assassin snail

[Kellie]

So I've developed a bit of a snail problem, yeah, I know, most likely over feeding. I've cut down on the amount I'm feeding and trimmed any plant areas that didn't seem 100% healthy. The biggest snail problem is in my 36G tank, but the 10G betta/shrimp tank seems to have some too, I moved some anacharis from one tank to the other. The ghost shrimp are devouring baby snails but there is a couple that seem too big for them. Now I know there are methods of getting rid of snails that don't require buying a live creature but I was thinking that once he erradicated the snail problem he might be a good companion for the other betta who is in a 5G tank right now there are two ADF in there with him but after 6 more weeks the ADF are moving to the 10G (in that tank two other ADF were killed by chytrid fungus so keeping the new ADF out and not sharing equipment until the 2 month life cycle of the fungus is over).

So in short the plan is: Buy assassin snail for the 36, let him go to town on the snails for awhile, if there is still snails in the 10, move him in there, then move the assassin to the 5G when the ADFs are ready to move to the 10G. Would the assassin snail bother ghost shrimp? Would he get along with a betta in a 5G after he does his snail killing job?

THanks!

 

[daveho]

so the plan to avoid buying a live animal is to buy an assasin snail?
im abit confuesed as im sure u see the problem. honestly my opinion is eather leave them. in a stable aquarium thats not over feed they wont over run you. or if u cant stand them pull everything u want out treat the tank with copper then strip it down and dry everything out clean decorations and substrate with boiling water and re assemble. easy

 

[Annakhil]

i would say go with the assassins, i had a big problem with ramshorn snails in both the 20 and 29 gallon tanks they hitchhiked on some plants i bought, i got two assassins from servrum mama and they killed all the ramshorns and i even got some baby assassins, they procreate very slowly so they wont over run your tanks and they dont mess with any of my shrimps, look them up they have very pretty shells. i wouldnt do the copper since you have other inverts. if you get some baby assassins you can sell them as well they are always in high demand.

 

[Raleighfishnerd]

Dealing with the same prob myself. Tried assassin snails(6 in my 20 tall) they didn't really make much of a difference so the other day went and got a couple yo-yo botia loaches and they have decimated my MTS population. I have puffers in a different tank so I use veggies to gather snails and then feed those to the puffs. There are a few different ways to deal with them besides stripping the tank down

 

[Kellie]

so the plan to avoid buying a live animal is to buy an assasin snail?
im abit confuesed as im sure u see the problem. honestly my opinion is eather leave them. in a stable aquarium thats not over feed they wont over run you. or if u cant stand them pull everything u want out treat the tank with copper then strip it down and dry everything out clean decorations and substrate with boiling water and re assemble. easy

I guess i didn't explain well enough. I wasn't trying to imply the assassin snail wasn't a living being. I want to put something else in the 5g with my betta after the frogs are done QT in there and move into the 10g other betta and ghost shrimp tank. If an assassin snail would be happy long term in that tank i was thinking i could get him early and he can help take care of the excess snails in the larger two tanks before the frogs move out of the small tank and he would move in. I don't want to kill the snails myself but if they are eaten by a natural predator that's circle of life and I'm ok with that as long as he would live happy with betta in a 5g after the work is complete.

What i meant by not buying a living being was that i would never buy something to take care of a problem that i wouldn't want to keep long term, for example i don't want loaches in my final stocking plan so I'm not going to run out and buy loaches just to kill snails. I DO want something else that can live happily with a betta in a 5g tank after he's alone again and if an assassin snail can, then it's two birds with one stone.

Thanks for the opinions so far!

 

[warthog76za]

I have about 15 Assassin Snails and now the snail problem I had a year back. Now the problem is gone, they leave my fish etc in peace and they feed on left over food as well as bloodworm that I throw in every few weeks.

Have noticed when Ive had the odd fish death, by the time I switch on the tanklight, assassin snails have all but finished eating that as well.