking motion - like it is a lollipop.

And look how it moves from one ball to another.

A very gracious jump for a slow moving snail!

 July 29th, 2018
Another trip to Central park.
The common pond snails, like this one on the left, can be found here much more easily than the trapdoor snails.

All snails come with a host of critters.
This time I got some stick-like critters.
You can see them running around.
 Check my previous videos for more details about them.

New snails go into a new nursery.

Add a pinch of fish food flakes.

Snails are fun critters to watch in an aquarium.

Trapdoor snails use operculum as a shield all the time - even when it's in the open position!

The snail carries the operculum on the back under the shell.

Here you can see a trapdoor snail eats growing underwater land moss, apparently enjoying it.

 Trapdoor snails hide inside shells at the first sight of any danger, even a shadow of danger.

Trapdoor snails seems to coexist peacefully in aquarium with smaller pond snails.

 Nevertheless, they consume the same food - algae is the main source!

Toothless guppies like to pick on trapdoor snails on every occasion.

Trapdoor mystery snails often lay motionless on the bottom of the tank for many hours.

At all other times, they are busy scrubbing algae from every surface, moving much slower than smaller pond snails.

 Interestingly, the smaller pond snails breathe atmospheric air.
 That is why they often climb out of the water.

Mystery trapdoor snails are fully aquatic snails.
They stay in water all the time.

Also, mystery trapdoor snails do not lay eggs.
Mystery snails give birth to live babies!

I am looking forward to seeing it ;)
Have fun and happy snails :)