Melania-snail, who is she? Conditions for keeping snails

Melanie can be found in every second aquarium, but people are so used to them that special attention is not attracted to such residents. As has been noticed by specialists, no one is engaged in the cultivation of snails of this genus. However, melaniya snail takes little care of this, it lives well in aquariums and does not intend to change anything in the habitat. Protecting your aquarium from such a living being is almost impossible. Yes, this is not the point, they are beautiful in the role of live drainage in the aquarium environment, and there is no harm from such snails. Aquarium snails melania in another way is called sandy.

The main conditions of a snail's melanie habitat

There is a clam almost in the whole territory of Africa, Asia and Australia, however this geography of distribution of these snails is not limited. As a rule, melanija-snail settles in an ordinary pond at a depth of 1 meter, but there are also known cases when the settlement of such snails was at a depth of 3-4 meters. For themselves, these creatures make a soft bed, which includes sand, mud and clay deposits. It is in such habitat conditions you can find huge settlements. On plantations with an increased dose of feed, you can easily find about 35 thousand mollusks.

It feeds melaniya-snail mainly in inferior algae, organic, which is half destroyed. In a word, these snails can be called detritophages. Getting food for them is not difficult, because due to the fact that the soil is loose enough, they move along the bottom of the reservoir and sink deep into its thickness.

Breathing melania with the gills, so they just need dissolved oxygen in the water. And reproduction requires special attention, this occurs in the process of live birth.

Varieties of snails

The literature on aquaria shows that there is only one type of melanium - Melanoides tuberculata. However, this opinion is erroneous, since in fact, this genus is characterized by two more species, namely Melanoides granifera and Melanoides riqueti. Snails of the first species inhabit small rivers and streams of Malaysia, and snails of the second species are found in fresh Singaporean waters.

In addition to these species, melanion snail Melanoides turricula is also known, but at the moment scientists come to the conclusion that this is just a subspecies of Melanoides tuberculata.

Despite its diversity, all melanions have a conical shell. The shellfish can easily close the mouth of the shell with a lime cap. It is this lid that helps maintain the microclimate necessary for the mollusk and a favorable outcome when exposed to harmful environmental factors. But it is worth noting that melanions are quite tenacious and can withstand sufficiently high temperatures and high salinity of water.

Characteristics of Melanoides tuberculata

Owners of aquariums are more familiar with Melanoides tuberculata. Melanie snails in the aquarium settled long ago. How they get inside, still remains a mystery to many. The most important version is the transfer of these creatures with plants and animals brought from other countries. It is almost impossible to stop such relocation, as newly born snails are so small that it is difficult to consider them even in a magnifying glass.

In its structure, the shell of this species of snails is elongated, its length reaches 35 mm, and the width - 7 mm. The characteristic color for the cochlea is gray, mixed with a variety of shades of olive, green and brown.

The curls in the mouth of the spiral differ in special contrast, they are more saturated color. Here you can see the bright maroon strokes, which are individual for each mollusc. Such snails are rarely found on the surface, more often they live in the ground.

The difference between Melanoides tuberculata from Melanoides granifera

Melanoides granifera - this is another kind of beautiful aquarium creatures. As a rule, these snails differ from their relatives in greater attractiveness. Their color includes brown and gray tones, which stands out well against the background of other snails.

Snails of this species like a warmer habitat, whimsical in choosing a habitat, but can live without it at all. Most often this species is found in the sand, because due to the large diameter of the shell in the other soil, the snails are difficult to advance. These snails are not timid and spend enough time on the surface, they can often be seen on rocks and snags. Also these snails are very sluggish, which is expressed both in reproduction, in movement, and even in adaptation.