PECULIARITIES IN THE CARE OF TILOMELANIUM AQUARIUM SNAILS

Many people want to make their aquariums more interesting by adding new exotic inhabitants. Beautiful and unusual molluscs can add variety to aquariums that are inhabited only by fish. Thylomelanias are one of these unusual snails that help bring some zest into the aquarium.
General information
These unusual creatures live in fresh water, but the difficulty in keeping them can be an unusual size of individuals: some species-giants can reach a length of 12 cm, however, there are species and not exceeding 2 cm. In good conditions, snails live up to 5-7 years.
These snails attract aquarists primarily because of their unusual appearance and bright coloring.
Thylomelanias look different. Their colors can be black and bright orange, shells can be smooth or have fancy reliefs, roughness, thorns. Very often there are spots on the shells. The clam leg is also quite unusual, it can be bright yellow, orange, lettuce and even spotted. Their mouth looks like a trunk, the eyes are at the base of the tentacles.
Unusual behavior is another reason to get a tylomelania. Watching them is very interesting. For example, right after they are settled into a new aquarium, they will try to tactilely interact with all of its inhabitants in some way.
At one snail requires 10-15 liters, which must be taken into account when settling the snails in the aquarium. To create an ideal habitat for tylomelanii, you need sandy soil and a few stones on top. Most importantly, snails should not be introduced into tanks with soft algae (pistia, cryptocorina, etc.), as they will immediately be eaten by them.
Aquarium conditions
The temperature in the aquarium should not fall below 27-30 degrees Celsius. There should also be a powerful filter in the aquarium to provide both good filtration and aeration. Snails like clean and oxygen-rich water. Also, tylomelanii will not live in hard or acidic water.
Subplant these creatures in aquariums with abundant vegetation is not recommended, because the mollusks do not like strong light, which is required for good growth of plants, because tylomelanii - nocturnal animals. Accordingly, and observe them best at night with subdued lighting. This can also be done by purchasing special lamps with night light or by growing plants that float on the water surface, such as seaweed.
It is also very important that preparations with copper may not be used in aquariums with snails, because it is detrimental to all invertebrates, particularly molluscs.
Who to re-home
The best solution would be to move tylomelaniums into an aquarium with similar clams or other tylomelaniums, to avoid conflicts with its inhabitants or lack of food. Life in such an aquarium will be most comfortable for them, however, they can be moved into the general aquariums. You can add snails to small heat-loving fish, such as tetras, neons, small catfish. They can also be introduced to some mollusks or shrimp from their homeland - the island of Sulawesi (Cardinal shrimp). Tilomelanii will definitely not get along with large fish.
Many species of aquarium snails may well be fed by the same food that feeds the fish or its remnants, settled on the bottom, however, tylomelaniya such amount of food will not be enough. They eat a lot and often, and feed them at least twice a day. Of course, they are not picky in the food itself, which already simplifies the task. However, it should be borne in mind that in their diet must be present plant food, otherwise tylomelaniya can start to eat aquarium plants.