Name: Ốc Sula Đốm Vàng Golden Spot - Golden Spot Rabbit Snail - Tép Sulawesi
Brand: Jack Shrimp

Sulawesi Snail · Lake unconfirmed

Tylomelania sp. "Golden Spot"

Golden Spot Rabbit Snail

A dark body densely covered in golden-yellow spots under a long dark brown-black shell, sometimes lightly banded. The snail is genuinely handsome, but the name 'Golden Spot' is applied to two different animals — so we do not name a lake we cannot verify.

Dense golden spottingLake unconfirmedAmbiguous trade name

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

One name, two different snails

'Golden Spot' covers at least two animals: the gold-spotted snail of Lake Towuti in the Malili system, and the yellow-spotted snail of Lake Poso — that is, the Yellow Spotted Poso listed above. The two lakes are some 400 km apart and share no species, so a label reading 'gold-spotted Poso snail — Tylomelania towutensis' contradicts itself: towutensis is named after Lake Towuti, and so is towutica. We therefore state it plainly: lake of origin unconfirmed, unless the supplier can say where the shipment came from.

IDENTIFICATION

Identifying the Golden Spot

🟡Dense golden spottingThe near-black body carries golden spots more densely and evenly than the Yellow Spotted Poso. Spot density is the clearest way to tell the two apart.

🐚Long shell, faint bandingElongate, dark brown to black, occasionally with lighter spiral banding. On imported adults the apex is almost always eroded back.

📏Around 5–8 cmIf your batch is the Towuti animal it is one of the larger rabbit snails at 5–8 cm fully extended. The Poso form runs slightly smaller than that.

❓Ask your supplierThe only way to know which animal you have is to ask the importer which lake the shipment came from. If they cannot answer, any lake name is guesswork.

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

Golden Spot data sheet

Species data

Scientific name: Tylomelania sp. "Golden Spot"
Identification confidence: Ambiguous trade name
Origin: Sulawesi, lake unconfirmed
Two possibilities: Towuti form or Poso form
Adult size: 5–8cm
Preferred substrate: Rock, wood and fine sand

Wild species — natural profile

Until the source lake is known, anything said about habitat is only true at genus level. What follows is what holds for both of the possible origins of this animal.

Origin: Sulawesi, Indonesia — lake unconfirmed. The candidates are Lake Towuti in the Malili system or Lake Poso; those are separate radiations that share no species at all.

Natural habitat: Both lakes are ancient, with rock, submerged wood and sand flats. Rabbit snails divide into hard- and soft-substrate specialists, so offer both surface types in the tank.

Behaviour & diet: It grazes biofilm, attached algae and detritus from stone, timber or the sand surface. Radula shape decides which substrate a given form can actually feed on.

Conservation: Wild-caught. If yours is the Towuti animal it comes from the Malili system, where 16 of 28 species are already Critically Endangered from nickel mining and sedimentation.

Keeping note: Because the origin is open, give it both options: a rock and wood zone with mature biofilm plus an area of fine sand, and let the snail choose where to feed.

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.