Japanese Trapdoor Snail
The japanese trapdoor snail is a freshwater species that doesn t get enough attention.
Japanese trapdoor snail. Description of the japanese trapdoor snails. In addition japanese trapdoor snails will spend hours on end scouring the tank for uneaten food as well as other edible material. Large natural ponds would require at least 200 snails per acre to be effective. They re often labeled in the hobby as viviparus malleatus but that s not a real species and takes elements of different genera and subspecies from other taxon within the same family viviparidae.
They will not over reproduce and become a nuisance like egg laying snails. The name trapdoor snail refers the operculum an oval corneous plate that most snails in this clade possess. The lack of the lung allows this snail to survive in waters below freezing. This snail has a reputation of being a very tranquil non aggressive soft algae eater.
Japanese trapdoor snails are one of the few snail varieties that can over winter well and survive in harsher northern climates. The chinese mystery snail black snail or trapdoor snail is a large freshwater snail with gills and an operculum an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family viviparidae. These little critters will snack on algae and organic matter to help keep your tank nice and clean. This is a fully aquatic freshwater snail.
Japanese trapdoor snails may be marketed as chinese mystery snails or simply as trapdoor snails. Japanese trapdoor snails differ in their shell shape size and in body coloration. The japanese variety of this species is black and usually a dark green moss like alga covers the shell. Algae eating black japanese trapdoor pond snails are one of the few snail varieties that can over winter well and survive in harsher northern climates.
Not only are they pretty and low maintenance but they bring a number of benefits to your tank. To have a positive effect on algae growth a minimum of 10 snails per 50 square feet is necessary. Japanese trapdoor snails are a great asset in helping keep algae under control in your pond and water garden as they groom plants planting pots and water garden rocks and walls. Japanese trapdoor is a name used in the aquarium hobby only for what are likely japanese mystery snails cipangopaludina japonica.
Japanese trapdoor snails do not have a siphon and cannot breathe air unlike mystery snails. Minimum order of 10.