Rabbit Snail (Tylomelania gemmifera)

Rabbit Snails, also known as the Sulawesi Snail (Tylomelania), are peaceful, attractive and relatively easy to take care of, making them a great addition to any established community aquarium. These snails will also help to remove some algae and food remanence.

Rabbit Snails are both active during the day and very active at night.

Ideal tankmates for these snails could include other Rabbit Snails such as the White Spotted Rabbit Snail, and the yellow Spotted Rabbit Snail, Nerite Snails, Ramshorn Snails and Malaysian Trumpet Snails as well as Neocaridina Shrimp, Corydoras Catfish and non-aggressive fish Tetra species. However, it would be best to avoid fish that may eat your snails, such as some Cichlids, Pufferfish and Botia Loaches. You should also avoid housing them with Assassin Snails, Crayfish and Crabs.

The aquarium will need to have plenty of open space for the Rabbit Snails to move around freely without being obstructed by obstacles. In addition, please provide your snails with plenty of durable plants, driftwood, bogwood, rocks and large stones, as these snails love to hide under them.

The ideal substrate for these snails would be soft sand or mud, as they love to move around and bury themselves in soft substrate. Please avoid dense vegetation or overcrowding your aquarium. The lighting in the aquarium should be relatively dim as these snails do not like to be exposed to bright light.

It is essential that you keep filter intakes covered with sponge pre-filters; otherwise, the snails may get their head or foot caught in the gaps of filter intakes and may not be able to back themselves out, leading to severe injuries or even death.

Rabbit Snails can differ in appearance; they have a cone-shaped shell that ranges from delicate porcelain-like to heavily sculptured surfaces. Their main body will be brilliant orange or yellow, distinguished with a dark shell depending on the type. In addition, the shell can have various black or brown colours and may exhibit some dots, lines, or textures to create an overall elegant appearance.

Rabbit SnailsRabbit Snails, Gold Rabbit Snails, Red Rabbit Snails, Orange Rabbit Snails and Dark Chocolate Rabbit Snails.

Photos of the Rabbit Snail

Videos

Gold Rabbit Snail

Natural Habitat

Rabbit snails originate from the beautiful mountain lakes of Sulawesi in Indonesia in Southeast Asia, mostly restricted to Lake Poso and the Malili Lake system. These snails inhabit relatively shallow lowland warm waters with a high ph level where you will find them on both soft and hard substrates. Forests surround their habitats.

What to feed the Rabbit Snail

Rabbit snails will eat just about anything edible offered to them and in large quantities if given the opportunity. While not the best algae eating snail available in the hobby, they will consume some and scavenge any leftover food lying around the aquarium, making a helpful, clean up crew. You should provide dried foods such as granules, algae wafers, and sinking pellets.

They have been known to develop a taste for some aquarium plants when there is insufficient leftover food available; Java fern appears to be the most likely casualty in these scenarios. Calcium supplementation is always a must to ensure their shells remain solid and healthy, which can be achieved by including blanched Broccoli from time to time.