Apple Snails
The apple snail family or Ampullariidae are common freshwater snails in many tropical area’s around the world and several species have made their way to the aquarium trade to become a popular pet snail.
Their attractive appearance and relatively big size (5 to 15 cm / 2 to 6 inch, depending of the species) greatly contribute to their success. However, despite it’s popularity, many misconceptions still surround these also called mystery snails. For instance, most popular aquarium books refer to these snails with Ampullaria gigas and Ampullaria cuprina, while these names are both erroneous and obsolete in the scientific literature for years. Historically seen, these name problems are well understandable as many of works from the authors who described these snails back in 18th and 19th century are unknown in the hobbyist literature.