How long do cerith snail eggs take to hatch?

dela

Premium Member
I picked up some florida cerith snails from reefcleaners. They have since laid eggs all over the place including the glass.

Anyone know how long it takes for these to hatch? Or if they need special conditions to hatch?
 
Hmm.. that's not good!

Which kind do you guys have?

When I look online, the egg sacks I see are long corkscrews. The ones I have are different. They are more like a 1/4" clear sac full of little eggs and a white cover on the outside keeping the sac in place. See attached pics. (My curved glass made this a lot harder than it had to be!)

What is interesting is that I have a very "barebones" moon light. (Blue LED night light from Walgreens with the cover torn off). Anyway, the distribution is super tight, and the eggs usually get laid on the glass, along the path of the light.

Right now my fish are not in the DT, so nothing is eating them. The eggs have been there at least two weeks.
 

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The pictures you show don't look like cerith snail eggs. If you get them from John (in Florida), it's most likely Neritina (Vittina) coromandeliana (just a common Nerite snail hobbyists call). They are extremely difficult to breed (and I have never seen any baby Nerite from anyone):

Aquarium Invertebrates: Nerites: Bleeding Tooth, Zebras, Checkers And More
Though these egg capsules are laid prolifically, I have so far not seen an example where new nerites appeared. Apparently the larval period and requirement for planktonic food limits the successful recruitment of nerite larvae. There may also be a special requirement that the egg capsules be exposed with the change of the tides, or rainfall and salinity change may be necessary for some species.

Keep a close eye on the eggs. See if they ever hatch. I will be interested to see how the eggs go.
 
dzhuo,

Aha. That makes sense. I was actually thinking last night that there is no way the ceriths could have laid the eggs, as the egg masses are larger than many of the snails! :D

And I did purchase the snails from John. He had mentioned the ceriths have been known to breed in captivity, which is why I assumed the eggs were cerith snails. I also purchased the nerites. So that I guess clears up the mystery of why my eggs look different.

As far as being difficult to raise, that's too bad. I'm trying to add snails that will breed in the tank (hence the ceriths). So far I have stomatellas and two flavors of small limpets. Was hoping to add ceriths to the list...

Looking on-line, the information on breeding is confusing. But in one spot, I found something that said "nerites" have a 1-month planktonic stage. Seems like you would need a dedicated tank with air for circulation + phyto in order to raise these guys...
 
Yea my cerith's laid eggs in long strings.... 2 times now. Took about 1-2 weeks.

How do i know they hatched? Well when the lights go out i use the led on my iphone and see them all over the rocks.
 
I'm trying to add snails that will breed in the tank (hence the ceriths). So far I have stomatellas and two flavors of small limpets. Was hoping to add ceriths to the list...

A few snails are known to have successfully breed in our tanks, do a search and you should have no problem finding them. Collonista and Rissoids are also good choices although they are small. I have a ton of Collonista in my tank so be careful of what you wish for.
 
Yeah, those are Nerite eggs. They need brackish/tidal conditions so you won't be seeing any babies from those.
For snails that breed in the tank, try "Strombus grazers". Hard to come by, but they'll breed until they make you wish you'd never bought them LOL.
 
Can you get strombus grazers from anywhere besides IPSF? What about the Collonista and Rissoids snails? I've not seen them for sale anywhere.
 
Can you get strombus grazers from anywhere besides IPSF? What about the Collonista and Rissoids snails? I've not seen them for sale anywhere.
 
I managed to find some at a local LFS. He said I was the only person who knew what they were LOL. Years ago I got some from IPSF and had been trying to find some this time around. If you have a local reef group where you are, you can check around & see if anyone has some, or you can see if your LFS can order some. I started with 5 in my fuge in I think March, then when I moved a turbo from the fuge to the display it had eggs on it. I have too many to count now LOL. We've been giving them away to local reefers in our co-op.

I've never seen collonistas or rissoids for sale, but you usually end up with them from frags.

Stomatella snails are great too, and will breed in your tank. I found some at an LFS that weren't for sale & talked the guy into letting me buy 2. They bred like crazy but my original cleaner shrimp ate them all (along with some snails -- not really normal for a cleaner, IMO), so I only have them in the fuge now. Usually you'll get those with frags too, or from other reefers in your area.
 
I was just in Dallas visiting my brother. I could have stopped by and bought some. Well not sure how the family would have felt about the detour! :lolspin:

I'll have to see if anyone local has any of these they would be willing to part with.
 
Well, next time you're down, send me a PM. We could meet you somewhere (within reason LOL) and give you some snails. Not sure how well they'd do on the drive or flight, but we'd have no problem getting rid of some more.
 
Are you my mommy?

Are you my mommy?

So I spotted a new batch of eggs. These don't look like the Nerite eggs.

It's interesting how the sack is shaped like some kind of open bag or jar. I wonder if that is so the babies have a way to get out. Hopefully they crawl out and not float out! :D

Anyone know if these are Stomatella or Florida Cerith eggs? Will have to keep my eye on them.
 

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Almost looks like strombus eggs, except the opening on the side. Usually they break a hole in the top when they're developed enough to get out. Not sure what made those, as stomatellas are broadcast spawners and Florida cerith eggs look like this.

148496556_d96069432b_z.jpg


Although your cerith looks like a dwarf cerith rather than a Florida Cerith. Never had dwarf ceriths, so I have no idea what kind of eggs they lay, though I would assume they'd be similar to other cerith eggs.
 
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