First, what type of snail is this? It is abt an inch and a half in diameter, really big compared to my little half inch snails.



I opened the lid to my tank to feed the fish this morning and found this snail hanging on the inside of the lid, in the process of laying its eggs. The mass is huge!! What do I do with it? I don't want the snails but not sure how to handle them. I might feel better about getting rid of them if they were going to feed another fish. Since these eggs aren't in the water, if I put them in with my betta (a different tank) will the betta eat them? I have a mess of little tiny snails in another tank (my fry tank) and when I squish them the baby guppies eat up the remains, but these eggs are really big - too bbig for their tiny mouths. Any advice is appreciated!

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Niki

4 tanks, all planted:
20 gal tall
10 gal
2 - 5 gal tanks

anubias, java fern, java moss, water sprite, vesuvius, wisteria, red cryptocoryne wendtii
48 Watt T5HO on the 20

many happy guppies
one crabby betta

Not sure on the snail, but I doubt if the betta will eat those eggs. I would just clean them off the glass and get rid of them in the trash or something.

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Thanks Susan. I just wondered if they would hatch in the trash?? Also, this particular betta kills every snail I put in his tank. Not sure if he eats them or just kills them. He actually attacked the snail above which was quite a bit bigger than he was! So I wondered if maybe he would eat the eggs. But I don't want to feed him anything that might make him sick.

__________________
Niki

4 tanks, all planted:
20 gal tall
10 gal
2 - 5 gal tanks

anubias, java fern, java moss, water sprite, vesuvius, wisteria, red cryptocoryne wendtii
48 Watt T5HO on the 20

many happy guppies
one crabby betta

These look like Mystery Snail eggs. Years ago, when I didn't know what I was doing, I hatch 30 of these guys. They commonly lay them above the water line. If you leave them alone they will hatch in 2 or 3 weeks. You could hang your reflector over another tank and let them hatch there. It sounds like your snails love this tank! Fish don't normally eat Mystery Snail eggs. Snails don't like soft, acid water so if you add some to your tank they will slowly die. Mystery Snails are often popular with fish shops so ask around. Maybe you can sell some!
Merry Christmas!

Judging from the color and appearance of the egg mass and the picture, I'd say yeah, probably a pomacea bridgesii, or I guess they're calling them diffusas now, they get sold under the name mystery snail or apple snail, and yes, you can just break the egg mass off the glass and no babies. No, you can't just smash the egg mass and the fish will eat it, too much calcium in the egg mass, it tends to get ignored, but the hatchlings when they first hatch out and drop into the water, they get gobbled up pretty quick. Your betta would probably love the hatchlings. But this snail, if it is all alone in your tank, is probably laying sterile egg masses that won't hatch out anyway. You need a male and a female to get fertile eggs.

Oh my gosh I just found another huge clump. This snail is going nuts! Ok I will try and see if I can get rid of them at the lfs. They did say to me that they would take any snails I didn't want because they feed them to the cichlids and/or sell them. I wonder though if they are nonviable because I have had this snail for quite some time on its own, probably 5 or 6 months. Unless this one had already fertilized itself at the pet store before I got it? But why would it lay eggs now? Amazing.

__________________
Niki

4 tanks, all planted:
20 gal tall
10 gal
2 - 5 gal tanks

anubias, java fern, java moss, water sprite, vesuvius, wisteria, red cryptocoryne wendtii
48 Watt T5HO on the 20

many happy guppies
one crabby betta

I'm no expert on snails, but I did read up on mystery/apple snails before buying one myself. It's hard for me to tell if your's is a mystery snail from that pic, but that is about what their egg clutches look like from pictures I've seen. Here is a good site for learning more about them:
How to recognize an apple snail
How to take care of apple snails: food, housing and breeding.
They've probably got way more info on them than you have time to read, which is just the kind of site I love. Here are a couple excerpts pertinent to your questions:

"Since apple snails are gonochoristic (separated sexes), a male and a female snail are needed(obvious).
Apple snails reproduce when the temperature rises in combination with abundance of food available.

It is also important to mention that female apple snails can store sperm for months, so even the eggs of a single snail can be fertile. With no male snail present, female apple snails occasionally produce infertile eggs. Obviously, these do no hatch.

It's no problem to transfer the egg clutch to another location, as long as you are careful not cause too much damage. A damages clutch is more prone to infections and evaporation. The best way to move the eggs is by wetting the clutch, wait a few hours and then carefully move the clutch over the surface until it comes off. Obviously this method is of most successful on glass or other smooth surfaces.

Egg defences
It is remarkable how visible the egg clutches of many apple snail species are. The pinkish to reddish eggs are attached on the contrasting green vegetation submerging from the water (in the genus Pomacea). This makes them visually inconspicuous from many meters away for predators. This suggests a possible warning function for unpalatability. Field evidence of this unpalatability is provided by the fact that almost all animals foraging in habitats where the apple snails live, ignore these eggs: from fish to birds, they all leave them alone. Also when apple snail eggs are offered to captive predators, they often try to eat them at first, but refuse them after repeated feeding."

Just toss them in the garbage, seriously. Don't fret about it. If you don't want the snails, you can take them to the pet store, but if they don't want them, toss them in the garbage there. If the snails hatch out in the garbage (very unlikely - the garbage will be too dry and cold and the baby snails if there are any will not develop) they will just die there. Don't let this get you down, these are just snails, after all. Those of us that love them would love to have a happy snail that loves to lay eggs, but if this is getting you down you could try to trade for a different one and hope you get a male.