About the species

Elephant Snail Gold has a warm golden to orange-yellow body without spots, giving a calmer and more uniform look than the spotted sortings. The shell is dark and heavily sculptured and can reach around 7 cm. It moves slowly and methodically across the bottom, most active at dusk.

Facts

• Latin name: Tylomelania sp. "Gold"
• Common name: Elephant Snail Gold
• Size: 4–8 cm
• Lifespan: Up to 5 years

Behavior

Elephant Snail Gold is a slow, peaceful snail from Sulawesi, named in Swedish after its wrinkled, trunk-like snout. It is most active at dusk and suits shrimp and peaceful warm-water fish. Important: it cannot crawl backwards or turn around in a tight gap, so avoid narrow crevices in the hardscape.

Reproduction

• The species is livebearing with separate sexes — keep several individuals
• The female releases one single large juvenile at a time, roughly every 1–3 months
• Reproduction is so slow that the species can never become a plague

Feeding

Elephant Snail Gold is an omnivore leaning towards plant material and feeds on:

• Biofilm and aufwuchs
• Decaying plant material and leaves
• Leftover food and detritus

Feed regularly — well-fed animals bother the plants less:

• Sinking food tablets for snails
• Blanched courgette, spinach or carrot
• Catappa leaves and a mineral supplement for the shell

Aquarium

• Minimum aquarium size: 54 litres
• Substrate: Sand or fine rounded gravel

Difficulty level

🟡 Moderate

Recommendation

Gold and Yellow are the same Poso sorting and share the same trait: they may graze healthy, soft-leaved plants. Count on that if you have a densely planted aquarium, and feed generously with sinking food and vegetables to reduce grazing on the plants.