Class     Gastropoda Orthogastropoda Caenogastropoda Cox, 1959

Order Sorbeoconcha Cerithiimorpha Cerithioidea (Ferussac, 1819) Fleming, 1822

Family  Pachychilidae Troschel, 1857

Genus: Brotia H. Adams, 1866

Species:         Brotia armata (Brandt, 1968)

Description:

Shell:   - 26 - 38 mm long, 18 - 24 mm wide

                   - dark brown, thick-walled, conical ovoid form

                   - up to 3 flat, convex whorls, apex is mostly corroded

                   -  spiralling spikes, not every snail of this species has them

                   - additional spiralling lines form edges

The embryonic shell is smooth, there is a sharp edge after the next-to-the-last whorl

Operculum: - oval, decentral nucleus, up to 4 rings

Body:        - grey, marbled, with beige partsl

                     - the eyes are located at the bases of the short, thickish tentacles

Range/Habitat:

- Western Thailand, in parts of Burma, fast-flowing river, cataracts over a series of rocky barriers, above waterfalls.

Reproduction:

These snails are dioecious and get inseminated by passing a spermatophor. The young snails grow inside a breeding sac until being released. Releasing the young snails depends on the season. The embryos inside the breeding sac are about 2.0 to 2.5 mm in size. They have 2.5 whorls.

Life span:
Unfortunately, the editor does not have any data regarding the life span of these snails.

 Food:
It likes to eat algae from stones and the glass panes. To our relief it also takes spirulina tabs and other food tablets as well as vegetable granules. However, it seems to be difficult to feed them appropriately in the aquarium. The majority of these snails lose a lot of weight within half a year and dies. Please compare Brotia pagodula.

Additional information:

Brotia armata lives on the aquarium stones 99% of the time. It also uses the glass to look for algae but decidedly prefers the stones.

I've never been able to watch it on sandy ground, it does not do well at high temperatures in a tank with low in oxygen.

Weblinks:

Aquarienschnecken   [ Food list, Brotia – in German ]

Naturkunde - Museum Berlin

Köhler, F. & Glaubrecht, M. (2006b): A systematic revision of the Southeast Asian freshwater gastropod Brotia (Cerithioidea: Pachychilidae) - Malacologia 48(1-2), pp. 159-251

[ Brotia - Revision ]

Systax

[ Systematics, information on location ]

This page was actualized on April  21, 2009

Author: Alexandra Behrendt

Translator: Ulrike Bauer