Breeding colourful ramshorn

[chansl]

Hi guys

I am intending to breed different colour of ramshorn snails like pink yellow and blue. However, i read online forum but none of them said if they could be mix freely ( Different colour together) or should i separate them.

My thinking was that many reports or breeders said that they did got different colour of ramshorn snails despite their parent were brown in colour. I was thinking something stupid like if red snails with blue snails = purple snails. I know this is stupid as shrimp cant do such things. But snails are different somehow.

I have blue and red and soon more colour. Hence i need some experts or advice on the mixture of snails.

[Emokidz]

Brown is the naturally occuring dominant population colour of ramshorn snails. Other colour variants (eg. blue and yellow) are colour morphs are formed when each parent carries certain recessive genes which lead some of their offspring to show these colours, while the rest remain brown. Breeding the recessive colour morphs will probably give true offspring. (eg. blue + blue = blue)

However, breeding between colours (eg. brown + blue = brown) as the brown phenotype is dominant. I'm not sure what breeding the different colour morphs would yield though. You can try. But the pffspring may just express the more dominant phenotype (colour) of the 2.

[Zenith82]

Interesting experiment. Do share if there are morphs in color from inter breeding.

[chansl]

Thank guys for the quick reply .. I believe that Bernard will be right on the colour. Just that it is slightly different from shrimp as same colour snails will probably produce a certain percentage of new colour. My ramshorn snail tank somehow got new snail species appear. Look like apple snails, much smaller but i didnt rear apple snails before. So i am quite curious how it appears. The good thing is the small snails are really beautiful .. They have nice glowing blue and our bolt blue shrimp .. really nice ... Pity is that i do not have those micro camera to take a picture of them .

[marimo]

where did you get your blue ramshorn?
brown/black is dominant , so you can try red and blue.

i give up my ranshorn in shrimp tank. they multiply fast, compete food with shrimp and needs lotsa calcium as their shell erode in acidic water.

[stormhawk]

You can use those calcium supplement tabs to feed them, or some crushed egg shells. Should aid in the shell growth.

[chansl]

I got my blue ramshorn from crs haven but i think they dont import anymore. i was thinking of cuttlebone for calcium but i dun know where to get in singapore

[stormhawk]

You didn't try the bird stores? They sell these cuttlefish bones.

If you intend to breed the snails and wish for them to breed true to their line, then you must never mix the snails. There are several ramshorn snail species in the hobby, and I believe at least 2 types of the brown/black version. There is no way to positively identify their species as a hobbyist, unless you know the shell characteristics etc, so I would not mix them just to be safe.

For experimental purposes, you can put one brown with one blue ramshorn in a small tank and let them spawn. After they laid the egg cases, take them out and separate them in different tanks. That way you don't run the risk of having them cross-breed in a single tank and mixing up the color forms. It's not cool to buy a blue ramshorn and end up with all brown babies, if you get what I mean.

[chansl]

Yes i understood.

Just cant wait for the different colour ramshorn snail to arrive !!

[Fiona]

You can use those calcium supplement tabs to feed them, or some crushed egg shells. Should aid in the shell growth.

Hi Stormhawk, possible to recommend these calcium supplement? My newborn blue ramshorns seems to be growing slowly~~

[boxedfish]

i think pellets for terrapins and tortoises have added calcium in the food. can try that. or you can buy a piece of calcium block and put in your tank. it will slowly dissolve

[Emokidz]

I've kept red ramshorns before and they multiply like crazy. I used coral sand and it provided ideal conditions for the snails and their calcium requirments. You could use cuttlebone from bird stores or dose calcium montmorillonite clay as a supplement. If I were to start a snail tank, I'd use an inert substrate or coral sand. Soil and low pH don't seem to work as well IMO, possibly because the snail shells will be constantly corroded.

[stormhawk]

Hi Stormhawk, possible to recommend these calcium supplement? My newborn blue ramshorns seems to be growing slowly~~

I don't remember the brand but they have them in tablet form. Not cheap last I checked. Or you can buy BorneoWild Stout at GC. I was there over the weekend and saw the ingredients, among which was calcium phosphate. That should be fine for the snails. I feed my snails with Carnivore Pellets only, though in their tub there's a few coral bits. Much easier to feed them with calcium tabs. Ronwill used to give them calcium supplement tabs and the snails would actually feed on the tab.

[Fiona]

I don't remember the brand but they have them in tablet form. Not cheap last I checked. Or you can buy BorneoWild Stout at GC. I was there over the weekend and saw the ingredients, among which was calcium phosphate. That should be fine for the snails. I feed my snails with Carnivore Pellets only, though in their tub there's a few coral bits. Much easier to feed them with calcium tabs. Ronwill used to give them calcium supplement tabs and the snails would actually feed on the tab.

Thanks! I will checking it out later then.