Thiara amarula aka Spiky Marsh Snail

[NoGi]

I had bought 10 of these originally but only 2 have survived. These are great for turning my iron sand over as they bury down during the brighter hours of the day. Anyone know what they like to eat?

[Baccus]

Bob, might be the best one to answer, but I suspect that they feed on micro organisms and algaes hidden in mud that they live in. I suspect for many of our natives the mulm that most people religiously remove is what our natives need and thrive on.

[NoGi]

Good thing I don't plan on cleaning the sand then lol

[fishmosy]

Mine are doing well in a bare tank competing with my shrimp in my 'cull' tank. In fact they were the only snails to compete against the shrimp. The big red rams-horns and the little rams-horns snails didn't last long when shrimp densities increase. They will happily eat anything shrimp will including commercial pellets, spinach leaves, mulberry leaves, ect. I feed mine occasionally with zucchini. They are good burrowers but are also strong as adults. mine push a palm sized rock around in the tank - its never in the place I want it to be!

Bob keeps his in the same way that I do.

Another nifty thing about these snails is that they produce planktonic young, so they will never over-populate the aquarium unlike MTS or similar live-bearers.

@NoGi Has the foot always been yellow? Or is it just the light? Have you been feeding some colour enhancing foods in that tank?

[NoGi]

Foot? You mean the colour of the snail? Not sure, I've only just been able to take some photos. I had originally thought that I lost all of them until late one night I saw 2.

[fishmosy]

Yeah the soft part of the snail - mouth, antennae, ect. . The foot is technically the bit it hangs onto the glass with, but that makes up most of the external soft parts of the snail.

[Grubs]

I read they can get to 50mm - how big are yours fellas?  Mine are only 10-15mm

[NoGi]

Around 3-4cm and just found a smaller one.

 

[fishmosy]

10 hours ago, Grubs said:

I read they can get to 50mm - how big are yours fellas?  Mine are only 10-15mm

Mine are pretty much full grown, they would be close to 5cm but their shells are a bit eroded.

Edited December 3, 2015 by fishmosy

[NoGi]

[Baccus]

I do like these snails, but than I am a fan of almost any snail that is not a common Ramshorn, pond/ bladder snail or arghhh MTS.

[NoGi]

I love taking photos of these. By far one of the more interesting native snails I've had.

[KeenShrimp]

Wow Nogi, now that there is a shrimp in the pic, the snails look huge! They look awesome :)

[KiwiBigD]

These are a great snail, just not ideal as we found out for keeping in an acidic tank, that's one thing they don't like.

We also found them to be extremely active at night, great for turning over the soil and shrimp will follow them as they disturb the soil, really cool to watch.

[NoGi]

Yeah they are fun to watch. I managed to grab a bit on video but average quality.

 

[waffle]

These are the coolest snails and your photos are amazing @NoGi. Where'd you get these guys?

[NoGi]

Thanks, these were from @Liverpool Creek