Mystery or Assassin Snail?

[shaloric7]

Which is better for a new freshwater tank, a mystery or assassin snail? I currently have eight Buenos Aires tetras. Do they require naturally occurring algae or will they also clean leftover food off of the bottom of the aquarium? I have sand. I feed the tetras flake food and also give them brine shrimp once a week.

 

[mistersprinkles]

Is the tank fully cycled? If it is you can choose either type of snail.
You should feed snails this food, as it contains a ridiculously high amount of calcium, to help their shells.

TetraMin Tropical Sinking Fish Food Tablets | Tetra Aquarium

As far as I know it is no longer available in stores. You have to order it from Tetra via that website.

If you get a mystery snail/apple snail just put half a tablet under his nose and he'll eat it.

 

[flitabout]

Assassins do best with live snails to eat. I have heard of feeding them shrimp or lobster pellets Though. Mine have tank every single pond snail in my tank and so twice a week I do a heavy feeding of brine shrimp so I know they are still getting plenty of food.

 

[Luananeko]

Personally I'd avoid mystery snails like the plague... They breed like crazy. Even if you only get one, they can store sperm from being at the pet store and will have a population explosion in your tank. Stick to Nerite snails if you're looking for an algae eater/clean up crew. They're incapable of breeding in freshwater and are excellent little cleaners. They have prettier shells too, in my opinion. Assassin snails will tend to scavenge leftover food if there's no snails for them to eat, but they won't touch algae much.

 

[shellyx]

Between the two I'd have to say mystery snails i find them fun too watch, if they do breed their eggs are easily removed as they deposit them above the water line. Also as stated they need to be fed mine like spinach, cucumber, kale and they also enjoy Hikari crab cuisine.

53 gallon elephant nose tank
16 gallon Giant African shrimp tank