Zebra Nerite Snail (Neritina Natalensis Sp. Zebra)

Zebra Nerite Snail, Natalensis Nerite Snail, Tiger Nerite Snail

Occurrence

In natural conditions, this snail inhabits fast-flowing mountain streams, rainforest-covered streams, brackish river estuaries, river deltas in Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa as well as Somalia. It is a freshwater species.

Outer Appearance

There are many species of these mollusks similar to each other, which are not easy to distinguish and come from various environments: freshwater, brackish water and completely saline. Therefore, it seems so important to correctly identify the species. It often happens that after introducing our new snail to freshwater, it dies without an apparent reason after a few days. The described species is characterized by a yellow-brown shell with black or dark brown bands, usually quite narrow. These bands are very regular and do not spiral, but go along the shell and converge at its apex. The body is gray with darker stripes. This species is often confused with Vittina coromandeliana. It comes from Asia and inhabits freshwater and brackish waters. Here, the shell stripes are not so regular, you could say they are slightly zigzagged.

Disposition

This is a peaceful snail that does not disturb other aquarium inhabitants (fish and shrimp). It has a nocturnal lifestyle and always rests in the same place during the day. It does not eat plants and does not dig up the substrate. It sometimes leaves the tank, but staying out of the water for too long leads to its death. The reason for these snail escapes could be poor water quality, too little oxygen, or too little food.

Aquarium

When choosing a tank for our snail, we are mainly guided by the size of its bottom surface - the larger, the better. Due to the way it feeds, large, flat stones, eventually rocks with soft and rounded edges or roots are necessary. The substrate should be soft, light scattered, not too intense. A sealed aquarium cover is necessary, good filtration and systematic partial water changes (snails are sensitive to poor water quality and insufficient oxygenation). To increase the pH of the water, you can add shells, crushed corals, or limestone rocks. When placing snails in the aquarium, we never let them freely fall to the bottom - this can damage their shells.

Reproduction

An oviparous species, which often lays white eggs in the aquarium - mostly on hard surfaces (especially when the environment in which it is located is abundant in food). It happens that larvae hatch from these eggs, but they are not able to survive in freshwater. In natural conditions, larvae are carried by the water current to the brackish estuaries of rivers, where their food is sea plankton. After all transformations, fully formed snails return to the higher parts of the river. These snails are dioecious, but distinguishing a female from a male is difficult or even impossible. Fertilization occurs internally.

Food

This is a herbivorous species, whose main source of food is algae (mainly diatoms). Most often in our aquarium it cleans stones, roots, glasses and large leaves (although it is reluctant to climb). It does not eat live and healthy plants. If it reaches for them at all, it means that food is scarce. Therefore, its diet should be supplemented with dry, frozen or fresh plant products (fresh vegetables: carrot, celery, cucumber etc.).