Mystery snails are tropical snails, so it may be challenging to put them in a pond all year round. Despite tending to be invasive, they are not the hardiest species of aquatic snails. So, if you’re hoping to move your mystery snails to an outdoor pond, the trick is to get it right the first time, otherwise, they will die off from stress. There are several aspects you must consider before your mysteries can live in a pond, and this discussion highlights it all.
Mystery snails can live in natural or set-up ponds under the right conditions which entail the correct water parameters. Some naturally existing ponds are habitable for mystery snails, consisting of the proper temperature, pH, and lack of ammonia that is mandatory for them to survive. If you emulate their natural habitat in your pond, your mystery snails will enjoy their new home for as long as possible.
9 Easy Steps To Keeping Mystery Snails In A Pond Safely
If you have a pond and are wondering how to keep mystery snails in it, there are certain factors you must consider and arrange for their survival as I have listed below:
1. Consider The Pond Size
Depending on how many mystery snails you want to keep in your pond, you must provide an adequate pond size for them to feel at home. Mystery snails are active pets- they love to explore and interact with their environment. If the habitat is too small, your mystery snail will become stressed leading to a weaker immune system from it. Stressed mystery snails easily succumb to shock and fall victim to further malnutrition from their loss of appetite and activity. If the stress persists, they will cease breeding and at worst, die from the tension.
Ensure that your snails have over a gallon for each individual excluding the space taken up by plants and decor. This way, you know that you’ve created a comfortable space for your snails to move around freely.
2. Make The Pond Homely
Mystery snails enjoy a lively environment consisting of plants and hiding spaces. Since they’re active, they love to explore their surroundings looking for food and new spots to examine. So, you must guarantee that your pond consists of items to keep it from feeling unnatural and bland.
3. Ensure The Pond Is Properly Filtered
Plants may filter some of the diet from the pond and help you break down nitrites and nitrates, but they are nowhere near a steady filtration system to help you maintain dirt-free water for your snails. Mystery snails are heavy poopers from their active eating and they’re good at messing up their environment and triggering an increase in ammonia if the condition is not handled. Ammonia is toxic for mystery snails and becomes deadly if they dwell in it for too long. So, your filtration system must be available to maintain clean and clear water at all times.
4. Make Sure The Pond Is Properly Cycled
Building a pond and ensuring clean water is one thing, but you must also confirm the pond is cycled. Water cycling is a process of growing good bacteria in a water system to help break down ammonia into nitrites for plants to consume. Aquatic animals produce waste every day which eventually raises ammonia levels. If this goes on, it can become fatal to their survival.
If you’re wondering how to cycle your newly made pond, here’s how to go about it:
To fully cycle your pond, you need to purchase good bacteria or collect some from cycled ponds and then infect your pond with decaying food. With the help of water testers, you can take note of all the changes in parameters and compare them to the standard table I have provided in the next point. Your pond is fully cycled when ammonia is registered as 0.
- Ensure your pond is set up correctly with a working filtration system (view on Amazon) and a few plants to complete the nitrogen cycle. Plants consume the end products of the nitrogen cycle (nitrates) to prevent it from building up.
- Throw a piece of perishable product into the pond and let it rot. Examples are fish pellets or just a piece of fresh fish.
- Now, you either have the option of using Fritz Zyme7 (view on Amazon) or acquiring some of the substrates from a properly cycled aquarium to introduce bacteria into the pond. The bacteria will feed on the ammonia breaking it into nitrites and further into nitrates. This is the beginning of the cycle and the start of a generation of beneficial bacteria.
- Use an API water testing kit (view on Amazon) to track the cycle of your pond. It’s highly necessary to know how good your pond is cycling, and the kit helps you read that clearly with visual comparisons. Once your ammonia and nitrite are at 0 ppm, and nitrate is detectable, it means ammonia is actively broken down and your pond is properly cycled. Hence, your pets can enter their new home.
- Last but not least, patience is key. It can take anything from 2 days to months to get your pond fully cycled depending on the size of the pond and the quality of the bacteria you’re introducing into your pond
5. Keep The Best Water Parameters For Your Mystery Snails
Mystery snails need certain water parameters to be healthy in their pond. For example, the water temperature must be at 70°to 80° Fahrenheit which can easily be achieved if you live in areas with sunny and warm climates. You must also consider the water hardness, salinity, and pH are in the correct amounts. Here’s a reference table for your snail’s required water chemistry:
| Parameters | Ideal Range |
|---|---|
| Temperature | 70 – 80 (°F) |
| pH | 7.6 – 8.0 |
| Ammonia (NH3/NH4+) | 0 |
| Nitrite (NO2-) | 0 |
| Nitrate (NO3-) | 0 |
| Copper (Cu) | 0 |
| Water hardness | 150 – 300 ppm |
| Salinity | 0 |
6. Employ Necessary Temperature Regulators
If you live in areas where the cold seasons drop below 70° F, your pond will require a submersible water heater to ensure your pond is warm enough for your mystery snails. If it happens to be too cold, your pets will enter a state of dormancy which could turn fatal if the situation doesn’t get better itself. Similarly to extremely hot places, water coolers (view on Amazon) are necessary to prevent your pets from becoming mollusk soup in the overheated pond!
7. Place Air Stones In The Pond
Depending on the depth of the pond, you may require an airstone (view on Amazon) to facilitate the dispersion of oxygen. Mystery snails need to be highly ventilated and oxygenated which is easily achieved by a shallow body of water. If the pond in this case is more than 3 feet deep, you’d need air stones to help circulate oxygen in the pond keeping your snails happy and healthy.
8. Feed Your Mystery Snails The Right Diet
A good diet is necessary to keep healthy and strong snails at all times. Mystery snails are herbivorous, and carnivorous, and are detrivores choosing to feed on decaying matter frequently. By providing the correct diet which is a mix of plant-based and animal-based foods, you can confirm that your pets are healthy in their pond.
Do not leave them to feed on algae! It is not sustainable for their health and they will die from malnutrition. They’re not like nerite, ramshorn, or bladder snails who are active algae-feeders. Leaving them to algae is the same as starving them slowly to death.
9. Keep Suitable Pond-Mates With Your Mystery Snails
Most ponds are home to several aquarium fish such as bettas, guppies, goldfish, and the sorts that are notorious for being aggressive to small creatures like your mollusks. They will nip at them and bite off their antennae simply for the fun of it. The best thing to do is avoid them for the sake of your mystery snails and opt for calmer fish such as Siamese algae eaters or algae-eating snails.
The Main Trouble With Keeping Mystery Snails In Ponds
Keeping mystery snails in an outdoor pond requires a different set of precautions to follow. If you’re not sure what to look out for when keeping your mystery snails in a pond, I have listed the most troubling aspects and how to get around them easily.
Mystery Snails Will Crawl Out More Often
Mystery snails are good at sneaking out of the aquariums and falling to their doom. While there may not be any “falling” waiting to happen at a pond, they’re still prone to crawling out and getting eaten or lost. Placing mesh over the pond will keep the snails in, but it won’t be effective if your pond isn’t pool-like. In the end, you may have to frequently look around to confirm none of your snails have crawled out of their home.
If you do find the snails running away more than usual, there’s possibly something wrong with their environment. Perhaps the water chemistry is thrown off and they’re stressed looking to move someplace else only to end up on grass. Using an API testing kit, you can check the water parameters and confirm that it is or isn’t the source of the problem.
Predators From Above
When you think your pets are out of harm’s way, you may just be the victim of notorious snail-loving birds who will fly down just to prey on your pets. Usually, I find water sprinklers to be great at preventing pesky birds from coming too close to my pond. It’s not as effective as I would have wanted, but overall it’s better than nothing.
A Possible Snail Invasion
Without your watchful eye frequently on the mystery snails, they’re highly capable of being invasive. Mystery snails mate and lay eggs when the conditions of the environment are optimal. If it is suitable for your mystery snails, they will mate and multiply relentlessly. It’s important to frequently check on your mystery snails and look out for their eggs to prevent them from being invasive and taking over your pond.
Will My Mystery Snails Clean My Pond Algae?
Mystery snails are not efficient algae-eaters and are often mistaken for pond or nerite snails that enjoy feasting on them. Mysteries only graze on algae occasionally and do so in minimal amounts. In the end, you’d have to manually clean out the algae yourself or introduce pets such as bladder snails into the pond. However, they reproduce crazily and are capable of getting invasive.
Can Mystery Snails Survive Cold Ponds Through Winter?
Mystery snails will not survive living in a pond during the winter without proper heating. They will simply enter dormancy and die. You need a submersible heating system to prevent the water from getting too cold for your snails. An air stone helps to move the water and equally disperse the heat throughout the pond. That way, your little friends are safe from being popsicles!
