About the species

Elephant Snail Yellow Spotted has a black body dotted with golden-yellow spots and often yellow tentacles — a pattern rather like a starry sky. The shell is dark and heavily sculptured and can reach around 8 cm. It is calm, slow and entirely peaceful towards both shrimp and fish.

Facts

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

Behavior

Elephant Snail Yellow Spotted 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 Yellow Spotted 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

This is the rabbit snail we recommend for planted aquariums: unlike the yellow sortings it does not attack healthy plants. Give it warm, alkaline water plus sand or fine gravel, and avoid narrow crevices in the hardscape — the species cannot crawl backwards.