Sulawesi Elephant Snails
- Thread starter kiriyama
- Start date
ashemely
Fish Fanatic
I bought a few of these snails from two different maidenhead aquatic stores. Never seen these guys online, but I guess you could always give ebay a shot. If Sulawesi doesn't come up, try Tylomelania sp.
Good luck
Good luck
ashemely
Fish Fanatic
Just out of curiosity, will you be adding these snails to your Neo Multi tank?
I've been reading your posts in the African Cichlid section in regards to multis, as I set up my own Multi tank recently and have also recruited a few Sulawesi snails.
I've been reading your posts in the African Cichlid section in regards to multis, as I set up my own Multi tank recently and have also recruited a few Sulawesi snails.
Yeah , I was going to do that , I think I got the idea when reading a thread by AdAndrews , liked his tang tank , it's a long way away but it gives me something to look forward to , one minute it's an authentic tang biotope(?) then its just multis , snails , dwarf rainbows , who knows ? lol
What's your multi tank like ? How many of the snails did you get ? I don't know much about them , I didn't really like snails that much until the mrs brought home a golden apple snail , do the multis just let them do there own thing ?
ashemely
Fish Fanatic
My Multi tank isn't all that special, it's about 45 liters, 12 US gallons, and I have four Multis. I'm quite positive that I have one male and three females. There's a java fern attached to a rock in there, too, but I think I'm going to move that to the shrimp tank and get some Vallis, as I've been reading there is a plant similar to the Vallis in Lake Tang. Anyway, to the snails...
I have two possibly three different varieties of the Sulawesi snail. In the Multi tank I have three long and large black coned snails (about two inches long), and then a smaller black snail which is about an inch long. In my shrimp tank I have two yellow coned snails maybe around an inch and a half long. The black coned snails, are pretty easy going, slow moving, slow eating, and they tend to 'hibernate' a lot, where they basically withdraw into their shell or just stay in one spot for a day or two. The yellow coned snails, are pretty much the exact opposite. They move around A LOT, they eat A LOT (which of course means they poop A LOT), and they also will eat any of your plants. However, both yellow and black Sulawesis are not to be relied on to keep the algae down. The pond pest snails are better at it than they are.
As for the Sulawesi's relationship with the Multis, everything seems fine for the time being. At first the Multis were quite territorial with the Sulawesis, pecking at them, and even trying to pick them up, successfully on at least one occasion, but now they must not see them as a threat too much. The snails are allowed to get closer and closer, last week one of them was cleaning the outside of a shell-dweller's shell, and just yesterday I caught another one inside the shell. I'm a bit concerned about the Sulawesi's trying to eat the fish eggs, but seeing as how they don't have a taste for the pest snails eggs, and shell-dwellers being notorious protective parents, I'm hoping it will be alright, not that I think I have eggs right now, I've only had the fish for a month.
Personally, I like the look of snails in a tank. You never know where you're going to see them in the tank, on the sides, on the floor, climbing up the plants, it's always a 'Where's Waldo?' situation. And because my Multi tank is so small, where I could only comfortably have the Multis and no other biotope fish, the snails are a good addition to clean up the leftover food, (as I've noticed that the multis don't go very far from their home turf for food.)
Anyways, that was probably WAY more info than you wanted, if so sorry.
I have two possibly three different varieties of the Sulawesi snail. In the Multi tank I have three long and large black coned snails (about two inches long), and then a smaller black snail which is about an inch long. In my shrimp tank I have two yellow coned snails maybe around an inch and a half long. The black coned snails, are pretty easy going, slow moving, slow eating, and they tend to 'hibernate' a lot, where they basically withdraw into their shell or just stay in one spot for a day or two. The yellow coned snails, are pretty much the exact opposite. They move around A LOT, they eat A LOT (which of course means they poop A LOT), and they also will eat any of your plants. However, both yellow and black Sulawesis are not to be relied on to keep the algae down. The pond pest snails are better at it than they are.
As for the Sulawesi's relationship with the Multis, everything seems fine for the time being. At first the Multis were quite territorial with the Sulawesis, pecking at them, and even trying to pick them up, successfully on at least one occasion, but now they must not see them as a threat too much. The snails are allowed to get closer and closer, last week one of them was cleaning the outside of a shell-dweller's shell, and just yesterday I caught another one inside the shell. I'm a bit concerned about the Sulawesi's trying to eat the fish eggs, but seeing as how they don't have a taste for the pest snails eggs, and shell-dwellers being notorious protective parents, I'm hoping it will be alright, not that I think I have eggs right now, I've only had the fish for a month.
Personally, I like the look of snails in a tank. You never know where you're going to see them in the tank, on the sides, on the floor, climbing up the plants, it's always a 'Where's Waldo?' situation. And because my Multi tank is so small, where I could only comfortably have the Multis and no other biotope fish, the snails are a good addition to clean up the leftover food, (as I've noticed that the multis don't go very far from their home turf for food.)
Anyways, that was probably WAY more info than you wanted, if so sorry.
Hi, thanks for the informative reply. Not at all way to much info. I could talk about peoples tanks all day. Be good if I could keep a couple of shrimp in with the multis when I actually get them, but think that would be a disaster, 
.. Today for the first time I found what I thought to be snail eggs , in the hood of the tank , about an inch and a half by half , pinkish and cryatalised and a hitchiker next to it...... 
Just gutted the tank tonight , all the plants were uprooted etc, an hour and a half to fix, cant wait till its a multi tank , no more plants ....
I could talk about peoples tanks all day. Be good if I could keep a couple of shrimp in with the multis when I actually get them, but think that would be a disaster, .. Today for the first time I found what I thought to be snail eggs , in the hood of the tank , about an inch and a half by half , pinkish and cryatalised and a hitchiker next to it...... Just gutted the tank tonight , all the plants were uprooted etc, an hour and a half to fix, cant wait till its a multi tank , no more plants ....
ashemely
Fish Fanatic
Those must have been the apple snail eggs, pond pest snail eggs are very tiny, the pond snails lay the eggs in the shape of a horse shoe and they definitely lay them below the water line. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that the apple snails lay their eggs above the water line. Either way, though, once you have babies, then there's always going to be babies.
As for the shrimp and the Multi's, I definitely have to agree with you their. I entertained the idea of adding a couple of my cherries to the Multi tank, but quickly ruled it out. I MAY add a shrimp, just because I've never read or heard of anyone, probably because it is such a dangerous idea, to add shrimp to a Multi tank. Once again not very natural when it comes to Lake Tang to add cherries, but I don't think the cherries will last anyway!
As for the shrimp and the Multi's, I definitely have to agree with you their. I entertained the idea of adding a couple of my cherries to the Multi tank, but quickly ruled it out. I MAY add a shrimp, just because I've never read or heard of anyone, probably because it is such a dangerous idea, to add shrimp to a Multi tank. Once again not very natural when it comes to Lake Tang to add cherries, but I don't think the cherries will last anyway!
Hi, maybe one of the bigger shrimp, who knows, picked up the coral sand today , and a very small baby bristlenose plec. sweet... 
I phoned a fish shop in Edinburgh today just on the off chance , asking him about Tanganyika stock , "yeah we get those cichlids regular , at the moment though we only have Neolamplorogus Multifasciatus , they are six quid each "....
Need to speed up the project a bit and get this sorted in the next few weeks , fingers crossed....
Wish I knew they were apple snail eggs, would have left them where they were , ah well maybe next time , in the bag with the plec was 3 MTS , always a bonus.....
, and a very small baby bristlenose plec. sweet... I phoned a fish shop in Edinburgh today just on the off chance , asking him about Tanganyika stock , "yeah we get those cichlids regular , at the moment though we only have Neolamplorogus Multifasciatus , they are six quid each "....
Need to speed up the project a bit and get this sorted in the next few weeks , fingers crossed.... Wish I knew they were apple snail eggs, would have left them where they were , ah well maybe next time , in the bag with the plec was 3 MTS , always a bonus.....
ashemely
Fish Fanatic
Six quid each?! Jiminy Crickets, that's so much better than what I paid for mine, yeah ten pounds each. They were being sold at twelve or thirteen, but because I bought a few of them, they gave me a slight discount. Depending on how much you want the fish NOW, you can always ask the shop if they can hold however many Multi's you want, until you get your tank set up. But if they get the fish in on a regular basis, then the reserve may not be necessary.
Grats on the baby pleco, btw.
Grats on the baby pleco, btw.
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