Name: Ốc Sula Blue Berry - Rabbit Snail - Tép Sulawesi
Brand: Jack Shrimp

Sulawesi Snail · Lake unconfirmed

Tylomelania sp. "Blue"

Blue Berry Rabbit Snail

This is the most confusing label in the whole rabbit snail trade. Some European shops sell a 'Blue Berry Snail' that is a Viviparus species — a completely different family. What Jack Shrimp sells is a genuine Sulawesi Tylomelania, slate blue-grey, and still undescribed.

A Sulawesi TylomelaniaLake of origin unconfirmedSlate blue-grey body

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

Lake unconfirmed — and mind the name

No described Tylomelania corresponds to the name 'Blue Berry'. The Sulawesi Keepers conservation project does list an undescribed blue morph from Lake Poso, catalogued as 'Poso 5 – Blue', and that is the only credible candidate — but we have no evidence our shipment is that morph, so we leave the lake field empty. The 'T. gemmifera' label pasted onto this animal by many retail pages is simply wrong: gemmifera is a Lake Matano endemic and therefore cannot be a Poso snail.

IDENTIFICATION

Identifying the Blue Berry

⚠️Not the Viviparus oneSome European shops sell a 'Blue Berry Snail' that is a Viviparus, family Viviparidae — a different animal entirely. Ours is a Sulawesi Tylomelania.

🔵Slate blue-grey bodyThe body runs blue-grey to slate. Any description claiming it is 'densely covered in bright yellow dots' has been copied from another listing, not this animal.

🐚Elongate golden-brown shellAn elongate shell, brown to golden-brown in the trade description. An eroded apex on an adult is completely normal, not a defect.

📏The 5–8 cm claim is unverifiedThe 5–8 cm figure comes from shop listings and we could not verify it. Typical trade rabbit snails sit in the 3–6 cm range.

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

Blue Berry data

Species data

Scientific name: Tylomelania sp. "Blue"
Identification confidence: Not identified to species
Origin: Sulawesi, lake of origin unconfirmed
Closest candidate: Undescribed 'Poso 5 – Blue' morph
Adult size: 5–8 (unverified)cm
Body colour: Blue-grey to slate

Wild species — natural profile

A wild-caught Sulawesi snail. The honest position on this one is that nobody has identified it to species — not the exporter, not us, and not the shop you compare us with.

Origin: Sulawesi, Indonesia. If this really is a blue Tylomelania then Lake Poso is the most plausible source, per the Sulawesi Keepers catalogue. We are not claiming it as fact.

Natural habitat: The Sulawesi ancient lakes are warm, alkaline and mineral-poor. The genus splits into hard-substrate grazers and soft-sediment ploughers; which group this form belongs to is unknown.

Behaviour & diet: Grazes biofilm and detritus off surfaces. A slow crawler and a slow feeder — in a busy tank, sinking food is usually cleared before the snail reaches it.

Conservation: Tylomelania occurs only on Sulawesi and 16 of the 28 Malili species are Critically Endangered. Stock is essentially always wild-caught, so keeping them long-term matters.

Keeping note: Since we do not know whether it grazes rock or ploughs sediment, provide both: a patch of fine sand to work through, plus rock and driftwood carrying a mature biofilm.

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.