Rabbit snails?

[Sounguru]

Mine don't seem to eat plants. It could be just a species or starvation thing.

They're also livebearers.

Not true they lay an egg but it hatches within minutes of being laid.

http://www.allesumdieschneck.de/html/tylomelania_english.html

As far as eating plants all rabbits I have seen seem to be lawnmowers, but this may not be true of all of the tylomelania's, and there are a couple types of called rabbits. Spotted Rabbits, Gold Spot Rabbits, Yellow Rabbits just to name a few of the common names. So what you get maybe called a rabbit by one group of people and something different by another it is a real pain. Plus no telling if the distributer/LFS even have the correct name on the snail.

There are a few threads of these guys over on Arizona Inverts about a couple of species and their plant eating habits....

 

[Arakkis]

like this?

I've got some yellow and jokers too but I haven't had the time to photograph them yet

 

[vampie]

I've always been led to believe the babies are developed in somewhat of a yolk sac inside the mother's bodies, and released after a certain frame of time, with the occasional odd one not being out of the sac by the time the mother releases it.

I believe "Rabbit Snail" is a common name given to the entire genus of Tylomelania, with each species (or variety?) getting a prefix. The ones I have are commonly known as Black Rabbit and Gold Spotted Rabbit, either one seems to eat plants.

 

[Arakkis]

I've dissected a few to see how they develop (Yes they were newly dead, not by my hand), and yes they have huge eggs inside which hatch just after being laid. I have pics of the eggs if I get around to it

 

[Sounguru]

Well from all I have seen and read it is an egg and hatches within minutes of being laid....

Most of the reliable sites I have found agree with that also... There is a lot of misinformation floating around on these, assassin snails, and the shrimp all from the same area but it is slowly getting cleared up by disscussions such as this and by observations of dedicated keepers.

Southerndessert has had a few types of these and they have mowed his tanks like a pit bull pleco on an alage covered rock:eek3:... He lost all his dwarf chain swords and vals if I remember correctly...

You maybe right on the Rabbit Snail moniker though that one seems to be the case....:thm:

 

[Bettacreek]

****. I wish I realised that these were freshwater snails much sooner. I thought they were all saltwater... lol.

 

[Lupin]

I don't have any snails except for I guess a healthy pop'n of the wee pond ones. how do I know if I have enough calcium?

If you notice the shells are getting thinner and some parts eroding, then this could signal the calcium levels are very low but this is not apparent with pond snails at all. What are your pH and hardness levels? You want your pH no lower than 7.0. The higher, the better. Acidic water tends to erode the shells.

We provide calcium to our snails by feeding them calcium pills and/or calcium rich foods such as collard greens. Cuttlefish bones and eggshells are also provided. The inner membrane of the eggshells must be removed before dropping to the tank. You could put crushed corals or oyster shells in your filter if your tank water is soft. Baking soda is another way. My routine simply involves putting eggshells and then feeding them veggies, snail jello (all recipes found in msjinkzd's sticky thread) and calcium pills. Tums or Caltrate will work. You could try Caltrate with Vitamin D added but I don't use it as often as I would have with one not containing Vitamin D in which case Tums is simply the alternative. Problem with Vitamin D is while it does enhance calcium absorption, it could be toxic to the snails so I'm not risking that. Our human body can handle only 50 micrograms of Vitamin D and more than that is already toxic. This could probably happen to snails as well.

 

[rinmouse]

Thanks for all the info... I just might have to go back and have a look at them

 

[vampie]

Well from all I have seen and read it is an egg and hatches within minutes of being laid....

Most of the reliable sites I have found agree with that also... There is a lot of misinformation floating around on these, assassin snails, and the shrimp all from the same area but it is slowly getting cleared up by disscussions such as this and by observations of dedicated keepers.

Well, it'd certainly explain why they would be mistaken as livebearers.

Southerndessert has had a few types of these and they have mowed his tanks like a pit bull pleco on an alage covered rock:eek3:... He lost all his dwarf chain swords and vals if I remember correctly...

It could still be a species or starvation thing, or perhaps just that they only eat certain plants?

 

[Sounguru]

Well, it'd certainly explain why they would be mistaken as livebearers.



It could still be a species or starvation thing, or perhaps just that they only eat certain plants?

True that on both accounts..... I'm hoping to run several thru their paces like I have on the assassins here soon.