This is really strange!!! A guppie of mine had babies and I was counting them and only found 5. As I was looking all over for guppie babies I saw this little thing sliding around on one of my skull fixtures. After looking closely at it for about 5 minutes and wondering what the heck this could be, I realized it had a tiny lil shell, and it has to be a snail baby. I only bought my snail 6 days ago!!! I never knew a snail could live breed, I thought they laid eggs? There is no way this could have been an egg and hatched in 6 days??? This is very strange!!! I also bought some live plant seeds that are supposed to grow in 14-15 days and grow to at least 6 to 7 inches,kinda like a chia pet, Did You ever have these kind of plants and if so does it actually work because after 5 days Ive seen nothing form the seed yet? And also do snails only have 1 baby at a time or can they have more? And do they need a bigger shell eventually like a hermit crab? Thanks again!!!!

This is getting even stranger, just looked at the other animals category and noticed there is an entry today about snails!!! I also went to Your snail page and found that their shell grows with them. I checked the aquarium again and still only seen 1 baby? Also the parent snail hasnt moved all day, still in the same spot since 7 AM. it is now 6:30 Pm., this snail is always on the go so this is a bit odd.

You have to figure out what species of snail that you have. Most snails lay eggs but some are livebearers like Malaysian trumpet snails and trapdoor snails. Assuming you have egg-laying snails, the eggs would probably take at least 4 or 5 days to hatch (usually a week or two). If you have egg-laying snails, it could be possible to have hatchlings already but more likely, the baby you saw came from someplace else. Live snails or their eggs can come in on live plants and from other aquariums.

You may have some aquatic plant tubers. They are like dried nuts? If so, then yes, they should sprout if they're not too old. The last time I got some, about half sprouted but some took a month to do so. I got one that was a long stem with a flat floating plant and also some mini lily-like plants. They're not seeds but tubers (roots).

Snails have many babies at once unless they're livebearers, then only a few at a time. They cannot leave their shells and live for long. The shells are part of their bodies and grow with the snail.

Snails sometimes hole up and don't move for a while. I am often asked how to tell if one is dead. If you pick it up, the two dead giveaways are either the body falls out or, it stinks so bad that you can't stand it. Otherwise, you may not be sure and have to wait. Snails can live and not move for weeks if they want to but I would worry after a few days in most cases.

Steve,

I had the same things happen to me. Except I added several snails to my smaller tank and after a few days I had a lttle tiny shel moving up the side of my tank.