TGA Grooved apple snail - Lanistes lybicus

The beautiful Grooved Apple Sn ail or Lybian Apple Snail Lanistes lybicus from West Africa with its specially shaped house is not on the EU banned list. This makes the Fluted Apple Snail a good alternative to the Pomacea diffusa, which is unfortunately no longer allowed in the EU. In nature these apple snails like to live in small forest streams in the shade of larger trees. We recommend keeping a group of 3-5 snails in an aquarium with an edge length of 60 cm or more.

The house of the Lybian Apple Snail grows up to 5 cm and is beautifully sculpted. It can show all shades from red and brown to beige and is usually dark striped. The body of the attractive snail is light gray to medium gray. Lanistes lybicus can close the shell opening tightly with an operculum and is thus well protected from environmental influences. Unlike all other apple snails, the shell of Lanistes is left coiled, which means that the opening is on the left, not on the right. Nevertheless, their breathing sipho is on the left side. Because it is not a closed tube, but has a funnel shape, this apple snail has to lift its house partially above the water surface to breathe.

It cannot be excluded that this beautiful apple snail nibbles on aquatic plants - experience is still somewhat lacking here. However, with a rich vegetable supply and additional green feeding in the aquarium, the risk should be minimized. In addition, we recommend the use of rather robust aquarium plants such as Anubias, ferns or Cryptocorynes, which are less attractive to the snails due to their consistency and taste.

Lanistes lybicus is not a particularly lively snail. The aquarium should be arranged in such a way that the quite large shells cannot get stuck anywhere. Beside vegetables and green food, the Fluted Apple Snail also likes to eat some carrion in the form of frozen food - a certain amount of protein is very important for a stable, beautiful and colorful shell. The uppermost colorful layer of the snail shell consists of complex proteins.

Because large aquarium snails can extract a lot of lime from the water as they grow, they should be provided with a source of lime in the aquarium: ground cuttlebone, crushed eggshells etc. or NatureHolic Mineral Cubes are particularly suitable here. A corner with healing clay for rummaging around and mineral supplementation is also readily accepted. A regular water change once a week is very important for large aquarium snails with an active metabolism and should not be neglected.

The Fluted Apple Snail is separately sexual. After mating with the male, the female lays her eggs in gelatinous clumps underwater on plant leaves, especially the egg balls like to be attached to the underside of floating plants or to lily pads. So far nothing is known about breeding in the hobby, but this apple snail is also very new to aquaristics.

The legal apple snail Lanistes lybicus can be kept very well with peaceful, not too curious fish, with dwarf shrimps and also with other peaceful snails. Very curious fish that tug at their sipho or antennae can disturb the snail, which is somewhat shy at the site, so much that it will cover up and then possibly even starve to death sitting in the shell. Crayfish or crabs - as well as predatory snails - are also not suitable aquarium companions for the Fluted Apple Snail.

Our food recommendation: With the Natureholic Snail Feed Power Paste you create a feeding lawn, which is very well accepted by all aufwuchs feeding snails. Even delicate wild-caught snails such as racing snails or staghorn snails, which are stressed after transport and do not accept conventional food, can be fed up well with it.

Our plant recommendation: Use for planting NatureHolic InVitros. These are free of snails, planaria and other unwanted co-inhabitants. Also free of algae spores, bacteria and fungi.

Expert Tip: We recommend when keeping fish the NatureHolic 3 Phase Liquid. The care set offers the best all-round protection for your animals. It ensures optimal conditions for successful breeding and keeping.

Actively prevent outbreaks: With the invisible Natureholic snail barrier you prevent the escape and loss of your snails from the aquarium.