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The tadpole snail is the most interesting snail in my tank,
behaviorally. It's the most annoying too: they breed like crazy,
they're always running around messing things up, and they're not very
pretty. Not like the ramshorns at least. The following is a list of
some of the crazy things I've seen these snails do: |
- Floating:
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| floating |
On a regular basis, these snails intentionally float to the surface, trap an air bubble under their
shell, and then float back down, headfirst. It doesn't sound quite so
impressive when described, but it's fascinating to watch. They never climb up the
side of the tank to do this, they always float. Even when they run
into plants on the way up, they climb over them and continue their
floating ascent. They seem to have
great mastery and control over these actions. It's almost like they
can swim. Occasionally they won't be paying attention and their air
bubble will escape. Surprised, they'll plummet to the bottom of the
tank. Quite often I'll catch them using the larger ramshorn snails as
a launching pad.
- Tower of Sex:
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| normal sex |
I've seen these crazy bastards in towers 3
or 4 high, all having sex with each other. That is, the one on top's
fertilizing the one below him, who is in turn fertilizing the one
that's below HIM, who is again fertilizing the one below HIM,
etc. It's quite an impressive feat.
- Fighting:
These guys fight like crazy sometimes. I
could be mistaking some of their courting rituals for fighting tho'.
I've seen two of them crawling around in a circular motion, following
each other, and occasionally rearing up on what would be back legs if
they had them. Sometimes one will be on another's back, and the one
on the bottom will twist its shell violently back and forth trying to
free himself of the aggressor. I've also seen them attack the
ramshorns in this manner. The ramshorns react similarly, twisting its
shell around.
- Dancing:
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| dancing |
Sometimes when these snails are floating to the surface
to get air, they twist around in their shells. It looks like they're
dancing. Very very cute.
- More to come. Check the Snail Log.
Stats:
- Size: ~1/2 inch long max (at present)
- Color: Brown with lighter spots.
- Shell: Turban shaped
- Body: Long, greyish brown. Triangular head.
- Eggs: gelatinous spherical clear mass, laid solely on plants at
the top of the water.
These snails hitched a ride on some of the plants I got at the fish
store. I think I had maybe 1 or 2 to begin with, now there's maybe
20, 30, including babies. Bastards.
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