White Spotted Rabbit Snail

Care at a glance

Overview

The white spotted rabbit snail is one of the larger Sulawesi snails, with a dark body flecked in pale spots and a long, tapering shell. It grazes calmly over rock, wood, and sand for algae, biofilm, and leftovers and ignores its tankmates, so it suits a peaceful community and is content kept alone. It wants warm, hard, alkaline water and a deep, soft sand bed to forage in, and copper must be kept out, since it is toxic to snails. It breeds very slowly, one live baby at a time, so it will not crowd the tank. Give it 60 liters or more for its size and reach.

In the wild

This snail comes from Lake Towuti and nearby waters in the Malili lake system of Sulawesi, where it lives on hard bottoms in warm, mineral-hard, alkaline water. A tank suits it when it copies that, held from about 24 to 29 c with a pH from 7 to 8.5 and steady hardness. A thick layer of soft sand is important for such a large snail, which spends much of its time nosing through the top of the bed. Driftwood, smooth rock, and clean, well-filtered water round out the setup.

Good to know

Tylomelania towutica is a Sulawesi rabbit snail in the family Pachychilidae, named for Lake Towuti where it is found. It is one of the larger species, its long, ribbed, cone-shaped shell reaching up to about 11 cm, and it closes behind a horny trapdoor. It is a livebearer, releasing a single fully formed juvenile at a time. That very low birth rate, together with slow growth, is why deliberately breeding a colony is rated hard even though individual snails are not fussy.

Did you know

Rabbit snails are livebearers that wrap each newborn in a soft capsule it breaks out of within hours. Larger species like this one can push their long shells to the length of a finger, making them some of the biggest snails kept in aquariums.

Related species

• 

  Gold Rabbit Snail

  Tylomelania gemmifera

  2.8 in (7 cm)16 gal (60 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  Triangle Rabbit Snail

  Tylomelania sinabartfeldi

  2 in (5 cm)5 gal (20 L)75–86°F (24–30°C)
• Himalayan Rabbit Snail

  Tylomelania marwotoae

  2 in (5 cm)11 gal (40 L)77–86°F (25–30°C)

• 

  Black Devil Snail

  Faunus ater

  3.9 in (10 cm)13 gal (50 L)72–86°F (22–30°C)
• Pagoda Snail

  Brotia pagodula

  2.4 in (6 cm)5 gal (20 L)72–82°F (22–28°C)

• 

  Apple Snail

  Pomacea canaliculata

  5.9 in (15 cm)21 gal (80 L)64–81°F (18–27°C)