smoking snails (are they mating?)

[lostintheocean]

i have 3 red torchus snails in my tank, (i though there were only 2) and last night they were smoking. Two of them were an inch apart adn the other was 5 or so inches away. they were all near powerheads. for about 30 to 60 minutes they were randomly releasing puffs of "smoke" every few minutes. It was pretty cool to see. I am assuming this is for reproduction but I was looking form more specific info. All three of them were releasing the "smoke". Will I have any off spring or are they all the same sex? do these snails use external fertilication?

I had my return off for a whild since i was feeding when I noticed this but i turned it on later. If it was reproduction will any live adn is there a way to helop them live? tnanks for any info

 

[mod0522]

Yep, your snails are definitely spawning. Its a very cool display to watch! What they are doing is releasing their uh.... lets say reproductive agents into the water column. I'm not sure if both male and female trochus snails do this, in some species its just males, but eventually the sperm and eggs will meet up and produce either free swimming larvae or hatch into tiny infants. Depending on your stock list and filtration, there is a chance you will see some babies soon.