Aquarium snails Ampularia: maintenance and care, breeding

These cute multi-colored snails are very popular all over the world. Ampularia in the aquarium became habitual among the inhabitants of the Russian "water kingdom". This mollusk arrived in our region from South America (the Amazon basin). In addition, this species is common in many tropical countries.

Ampularia, the maintenance and care of which are extremely simple, appeared in Europe quite recently. It happened in the beginning of XX century. Nevertheless, they quickly gained popularity among aquarists. This is explained by the large size, bright beautiful coloring and simplicity of keeping such snails.

Spread

Aquarium snail ampulyariya, a photo of which can be seen today in all publications for lovers of aquatic animals, is quite widespread in nature. In some areas, people even have to deal with the growth of its population, because an excessive amount of such mollusks harms the wetland ecosystem. These snails drive out other species of gastropod from their habitat . And since ampullaria are omnivorous, they pose a danger to crops, in particular to rice. For example, in the EU countries there is a ban on their importation and distribution.

Color

This species of mollusks is distinguished by a huge variety of coat colors. Many representatives have a yellow color, but others are also common, a wide variety of colors. Among them:

• Blue (blue);
• Pink;
• Pearl;
• Pink;
• White;
• Tomato;
• Black;
• Brown individuals.

We will present you the most common of them.

Yellow ampulla

This is perhaps the most common species of this mollusk to date. Ampularia, the breeding of which is often practiced by aquarists, has more than a hundred species. When you keep snails of different colors in one aquarium, you can create a beautiful motley picture. But it must be remembered that in order for yellow snails to normally multiply, there should be no more than one individual per 10 liters of water.

Ampularia yellow perfectly takes root in an ordinary aquarium with fish. It is compatible with different types of fish, but it must be taken into account that some of them can pinch the mollusks for the mustache. This, above all, concerns the fish that feed on these sweet creatures. Therefore, it will be safer to keep these snails with non-aggressive fish.

Ampularia blue

Among the bright representatives of this type of mollusks, blue ampularia are especially prominent. The gray-blue shell and the darker body do not look boring at all against the background of yellow, marble, violet or pink snails. Such an individual has its own exotic charm and grace of an unusual creature, as if coming to us from another planet.

In nature, ampullarians eat mainly plant foods, and in aquariums blue snails prefer protein - bloodworms, scraped meat, tubular, and dry food for aquarium fish. Of vegetable components, they consume salad leaves with pleasure. Periodically, you can add to the diet a mango, scalded with boiling water. If you feed the blue ampularia only with plant food, it will become barren.

Dimensions of ampulla

These snails often grow very impressive - up to 9 cm. There are even real giants, the size of which is much higher than this value.

The duration of their life depends on the quality of care (mainly nutrition) and the water temperature in the aquarium. At relatively low values (18-20 ° C), a snail can live 2-3 years, but it will become inactive because of a slow metabolism. At 25-28 ° C, the snail will live for you only a year or a year and a half, but with it will grow rapidly, multiply intensively, will be highly active.

Ampulary snails: maintenance and care

Despite the fact that this kind of shellfish gets along well with the fish, it is better to keep them in a separate aquarium. The fact is that not only some species of fish, but other animals, for example, red-bellied turtles, even eat adult snails, not to mention caviar and offspring.

Ampularia snails, the maintenance and care of which are fairly simple, can live in a not very large aquarium (30 liters), but this is provided that you have one such pet. But as one does not contain ampullaria, 3-4 individuals will need a more spacious container - one hundred liters.

It is necessary to know the owners who already have ampulariae: the reproduction of them must be under their control. Otherwise, in the aquarium will soon appear a myriad of mollusks. In addition, care should be taken to ensure that no dead snails remain in the water.

The aquarium needs to be covered with a lid, because if your pets do not like something in their new home, they will crawl out and go for a walk. In such a situation it is necessary to find out what triggered their escape, and to remove existing inconveniences.

Periodically, the ampularia leaves to breathe air, so between the lid of the aquarium and the surface of the water should leave free space. It is very interesting to watch the tricks of the multi-colored handsome men. They look very funny, especially when there are several individuals in the aquarium. First the snail, picks up air, floats up, then exhales, and with noise falls to the bottom.

Often newcomers, seeing such tricks for the first time, are frightened and frightened, believing that the unhappy creatures emanated their spirit and fell dead to the bottom. This is not so, just "rogues" breathed air and went to rest.

Requirements for water

Experienced aquarists know how unpretentious to water ampularia. The maintenance and care, and also their cultivation are possible in much worse conditions, than other water inhabitants demand. It is enough for the owner of an aquarium to observe simple rules of water replacement and filtration.

Particular attention should be paid to the shell of the snail. In order not only not to collapse, but also to be renewed, calcium is necessary. If the aquarium is too soft water, then it adds limestone, sea shells, fine marble. It is even easier to make up for a lack of calcium by buying a drug in the pet store that increases the hardness of the water.

Feeding

Despite the fact that the ampularia, the photo that you can see in this article, the creature is unpretentious, certain rules of feeding must be respected. This is important for the normal development of the mollusk, its active reproduction. In addition, the quality of feed is directly related to the duration of its life. So what to feed the ampullar? These representatives of gastropods eat with the same appetite almost any food. Ampularia are remarkable in that they eat up the leftovers of food for their neighbors.

Despite the fact that in a natural environment snails prefer vegetative food, in captivity their diet is recommended to diversify. Ampularia never give up food of animal origin:

• Bloodworms;
• Earthworms;
• Daphnia;
• Pipe man.

Still, the basis for snail food should be vegetables and greens:

• Zucchini;
• Leaves of cabbage and lettuce;
• cucumber;
• pumpkin;
• carrot;

• spinach.

Before feeding vegetables should be slightly boiled, and greens - scalded with boiling water. The remains of vegetables do not forget to remove in a timely manner from the container, so that the water does not deteriorate. The above-mentioned products do not limit the ration of ampulla. They gladly take care of granulated fodder, boiled yolk, white bread, duckweed, bananas. Meanwhile, do not let your pets eat everything. It is necessary to observe the vitamin-mineral balance in feeding.

Reproduction

Only an experienced specialist can distinguish a male from a female even in a sexually mature ampulla. Reproduction of these snails usually occurs when 4-5 individuals live in one aquarium. In such a company, it is usually necessary to have different-sexed snails.

When the female creates a clutch, the caviar is almost white, with a slight yellow tint. Then the eggs become firmer and get a dirty white color. Most often, the female lays eggs before sunrise, where the place is well heated by illumination lamps. Because of this, often, when the owner turns on the morning illumination lamps, the masonry may die from the heat.

If you want to keep eggs and wait for the offspring, the eggs should be cut off immediately from the glass and placed on a piece of foam or algae.

Ampulary: breeding

You can breed snails of this species, as well as aquarium fish. They reach puberty by 15 months. To build an ampullar, you need to prepare an aquarium, creating in it a 10-15 centimeter air layer. For this, it is necessary to drain some of the water and cover the container with glass. The water temperature is + 26-28 degrees.

Female ampullaria lay eggs in the form of a bunch on the wall of the aquarium or on the glass to be coated. It ripens 7 to 15 days, and the process of leaving offspring takes 5 days.

It is very important to save eggs from drying, as with a lack of moisture, the masonry dies. Two weeks later, a young fish emerges from it, which moves to the water of the aquarium. Newborn snails should be fed intensively. First they are given a soaked and pounded dry food for fish, gammarus, daphnia boiled yolk, scraped meat (beef). Then they are gradually transferred to adult feed, and when the kids grow to 5 mm, they can be planted in other aquariums.

These amusing creatures are ampularia snails. The maintenance and care of them do not make much work, and by the presence they will diversify your aquarium and will give considerable pleasure to observe them.