What are freshwater snail shells made of?
Most of the shell material in snails is composed of calcium carbonate but the organic shell matrix determines the properties of calcium carbonate crystals.
What shells are in Lake Tanganyika?
In Tanganyika, the choice of shell is really only the one: Neothauma tanganyicense. At 6cm/2.4in, this is the largest gastropod in the lake, and the only species in the genus.
What kind of shells for shell dwellers?
Common shells used for shell dwellers include authentic Neothauma shells, ocean turbo shells, escargot shells, whale eye shells, and Ampullariidae-family shells.
Can you keep snails with shell dwellers?
If your aquarium is large and spacious, with 200 or more litres, the answer is simple: you can have other small shells or rock dwellers, like Neolamprologus brichardi or the smaller and more peaceful species of Julidochromis. As for snails, they can be a great purchase to help maintain the aquarium.
Why do I find empty snail shells?
If not killed and eaten by a predator, they are usually eaten by ants or just dry and shrivel up in their shell after dying. If you saw a whole bunch of empty shells in one area, it’s probably due to the recent rains washing them out from beneath the shrubs.
Are freshwater snails poisonous?
Freshwater snails Step into the water to bathe or wash your clothes, and those larvae can penetrate your skin by degrading its proteins. They won’t leave a wound. But they will leave you with a terrible illness called bilharzia or schistosomiasis.
What fish can live with shell dwellers?
While they can’t be kept with other bottom-dwelling species such as catfish or loaches, shell dwellers get along fine with species that stay at the surface far away from their precious shells. Small livebearers such as Endler guppies or platinum halfbeaks for example would make ideal companions.
Do shell dwellers need sand?
Shell-dwellers prefer to have a fine sand bed to hold their shells stable and so they can dig around the shells.
How many shells shell dwellers?
Also, they should have about 2-6 shells per fish, so they can choose which ones they want. You can use Apple snail, mystery snails, escargot, or practically any other type of shell you want, or also PVC elbows with caps can work fine too.
How many shell dwellers are in a 40 gallon tank?
Personally I keep them as the only species in a 40 gallon breeder. The large surface area provides space for about 60 shells.
Can a snail live without a shell?
Sadly more often than not the outcome is not good. Snails can usually only repair minor damage to their shells, the comforting tale that snails can ‘move’ to a spare empty shell is just a myth.
What kind of animals live in a Neothauma shell?
The shells of dead Neothauma tanganyicense often form carpets over large areas, and are used by a number of other animals, such as cichlid fish (shell dwellers), and freshwater crabs of the genus Platythelphusa. Juvenile snails live in the sediment in order to avoid predators.
What kind of snail live in a shell?
Shell of the Neothauma tanganyicense snail. Photo from http://www.conchology.be/. I have kept two shell dwelling species of Tanganyikans – Telmatochromis vittatus and Neolamprolgus ocellatus. However, I experienced other dwarf cichlids that will seek shelter in shells, specifically Altolamprologus calvus.
What kind of shell does a cichlid use?
It’s widely accepted that the shell of the Neothauma tanganyicense snail (pictured below), the largest gastropod in the lake, is preferred by most of the resident shell dwelling cichlids. It makes sense that these shells, which aren’t very large at their maximum size, would be the shell of choice. They’re large enough and abundant.
Where is the largest freshwater snail in the world found?
This freshwater snail is only found in Lake Tanganyika, where it is the largest gastropod, and occurs in all four of the bordering countries — Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and Zambia — although fossil shells have been discovered at Lake Edward and in the Lake Albert basin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVNllt_2BiE