Gold Rabbit Snail

General information

Gold rabbit snails also are known as elephant snail or rabbit snail comes from Indonesia and very rare in the United States. Its name come from its appearance. Gold rabbit snail has a bunny “face,” with an elongated head, drooping yellow antennae “ears,” and a long, downturned mouth. Gold Rabbit Snails possess bodies with a luminous and sunny yellow coloration, and their shells are black or very dark brown and sometimes feature a white crown. In addition to the bright attractive color of the Gold Rabbit Snail, they are a fascinating creature to watch. They are always in action mood in the aquarium. With its appearance, gigantic size and behavior, they are one of the most attracted species of its kind.

Their shells are long and spiral-shaped and taper toward a point at the end, which makes the shell resemble unicorn’s horn in shape.  These snails seem curious by nature, and each snail uses its elongated, muscular “foot” to pull itself around on the glass and aquarium decor. A Rabbit Snail shell looks similar to the cone-shaped shells of Trumpet Snail and Assassin Snails. And Rabbit Snails have a small operculum used for defense, but unlike a Japanese Trap Door Snail, it covers only a portion of their aperture.

A Rabbit Snail is a good scavenger, a ferocious eater and they seem very interested in eating some forms of soft algae growing on hard surfaces. Rabbit Snails also seem to be interested in eating decaying plant matter that has fallen to the bottom of the tank. But their diet should not be limited to the naturally occurring foods in a tank. A Rabbit Snail should also be offered food supplements, especially those rich in Calcium. Hobbyists can try things like bottom feeder pellets, algae wafers, and fish flakes for starters. Other food sources can be blanched green leafy vegetables such as lettuce, cucumber, and spinach, as well as blanched green zucchini.

All snails do better when calcium is part of their diet so make sure yours have access to this in the form of a supplement, food or treatment.

They eat a lot so make sure you feed them often to keep them well-fed and happy. As said earlier, they exhibit scavenger-like behavior, so you can expect them to run around the tank looking for leftover food but cannot thrive simply on a diet of left-overs. They need to be offered a healthy, balanced diet.

Since they eat plants, they might eat your live plants inside the aquarium. Make sure your decor plants are strong and durable, so these pesky little snails don’t mess with them. Hobbyist often reports that Rabbit Snails are interesting in eating Java Ferns. But other than Java Ferns, keeping Rabbit Snails well fed on a balanced diet of green leafy supplements, as well as keeping them with plants like Anubias with strong, durable leaves, plants should be relatively safe.

It is not uncommon for Rabbit Snail breeding to occur in freshwater tanks provided conditions are right. The good news is that Rabbit Snail breeding happens slowly Compared to most of the other snail species who lay a ton of eggs and crowd the space – rabbit snails are quite slow breeders. A Rabbit Snail produces one offspring at a time, so the tank does not get overrun like with many other snails.

Female rabbit snails usually carry around 1 to 3 eggs and will slowly release them one by one. After breeding, you may notice a creamy white trail behind the females, and soon enough eggs will also appear. Inside the eggs, there are already fully formed, young rabbit snails waiting to pop out and when they do – you can expect them to quickly roam around looking for food, truly living up to their reputation. One of the nice things to observe about a baby Rabbit Snail is how flawless its shell appears. No pit marks or scuffs, just a well-formed whorl from apex to the aperture.

They come from freshwater lakes of Sulawesi, Indonesia.

It is important to keep Ammonia and Nitrite levels at 0 ppm, and Nitrate levels in check as well. As with other freshwater snails, be careful with medications and plant fertilizers, as snails may be sensitive to them. And this is especially true with Copper. Copper can be harmful or fatal to Rabbit Snails. Many commercial fish foods, medications, and plant fertilizers contain copper or more commonly copper sulfate. Always look at the ingredient list for any product going into the aquarium to ensure they are copper free.

It is a good idea to keep tanks covered to the extent possible. Although a Rabbit Snail may not be the escape artist as Mystery Snail is, it is possible they can make their way out of the tank, become injured and die.