Above: Clutch of eggs in the hatching process. Bits of broken eggshell are visible floating on the water's surface. Below: Three of the many other clutches about the pond right now. The one on the right is the most recent of them, still a little juicy from being laid. Way below: A weird-shaped recent clutch. Funny little tail of eggs. It's unusual for the snails to lay their eggs in the sun, since they need a certain level of moisture to remain viable.
Since my previous Apple Snail posts, we've had a series of raccoon attacks and other ponding misadventures, such as an Ich problem. The medicine to help the fish overcome Ich made the water to saline for the Apple Snails, and they evacuated the pond. Or I think that's why they evacuated. They just climbed out and stayed out, dying. Big guys, they were. Plum-sized. Poor fellas.
I thought they were all gone, so I eventually added four new snails, ones about the size of a nickel. Afterward, I started finding the occasional tiny pea-sized guy with a shell so thin that even the lightest touch would be crushing. (So I didn't touch.) Their shells were transparent, even. I realized they were survivors from the last round of egg laying before the evacuation.
The cool thing is that a couple of the new Apple Snails have dark flesh instead of pale. They still breed, obviously, with the pale ones.
Even though I'm still aware of Apple Snails' invasive potential, I'm not going to do any egg abatement at this time. So many things happen that their population hasn't yet threatened overcome my pond, and I'm not near enough to another body of water to risk introducing my snails to it.
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