Name: Ốc Sula Black Tominanga - Rabbit Snail - Tép Sulawesi
Brand: Jack Shrimp

Sulawesi Snail · Tominanga River (Malili)

Tylomelania cf. tominangensis

Black Tominanga Rabbit Snail

A jet-black rabbit snail named after a real river: the Tominanga, the channel running from Lake Mahalona into Lake Towuti in the Malili system. The species name carries a 'cf.' — the match is convincing, but nobody has confirmed it.

Tominanga River, MaliliIdentification uncertainJet-black body and shell

A rabbit snail is not a cleaning crew — it's a collector's animal, and it has to be kept like one.

— Jack Shrimp Farm

ORIGIN

A river, not a lake

The Malili system is not only lakes. It holds five — Matano, Mahalona, Towuti, Lontoa and Masapi — plus the three rivers that connect them: the Petea, the Tominanga and the Larona. The Tominanga is the stretch flowing from Mahalona into Towuti, and Tylomelania tominangensis Kruimel, 1913 was described from exactly there; it also occurs in Lake Lontoa. The trade name almost certainly points at that locality. But no source confirms the animal in the tank is that species, so we print 'cf.' rather than a bare binomial.

IDENTIFICATION

Identifying the Black Tominanga

🐌Black shell, black bodyDark brown to black elongate shell with many whorls; head and foot are equally dark, with no bright speckling to speak of.

🗺️River stock, not lake stockThe Tominanga connects Lake Mahalona to Lake Towuti — flowing water, not the still lake bed most other rabbit snails come from.

❓Why we write 'cf.''cf.' means comparable to tominangensis but not confirmed as it. We do not sell you a species name we have not been able to verify.

🐟A name that collidesSearching 'Tominanga' turns up a genus of Malili ricefish, not snails. Do not use those results to describe this animal.

WATER

Ideal keeping conditions

26–30°

Temp C

7.5–8.5

100–200

TDS ppm

6–12

3–8

The Sulawesi lakes are hot and alkaline but genuinely SOFT — Matano measures 28.7°C, pH 8.5, GH 7, KH 5 and around 87 ppm TDS. So do not chase a very high GH: a stable alkaline pH and enough KH to buffer it are what matter. Stability still beats perfect numbers.

SHELL

KH is what keeps the shell intact. An eroded apex is completely normal on a wild-caught adult — the warning sign is fresh erosion or pitting at the NEW growth near the aperture, which means KH and minerals in the tank are dropping.

SPECIES DATA

Black Tominanga data

Species data

Scientific name: Tylomelania cf. tominangensis
Identification confidence: Probable, not confirmed
Origin: Tominanga River & Lake Lontoa, Malili
Adult size: 4–7 (estimate)cm
Size at birth: 6.8–8.5mm
Embryos per brood: 1–4

Wild species — natural profile

A wild-caught animal from the Malili lake system in South Sulawesi. The profile below is what we could verify about tominangensis — and we mark clearly which parts are solid and which are not.

Origin: The Tominanga River between Lake Mahalona and Lake Towuti, and Lake Lontoa (Wawontoa), both in the Malili system, South Sulawesi. That is the species' original 1913 description locality.

Natural habitat: Warm, alkaline but mineral-poor water, the same signature as the Malili lakes. The snails work the bottom and any hard submerged surface carrying a mature biofilm.

Behaviour & diet: Slow crawler, rasping biofilm and detritus from rock, wood and sediment. A slow feeder too — in a busy community tank the food is gone before it arrives.

Conservation: 16 of the 28 Malili Tylomelania are Critically Endangered; nickel mining and sedimentation are the main pressures. Essentially all trade stock is wild-caught.

Keeping note: The species lives in both the river and Lake Lontoa, so it is not fussy about flow. Fine sand with some rock and driftwood is plenty; holding KH steady matters far more.

BREEDING & SHELL

Why rabbit snails stay rare

🍼Live-bearing, not egg-layingMales and females are separate animals; the female broods in a uterine pouch and releases one fully-shelled crawl-away juvenile.

1️⃣One baby at a timeAbout one juvenile per female every 4–6 weeks (broods hold 1–7). This is exactly why rabbit snails stay rare and expensive.

🐢Very slow growthRoughly a year and about 4 cm to reach maturity. Lifespan 1–3 years, with records up to 5.

🐚Shell & mineralsHold KH 3–8 and feed enough calcium. An eroded apex is normal; erosion on new shell growth is the alarm.

HYBRIDISATION

Different Tylomelania species DO hybridise in aquaria. If you want to keep a line pure for breeding, keep one species per tank. Mixed-species tanks are for display only.

FOOD & SET-UP

The matching set-up

COMMON MISTAKE

Rabbit snails are NOT an algae crew. They graze biofilm and detritus, they will not clear a nuisance-algae problem, and they must be fed. Keeping them 'to clean the tank' is the single most common reason they quietly starve over a few months.

FEEDING

Omnivorous, mostly biofilm, detritus and blanched vegetables. Add White Powder + Yellow Powder 2–3 times a week, plus blanched pumpkin or cucumber for growth. A Sula Sand substrate holds the alkaline pH long-term and gives the soft-sediment species somewhere to plough for detritus.