Name: Ốc Sula Chocolate - Chocolate Striped Rabbit Snail - Tép Sulawesi
Brand: Jack Shrimp

Sulawesi Snail · Likely riverine

Tylomelania sp. "Chocolate"

Chocolate Rabbit Snail

An evenly milk-brown body under a sandy brown shell wrapped in darker spiral bands — a quiet, good-looking snail and the cheapest, most consistently available rabbit snail there is. The trade-off is that its origin is the murkiest on this list.

Even chocolate bodyLikely a river speciesNot identified to species

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

Probably a river snail, not a lake snail

The trade offers two names for this animal and neither can be verified. 'Tylomelania zemis' simply does not exist: it is a long-running misspelling of T. zeamais, a Lake Matano endemic with a shell of only about 29 mm, far smaller than the animal sold as Chocolate. The other name, T. perfecta, is a real and widespread riverine species of south, south-east and central Sulawesi — plausible for a cheap, always-available import, but we found no authority confirming it.

IDENTIFICATION

Identifying the Chocolate

🤎Even chocolate bodyHead, foot and tentacles are one uniform milk-to-chocolate brown, sometimes with the faintest paler flecking. No dots, no spots, no strong contrast.

🐚Sandy shell with bandingElongate, sandy to mid-brown, usually wrapped in darker spiral bands — which is where the alternative name 'Chocolate Striped' comes from.

📏Around 4–7 cmMid-sized for a rabbit snail at roughly 4–7 cm with the animal fully extended. It is not one of the giants like the White Dot.

🌊May prefer some flowIf it really is a river form it will favour moving water and plenty of wood over a still tank. Aim a gentle current across the rock and wood zone.

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

Chocolate data sheet

Species data

Scientific name: Tylomelania sp. "Chocolate"
Identification confidence: Not identified to species
Origin: Sulawesi, most likely riverine
Name wrongly applied: "T. zemis" — an invalid name
Adult size: 4–7cm
Preferred substrate: Wood, rock and fine sand

Wild species — natural profile

Tylomelania is not confined to the two ancient lake systems: nine riverine species are described and at least as many remain unnamed, living in rivers and streams across almost all of Sulawesi except the north.

Origin: Sulawesi, Indonesia — most likely a river or stream population rather than an ancient lake. The inference rests on Chocolate being permanently cheap and permanently available.

Natural habitat: Sulawesi rivers and streams below about 700 m, with rock, waterlogged wood and sand. River forms are generally used to more water movement than the ancient-lake species.

Behaviour & diet: It grazes biofilm, attached algae and detritus. A slow feeder that will not touch a nuisance-algae problem and needs regular supplementary feeding rather than neglect.

Conservation: Wild-caught, like almost all rabbit snails. Riverine species tend to have wider ranges than lake endemics, but still face pollution and altered river flow across Sulawesi.

Keeping note: Give it wood, rock and a little current. Since the origin is unresolved, keep it on the general Sulawesi targets and watch where in the tank the snail chooses to settle.

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.