Arriving home to my friend, I saw a very beautiful sight - against the background of green grass, small snails with a ribbed yellow-black shell swam. “This is a Helena snail,” a friend introduced me to her new tenants. "She is also called the Beeline Snail, you probably guessed why." Well of course - Beeline coloring. And my friend told me this:
She is special, this baby
What is remarkable about these snails brought to our country from Indonesia? Yes, everything is very simple. The freshwater snails Helena, although small, but real predators. They do not eat plant food, do not clean microalgae from the walls of the aquarium. These crumbs feed exclusively on animal feed, and if simpler, on other snails: spools, melania, algae-eating snail-shells and other snail species that are smaller than helen itself. They will not clean your bottom by eating dead parts of plants, but they will eat the dead fish or shrimp with pleasure. The main goals for which aquarists plant helen are to reduce the number of highly bred reels, soil snails, etc., and the sanitary cleaning of the aquarium. In addition, the Helena snail is very decorative due to its bright color. If you plant a few helen in the aquarium, do not expect an instant result to reduce the number of other snails. A little predator needs time to do its job, the results of which will become visible in 1.5-2 months.
How does Helena eat
It is very interesting to observe the nutrition process of little helena. There are two outgrowths on the snail’s head: one is the “hand” with which it feels the space and with the help of which it determines the location of the victim, and the other is the stigma, with which it shoots at the victim’s body with lightning speed and, in fact, eats it. Helena snail clearly determines which victim is her teeth and which is not. She will never attack an ampoule or neretina, not only because it is larger than helena, but also because the body of a large snail is tightly attached to the shell. Helena is simply not able to get to him. If a snail for an aquarium like Helena has run out of all live food, don’t worry. This meat-eater can eat ice-cream bloodworms, shrimp pellets, sticky pills for catfish and even minced chicken, so tasty for Helena. In addition, young fish and caviar can become the prey of Helena. Therefore, it should not be launched into a spawning aquarium.
And how do helens breed?
Although helens and heterosexual snails, it is impossible to determine the gender of a particular individual. This can only be done during the breeding season. At this time, a pair of snails in love crawls together around the aquarium. One fine day you can notice somewhere in the corner or on the wall a little white almost square egg. This snail lays only one at a time. After hatching, the newborn snail Helena buries itself in the ground, where it lives until it reaches a size of 3 mm. Then the young snail crawls to the surface and from this moment begins to hunt for smaller snails. The snail reaches age suitable for breeding after 6 months.