Reply With Quotei feed them with algea wafer and they are doing fine in my tank. There'are lots of type of this snails. Currently I have the black skin and yellow skin. How about yours?
recntly, i bought 9 sulawesi snails and am currently keeping them in a 27 litre tank (3 litres per snail). i also added some coral schips to increase ph. anyone keeps them or has any idea how to keep them?
i feed them with algea wafer and they are doing fine in my tank. There'are lots of type of this snails. Currently I have the black skin and yellow skin. How about yours?
Never create what you can't control
Since I can't keep Sulawesi shrimps alive, I have turned my attention to the snails!
They are not too difficult to keep, one of the species manage to reproduce 2 baby snails for me.
pH of my tank is about 8.2, feeding them on variety of food (assorted wafers, flakes, shrimp food).
Possibly Tylomelania zeamais (which grows up to no larger than 5 cm) and the baby on the right
congratulations =d
Last edited by Quixotic; 27th Jul 2008 at 02:11. Reason: Spelling
Never create what you can't control
Some more pictures, pardon the quality.
Tylomelania zeamais (I think), either the mother or same species, around 3 cm
Baby Tylomelania zeamais, upside down
Tylomelania sp. "yellow", around 6 cm
Tylomelania sp. "yellow"
Tylomelania sp. (not "yellow"), largest of them all, munching on detritus, around 9 cm
Jinxed fishy photographer
[Specialist]
They just remind me of MTS in a different colour. Do they burrow?
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my snails are tylomelania towuti. by the way, is 3 litres per snail enough? i am keeeping just snails inside.
I am setting up a 20 gallon snail tank for a friend at the office, mainly for an apple snail. Do you think they can cohabit?
Never create what you can't control
Based on my observations, they don't really burrow entirely but they will do quite a bit of digging, searching for food. They also eat detritus, so don't be surprised if they start munching on gravel.
Different species also inhabit habitats with different types of substrate preference. This is indicated in the scientific paper by Dr. Thomas von Rintelen on the review of Tylomelania.
The different type of substrate preference are basically classified as of below:
1. soft - mud and sand
2. hard - rock and sunken wood
3. mixed - both on soft and hard substrates
The lengthy scientific paper in PDF format,
von Rintelen, T., Bouchet, P. & Glaubrecht, M. 2007. Ancient lakes as hotspots of diversity: a morphological review of an endemic species flock of Tylomelania (Gastropoda: Cerithioidea: Pachychilidae) in the Malili lake system on Sulawesi, Indonesia. Hydrobiologia, 592: 11-94
There are many different Tylomelania species from Lake Towuti. There is no T. towuti, but you may be thinking of T. towutensis. However, just to confirm, are you sure these are T. towutensis? What are their sizes?Originally Posted by lucasjiang
T. towutensis are large snails, which can grow up to 8 to 9 cm in size. If that is a case, then IMHO, 9 of them may be stretching it a little.
What is the pH for the tank? Compatibility wise shouldn't be an issue, but I am more concerned about the water parameters.
The pH in their natural environment don't seem to be lower than 8.0. They might just be okay with slightly lower pH (possibly 7.5 and above), but personally, I would try to keep them in conditions close to the habitats and nothing less than pH 8.0.
sorry, typo error. my snails are tylomelania towutica, i identified them using photos from planet inverts. i searched for photos on tylomelania towutensis. the photos show snails with yellow spots, whereas mine are completely black.
my snails are currently 1 inch only and from the pics on planet inverts, i thought they will not be that big.
by the way, will they eat plants? i am planning to put some Ottelia mesentarium with them.
Last edited by Quixotic; 30th Jul 2008 at 01:23. Reason: Remove solicitation
Never create what you can't control
lucas, oh yes, sorry, I left out T. towutica. Based on what you have mentioned, I have reason to believe that we have the same snails. You have got them just recently, yes? If we have the same snails, I am not sure they are T. towutica though, more likely T. zeamais.
The markings on the snails I have are predominantly dots, which corresponds to T. zeamais markings based on the picture in PlanetInverts, http://www.planetinverts.com/sulawesi_snails.html. In the same webpage, pictures of T. towutica seems to show longer line-like markings.
Furthermore, the snail that I have, have managed to reproduce at 3 cm TL (close to 1 inch). So I suspect that these are adult snails, and T. zeamais max at around 4 cm. T. towutica max at around 6 cm, so I am not sure if they can reproduce at such young stage, 3 cm comparatively. I could be totally wrong on this though.
Some good usable pictures of your snails may help to identify them. But if you are not too concerned, then it's okay to just leave them as Tylomelania sp.
Not too sure if they eat plants, the ones I have don't and I personally don't think they do as the habitats are largely without plants.
sorry, unable to post pic, i will do it tomorrow.
by the way i realised that my sulawesi snails are completely black from the mouth all the way to their feelers. but around their back, there are a few spots. by the way, the shell is completely black too.
Never create what you can't control
If totally black, then could be something else. These snails are not the easiest to identify. Shell colour is probably not indicative of species, most have variable colours.
Here are some pics
Do you all keep any fishes with the snails?
Thinking of starting a sulawesi shrimp/snail tank but wanna keep some fish for mosquito control but cant seem to find any fish that can take that PH and wont decimate the shrimps
Any plants that can stand that ph?
Never create what you can't control
Lucas, comparing with the pictures of T. towutica and T. zeamais, they look more like T. zeamais rather than T. towutica.
I would rule out T. towutica, and lean towards T. zeamais, but if you have read the scientific paper, many snails look similar to each other. That's just my personal opinion.
No fishes, I think the water surface movement of my tank is too strong for mosquitoes to land and lay eggs.
Snails are too big for most fishes mouth, so shouldn't have any problems with fishes, not sure with newly born snails though. If you want something to keep with the snails, perhaps Oryzias celebensis or Marosatherina ladigesi? They are able to tolerate alkaline pH.
Fishes with the shrimps are a definite no-no, they are very likely to end up as snacks.
Ottelia mesentarium is plant endemic to the lake. I have some spiky moss tied to wood in my tank, they are doing okay.
quixotic, what plants can tolerate high ph? i am keeping some vallisnerias with the snails but the vallisnerias dont seem to happy with the ph.
I am keeping the apple snail in ph 7.5 and above using limestones, but its a rather smallish tank, but I think it would be a happy compromise for the snails.
Never create what you can't control
They are much hardier than the Sulawesi shrimps, so I think they would be fine at that pH.
Well, my spiky moss seem to be growing at the pH, but it is now over-ran by algae, which I don't mind as the snails like grazing on the algae. I have a bunch of experimental Rotala sp. "green" but don't seem to be doing too well. To my knowledge, some Cryptocorynes spp. prefer high pH environment, can't remember which.
(Edit: Found some, See Wikipedia, Cryptocoryne, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocoryne (as of Aug. 4, 2008, 09:05 GMT)
Otherrwise, the Crypts Pages are an excellent resource, http://www.nationaalherbarium.nl/Cry...yne/index.html)
Last edited by Quixotic; 4th Aug 2008 at 17:06. Reason: Additional information
i cant believe it! i have 9 adult snails and 4 baby snails now!
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